Ilya Stechkin: Who owns our “digital footprint”?

The public debate about who actually owns data about our online behavior is heating up every day. It would seem that states and corporations do not have the right to claim the results of users’ activities. But it's not that simple.

“With every online action we leave a digital footprint. There is a direct connection between it and biological DNA.”  - with this thesis, on January 24, top manager of Kaspersky Lab Evgeny Chereshnev took the stage at one of the most prestigious world forums designed to disseminate ideas that are significant for the development of humanity -  TED(Technology, Entertainment, Design).

“Biological DNA contains factual information about risks, such as certain diseases, or whether a person has blue eyes — no matter what he does. Digital DNA is, in a sense, [another] biological layer, since it contains factual information about a person’s behavior, his personality, and using this information, one can predict with high certainty a person’s behavior in certain situations.”“- Chereshnev explains in a conversation with the portal “JOURNALIST”.

WHOSE TRAIL?

There are three points of view on who owns our “digital fingerprints”:

1. Traces belong to the “surface”, on which they were left, that is, to companies that provide various Internet services.
2. Right to “digital fingerprints” of users has a country whose citizenship the user has.
3. The one who leaves traces, and has the right to them.

2. STATE

The author of the second approach is considered to be Natalya Kasperskaya, a major Russian IT entrepreneur and pro-government public figure (member of the working group under the Presidential Administration responsible for the “Internet and Society” direction).

In an interview with Novaya Gazeta she stated: “A person in Russia now has the feeling, when he leaves some information on the Internet, that he controls it. Actually it's not like that<…>And I advocate introducing restrictions on big data so that the state can carry out its functions and guarantee security. Just imagine: such a cloud of data gathers around a person, a Internet user.<…>And someone is trading this cloud behind your back.”*.

The weakness of this approach (and its strength) is its deliberate paternalism towards the citizens of the country: “We have fifty million people [active users] — yes, they can’t handle it on their own”. It's like mandatory medical examination. It is believed that people themselves are not able to take responsibility for their health. The problem is that mandatory medical examination turns into profanation and creates conditions for many abuses. Paternalism in the area of ​​personal data is even more dangerous.

Natalya is concerned that agents of hostile influence will be able to control the behavior of senior officials in Russia, including through blackmail. But what scares me more is the image of a petty boss who has gained access to, say, the search history of some unlucky student.

I do not idealize my fellow citizens. Most Internet users in Russia are catastrophically ignorant. By and large, they don’t care who uses their data and for what purpose, unless it’s about access to a bank account. And for many, government protection would be a good alternative to personal liability.

But personally, I prefer the idea of ​​​​developing educational programs on digital literacy. Exactly literacy, not security. Because the first to cultivate knowledge, and the second — fear. Unfortunately, in real educational practice one often encounters the latter. And the quoted interview with Ms. Kasperskaya gives an understanding of the roots of this approach.

As a result, attempts at media education in schools often turn into a session of horror stories. The effect is the opposite: like in the pioneer camp, when the elders told stories about a coffin on wheels or red curtains. Adrenaline, high! And mysterious words like “cybersquatting”, “cyberbullying”, “phishing”, etc. acquire a romantic aura, instead of being relegated to the level of banal hooliganism. From “gopniks in the area”, such “educational projects”, together with mass culture, turn cybercrime figures into Robinhoods, pirates of the 21st century.

And if so, then what is the reason why the clearly ineffective prohibitive approach is the basis of state policy in the field of high-tech communications (yes, yes, I also just remembered about the ban on the social network LinkedIn in Russia)?

It is easier to manage a class society. It is no coincidence that the obsession of those in power is to build a vertical power structure. Estate society is based precisely on the distribution of various social groups in a system of vertical dependence on each other. The basis for division into classes in the “knowledge society” can be access to information: means of its receipt, processing and distribution**. But it can be made simpler: someone produces information, and who controls it. What is not the basis of division?

