On 15-Aug-1947, we attained our Independence from the British. We are all still rejoicing in the freedom that we obtained from colonial rule. This is an occasion to show our gratitude to people who made sacrifices so that the next generation can have a better life. We remember some names, but many more are buried deep underneath and perhaps known only to a few. Unless a few media houses or scholars take interest and dig up the past, such contributors will be forgotten forever.
Are we really using our freedom in a correct way? Without our knowledge, have we become enslaved again? Earlier, we were held captive by white men who came from England in search of gold, silver, ornaments, spices, food, art, culture, and all the good things that India offered. We were plundered, looted, and abused in our own country. After this horrific experience, we must not let any foreign entity control our soil again. For this, every year, the Government of India spends millions of rupees to buy the latest military equipment and recruit able-bodied men and women to guard our national borders. We should salute our Armed Forces for protecting us from invaders and keeping us safe.
A second colonisation?
Circa 15-Aug-2020. Are invaders real people only? Can a machine invade a country? Can an army of remote-controlled robots permeate our borders and do us harm? Can a squadron of remote-controlled robots zoom into 20 different strategic places simultaneously and drop some chemical or gas and cause destruction? Can a trojan malware come in disguised as a Mobile App or a Web Application, enter our PCs and Servers, and destroy critical information? Can a Bot enter the digital control room of a Power Station and turn off the Electricity when a major operation is going on in a hospital? Can a People Collaboration portal leak our location details inadvertently to some fraudsters? Can a Search Engine invade our privacy and reveal our entire personal profile, preferences, movements, likes, and dislikes to Advertisers so that they can sell more of their products to us? It is all nightmarishly possible…
And it does appear that we may have got enslaved again. This time, by Digital agents, each having their own agenda. These Digital agents are like spies. They prowl around us, they look at what we are doing, where we are going, which product we are buying, how much we are spending, what is our password, what is our email address, what is our mobile number, what is our mother’s maiden name, what is our Credit Card CVV? They shadow us day in and day out. Practically everything is being given on a platter to these Digital agents.
So, who has created these Digital Agents spying on us? Surprisingly, the answer lies within us. We are responsible for creating these Digital Agents. They come disguised in different forms. ” Hello, I can help you in finding out the height of Mount Everest, but you have to tell me who you are first”. If we agree, we have already released a Digital Agent who is there in Cyberspace forever, watching us, recording our every move, and selling it happily to anyone who needs this info. We have sacrificed our Independence and our Freedom because we used the Search Engine to look up the height of Mount Everest. In reality, we knew that it was 29,028 feet, but were too lazy to convert this into meters. Instead, we wanted the Search Engine to tell us that it is 8848 meters.
I am a very frequent user of these Search Engines. I have released scores of Digital Agents by agreeing to their Terms and Conditions. I have made myself extremely vulnerable to Identity Theft, Impersonation, Net Banking Fraud, Credit Card Cloning, etc. God has been kind so far, but things may not continue like this for too long. Very soon, there can be a financial loss of unimaginable proportions just because we were too gullible, too quick to let these Digital Agents invade our turf.
So, on this Independence Day, perhaps we have been captured again by these Digital Agents, carefully nurtured and trained by big companies to let us part with our information and make money out of it. Advertising in New York Times or Washington Post or Times of India is a very costly affair. But now Advertisers have got a list of interested people for a very small amount. So, they bombard us with information about their goods and services.
There are several of us who have no time for anything other than deleting the emails which come into our Inbox. The more we delete, the more it pours in. There is no end to the deluge of so-called “good content” thrown at you. Until the Digital Agent is turned off, this information overload will keep on happening.
What is the alternative?
This is the time to sit back, think, reflect, and introspect. Can we have a balance between what we do online and what we do offline? Do we need to be online 100% of the time? Can we not get some information from friends and family? Can we get back to the old days when we could visualize a problem or a situation and arrive at different possibilities just by spending quality time in silence without being disturbed by the buzz of digital devices?
School Children are expected to do all their work online. They have the Search Engine at the click of a button. When Teachers give them strict deadlines, there is no option but to go to your favorite Search Engine, copy the text, make a few changes here and there and submit it. Here we have not only used the Search Engine for understanding, but we have lamely used it as our expression. This is sad because the Teacher does not know that you have taken all this content from somewhere else. It is quite likely that this copycat gets more marks in the assignment than the person who tried to express his own individual opinion but made a few mistakes in the process.
A pledge for all – Express, don’t just impress
Starting today, I want to make a small personal pledge. I will use Google for understanding only. Only to discover, to research, to learn, to fill some gaps in my knowledge. But for expression, I will write my own essays, my own letters, my own assignments. Perhaps this will give me more satisfaction and benefit in the long run.
Let us get back our Freedom by using these Digital Agents judiciously and with care. Let us use Google for learning and understanding. But when we want to express and communicate, let us use our inherent abilities to write our own song, our own composition, our own article, our own column, our own project report or our own business plan.
About the Author:
Chandrashekar Rao Kuthyar is a Business Consultant at Spearhead Media Pvt Ltd. He may be contacted on tech@newskarnataka.com
