iFears

Recently I lost my smartphone. My greatest concern was that my gmail was signed in, in that phone. There was no way of removing that device from my google account. I could, nevertheless, change my password and protect my mail from then on. But, for the first time, the incident incited in me a new kind of fear. For the first time I felt creepy about my online security.

For the first time, it opened my eyes as to how much vulnerable I am, and all of us are, to our online data security. I was just reminded how much depended I am on these networks and devices. What if one day, my laptop crashes and I lose all the valuable data that I stored in it. What if one day google deletes my account? I could ofcourse, back up the data. But how much data will I back up and how many levels of backups would I do. How much hardware would I need?  Now, don't tell me about using the Cloud. It somehow makes me feel exposed. Yeah, I know a great deal about cloud computing, its protocols, types etc and yeah, I even know all my accounts like gmail and FB are on cloud. But, still when I had the option to backup or not to backup my ipad on the icloud, I chose the latter.  

Sometime back, I painstakingly scanned and made digital records of all the old and treasured photographs at home. Those photographs were getting spoilt or already were. I remember my emotions that day I completed scanning all of them. "Now I am gonna fix you guys up in photoshop and then nothing can touch you!!!".  

The first thing I did after coming out of the hangover of losing my phone was to copy all the contents on my laptop including those photos to my external drive. I am still not calmed, but for the moment have my fingers crossed. 

We just take it for granted that nothing will go wrong for us. We know about all the unfortunate things that can happen. But they don't happen to us, do they? And when they eventually does, we go hulla-bulla.

I had read about email accounts getting hacked and being deleted by the service providers themselves and all. But until recently they were all alien concepts. Until the day may dad's got blocked. We tried our best to retrieve it but in vain. I doubt if it is some corporate strategy to be paid for the retrieval.(Sort of ransom? you pay us this much and we release your valuable info!! But what the hell!! my dad could go without it.) But thank God, from that day, I dont have any critical info saved in my mail either. 

Like that non-trustworthy boyfriend, keep your distance from these online accounts. they could ditch you any moment. But yeah! you need them until they do! :-p

I remember sharing a link on my FB wall sometime back - "Google is watching you!". It described the analytics google uses to track user search options etc. I had an uneasy feeling after watching that video. The feeling just worsened now. It's my privacy that is being encroached. These days. you tube makes recommendations to me as to what I should be watching. Now, come on ya, just because I liked a movie some day, doesn't mean I would always prefer that genre. 

Somewhere, within all the comforts that technology provides, our lives are being affected. Of course we have to move with the tide and it is the technology wave that we are riding. In the last few years technology has indeed created a revolution and I am definitely enjoying every bit of it. I am thankful that today I have google to find solution to any of my problems and that I have skype which has helped me travel in time. (I am talking about the time differences when I talk with my brother in Canada, my sister in India. This brings me to a philosophical thought as to what is time? :) may be in the next post!!), ofcourse at the cost of my privacy. 

I am a great connoisseur of technology. To be honest, I am totally awed by the analytics these sites use and the concept of cloud and all. But like everything else, technology also need to be used with caution. Because there could be some evil doer out there trying to take advantage of that teeny-weeny hole in the fabric of these technology. 

And also be ready to bare yourself out there, because in that digital space you are completely exposed!