3. THE MAN HIMSELF

Finally, the third point of view expressed by Evgeny Chereshnev. “I have conducted enough experiments on myself to have every right to the following professional opinion: personal data is an integral part of the human body and its biological indicators. I propose from now on that user data should be considered a layer of biological DNA. Digital DNA, if you will. And treat it accordingly: this unique information for each of us, recorded in us (in fact, this is so), must physically and legally belong to the person who produces it.”, he wrote on his Facebook page on November 30, 2016.

He goes on to explain in detail why no government or service provider should have a statutory right to full and permanent access to a person's “digital DNA” without their express and informed consent: “Because, having access to digital DNA, you can identify any person on the Internet without logins and passwords, you can control his desires, his movements, his ability to reproduce, his craving for knowledge, art, his bad habits and addictions. And it's not a joke".

Chereshnev’s position is based on the fact that just because a company has invented something truly revolutionary — say, gravity — this does not make it the rightful owner of every person’s gravitational field.

Another significant point that Evgeniy draws attention to is the vulnerability of any centralized data storage: “Everything can be hacked. There is no guarantee that the state or the so-called Rostelecom or AT&T will be able to keep the data safe. Therefore, the only true path — is decentralization and the creation of a tool that practically ensures ownership of private data — which is what I’m doing.”.

WHO IS RIGHT?

It is interesting that the initial positions of Evgeniy and Natalya are quite close: they are outraged by the ultimatum demands of service providers to provide personal data in exchange for access to one or another network service. But they draw different conclusions. The position of Zhenya, who still believes in people, and most importantly, does not seek to “prosthetize” the personal responsibility of citizens, evokes great sympathy in me.

Although, in fairness, I must note that the scenario proposed by Natalya Kasperskaya testifies to her sober understanding of the needs and preferences of the majority of Russian residents. However, Chereshnev’s ideas are aimed at “tomorrow,” while Kasperskaya’s proposals are based on today’s state of affairs.

The confrontation between Natalia Kasperskaya and Evgeny Chereshnev is symbolic and traditional for Russian philosophical discourse, since it illustrates the classic contradiction between the interests of an individual and the state.

The problem is that the very concept of “citizenship” as a person’s belonging to a particular country is blurring along with geographical boundaries, including under the influence of the very technologies that force us to leave a digital trace.

Alexander Tivelkov, one of the active players in the global community of developers of the open cloud platform OpenStack, commented on this situation: “It seems to me that in the post-industrial world, states should turn into a kind of “transnational user unions” that limit the ambitions of the same transnational corporations”.

It is impossible to exist on the Internet without a trace: our “network activity” is essentially leaving a “digital trace”. And the question of its ownership ultimately goes beyond economics and even politics. It falls into the ethics department, because in its most general form it sounds like this: to whom does our life belong?

And if we agree that our life belongs to ourselves and, perhaps, to the closest circle of people (friends and relatives), then our “digital footprint” should also belong to us, our close relatives and friends. To the closest relatives and friends. Evgeniy Chereshnev stands in this position.

• * See more details Stechkin I.V. Media education at school: horror stories and friends // Collection of articles for the scientific and practical conference “New Media in Humanitarian Education” (Moscow, Russian State University for the Humanities, April 17, 2013). P. 37. And also: Stechkin I. Do we need digital citizens? // Everything for the school administrator! 2013. No. 19.

I guarantee that in 9 cases out of 10 I will not need to apply special knowledge of information security on the network, use phishing pages, keyloggers and social engineering methods to compile a small, and if you’re lucky, a rather weighty dossier about you, literally in the next couple of hours.

Is it stressful? Me - yes. Therefore, in this article I want to talk about digital footprint.

There is a lot of discussion about how mega-corporations like Microsoft and Google use our personal information. It's no secret that our online behavior is studied, tracked, metadata is summarized and used for purposes that are not always clear to the average user. From time to time we hear about major scandals directly related to online security threats—information leaks from databases. We argue about whether artificial intelligence is capable and who might benefit from it. But all this does not concern us personally, it happens in “distant Americas” and seems irrelevant to everyday life.

