The obvious answer to the above question is no but if you're not aware of this fact, then allow me to educate you on the various ways your data is being used, especially on the Internet. Everything we do on the internet leaves behind a digital footprint, which just means that those things can be traced back to us. Also, do you know that nothing is ever deleted? I'm a software developer who took an online computer science course at Harvard last year and one of the assignments we were given was to retrieve deleted data. The developers of the social media apps you use every day can retrieve your deleted content.
Also, they can see everything you do on those apps. If you use WhatsApp, they said your messages are end-to-end encrypted, which means that WhatsApp can't see your messages. Well, that's just a scam, they can have a peek into your messages if you want to. That's also one of the reasons why if you're discussing a certain item with a friend and you go to Facebook or Instagram, you see adverts of the item you discussed everywhere. And that's one thing these companies do with your data; they use them for targeted ads.
I guess in a way it's sort of one of the benefits of having your data out there, you see ads and content that are of interest to you. This is why when you go to places like TikTok or YouTube for the first time, you mostly come across content that is related to your region because these apps know where you are. When it comes to your data, Google is the boss of everyone who has access to it, especially if you use an Android device (Google is the owner of Android!). They have access to most of your data which they sell to different companies.
Do you know that Google can listen to your conversations if they want to? This is because your microphone is always on, and you can test this by saying "OK Google" and your Google Assistant will activate (unless you didn't turn on voice control for it). How will they know you said "OK Google" if your microphone isn't always on? It has to be always listening for when you say that exact phrase, so you probably want to be careful with the things you say when your phone is around you 😉. Also, if you use WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Threads, Meta has access to all your data and if you use a Windows computer, Microsoft has access to your data too.
Another good thing about our data being out there is that the government can use it to track down criminals. Those of you in Nigeria y'all remember the story of the popular Internet fraudster, Hushpuppi? How was he caught? It was through his Instagram posts. The US government saw something on one of his posts that tipped them of his location. Now he is currently serving his jail term in the US. So many criminals have been caught due to their digital footprint, and this is especially useful in a country like the US where the government have access to a lot of the data of its citizens.
As for the downside, data theft is the most common. Because these data are stored in internet databases, they can be stolen by hackers who use them for nefarious activities or sell them to criminals. It becomes even worse when these hackers get their hands on your sensitive financial data like your bank account username and password, your money can disappear within the twinkle of an eye. To the Nigerians here, do you know that there was a website where you can get the NIN and personal details of every Nigerian? The name of the website is xpressVerify.
Anybody could go to that website and retrieve the phone numbers, full names, NIN, addresses and photographs of any Nigerian, all for just N200. And then the person can use such data to commit any crime, isn't that crazy? But the good thing is that the website was exposed and has been shut down, who knows if there are others like that out there. So, how can you make your data private? Unfortunately, you can't totally do this. One way you can limit the access of most of these big tech companies to your data is to use open-source software and apps.
Open source software are those that are developed by the public. The source code is there for everyone to see, so programmers can modify it any way they like. This has made most of this software to be free from tracking and data-collection tools. An example of this is Linux, which is what I use on my laptop (instead of Windows). Also, Telegram and Firefox are open-source software, and a lot of other apps out there are also open-sourced, and are free from Google manipulations. But, in the end, you will still use other softwares that are not open-sourced, and your data will still end up out there one way or the other.
Thanks for reading
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First image: Image by DC Studio on Freepik
Second image: personal screenshot