Nothing to hide?

Since my cell phone number was hijacked last Sunday morning, I've spent the whole week thinking about the Internet and all the implications it has on our lives. People share everything with so much glee, without giving it a second thought. And they allow their kids to populate their own digital footprints, also without giving it much thought.

Everything we share, like, upload, download, view and post is being stored somewhere.

To quote writers Emma Sadleir and Tamsyn de Beer in their book "don't film yourself having sex and other legal advice for the age of social media", under the heading "Mapping your digital footprint: The big data revolution":

"The Internet is an extraordinary thing. It gives us access to information beyond our wildest dreams; lets us connect with anyone and everyone; and gives us the ability to do things that we didn't even know we wanted to do in the first place. Social networks, blogs, online games, news, websites, instant messaging, discussion forums, webmail, apps, and online navigation tools have become such an integral part of everyday life that they are almost impossible to live without.

And the best part is that it's all for free (yippee!)

But wait? If it's for free (yippee?) why are the companies and people that run these websites, platforms and online tools worth billions and billions of dollars?

Well, they're worth billions and billions of dollars because these online services are NOT free. You pay for each and every one of them with the most valuable thing you own - something more valuable than money - your personal information." I want to repeat this: YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION.

They go on: "This sounds terribly alarmist, we know, but the websites and mobile apps that you use owe you nothing. To them, you're a vessel of personal data, to be mined to the fullest extent possible. Every time you go online and post/buy/like/play/view/share/upload/download/send something, you add one more dot of colour to the picture that online companies are painting of you, to be sold to the highest bidder."

Nothing is personal anymore, nothing is private. And it is permanent. It can be deleted, but only with a lot of hassles and drama. If you are lucky. Chances are, you won't be.

Doesn't it scare you just a teeny weeny itty bitty little bit? It does me. Ed Snowden was afraid that his efforts would be in vain. To me, it looks like it was in vain, after all. Although I don't know what's going on behind the screens of those people who feel like I do, but have way more clout.

I opened another FB profile yesterday, but will definitely keep it much more low key. I've become too complacent. You see, I do care. A lot.

I'm neurotic and an alarmist and I'm proud of it. I feel, maybe we should stop for just one moment, and think things through. How we can have the best of both worlds: enjoy the wonders the World Wide Web has to offer, but without compromising our lives, safety and reputation in any way? How can we lead our kids through this minefield of possible traps and dangers if we run through it without a care in the world?

Yes, from now on I'll be very, very careful what I like and share. Even on this platform. And yes, I've put tape over my laptop's webcam the moment I took it out of the box, months ago.

Just take care, okay? And think, for that nanosecond, about what you are about to share, before you press the enter key.