However, today we will not be talking about our relationship with ghostly artificial intelligence, but about the likelihood of personal data being used by human intelligence - much less powerful, but quite likely malicious. Or neutral. For example, HR specialists of large companies are very well trained to monitor publicly available information about candidates for a particular position.

It so happens that in the last few years I have been trying to lead a “” life. And in my case, this applies more to online life than to offline life. I am not an information security specialist (although I am considering such a possibility in the future). Let's call the approach I use: tactics of a thoughtful user.

Let's start with the fact that I constantly analyze and monitor my digital footprint: I don’t maintain pages that will somehow allow me to be personally identified, I don’t share family photos.

In addition, I have a small hobby - when meeting a new person, I really like to look for additional information about him on the Internet. Particularly interesting are cases when a person does not want to give out information about himself for some reason. You will be surprised (and I am constantly surprised!) how naive and imprudent, upon closer examination, the online behavior of most users turns out to be.

Below I will analyze point by point the main weaknesses in the behavior of the average user that I was able to discover. It’s up to you, the reader, to decide whether to leave your presence on the network “as is”, or perhaps you should make it more thoughtful. I don’t pretend to be a complete list, I just want to help you sharpen your caution and attentiveness. Today we will talk mainly about social networks - VKontakte, Facebook and so on.

1. Linking a social network account to a phone number and email

A convenient and necessary thing, it would seem. All applications persistently ask us to link our phone or email in order to recover our password. In most networks you can’t even create an account without specifying a real number or at least an email. Remember the classic “165 friends on your friend list have provided their phone number”?

Well, after making such a link, for example, on Facebook, I don’t even need to know your name - just enter your phone number or email into the search bar of the social network, and I’m already looking through your family .

The solution to the problem is, if possible, not to indicate your phone number in social network accounts and applications. Create a separate mailbox for this type of task and link it to the main one (i.e. set up automatic forwarding of incoming letters). You don’t even need to go there again - all notifications will be sent to your main email. But now it will be much more difficult for curious people to “break through” your portfolio on social networks, having your email.

2. Necessary settings for social network accounts

Close your accounts from outsiders, unless you are a politician or other public figure and this is not your work page, which is maintained by a team of SMM specialists. Do not maintain accounts or, for security reasons, do not publish important personal information on networks where such settings are not possible. Create a fictional character and use it for those networks where you would like to be present, but will not necessarily keep in touch with real acquaintances.

At the same time, I recommend closing not only posts and photos from prying eyes, but also your list of friends - for your greater security on the Internet (otherwise I will send requests to all your friends, 14 out of 100 will answer them, and then you yourself - since we have there will be 14 mutual friends). Also hide the list of groups in which you are a member (search by user name works great in groups and you can dig up a lot of useful information if you are actively involved in a particular group), check-ins and likes on the pages of local businesses (otherwise we may meet in your favorite cafe).

3. Photos

I really like to study the details of the background in a photo, go through tags and study my immediate circle of friends, meeting places...

Always remember that photographs are, in fact, a very “vivid” digital trace!

Always remember about Google’s wonderful feature – image search. If you register on dubious resources, such as dating sites, do not post the same photos that are posted on your personal pages on social networks (or - even cooler - on a business profile on Linked.in) - Google often allows you to establish a connection between different accounts if they contain the same images. By the way, the photo protection from downloading installed in some networks may also not work. I've found linked accounts from neatly cropped screenshots from networks with protected images.

4. Comments

After applying all the above recommendations, the network will still allow you to find your comments in public groups. Often these comments can reveal a lot about the commenter. I recommend periodically running a search by your own name and cleaning out outdated comments and posts in open groups.

5. Publishing screenshots

This feature is now available with one click. But I always encourage my acquaintances and friends to take an extra minute and remove from the screenshot (using a simple graphic editor) technical information about the operating system, browser used, bookmarks bar and other data that is not important in the context of a particular screenshot. All this information, under certain circumstances, can work against your online security.

6. Agreements with family members

If you intend to adjust your digital footprint, be sure to agree with your friends and family members so that your information is not “leaked” online through their accounts. This applies to all kinds of tags, mentions, joint photos from family picnics, etc.

Therefore, please enlist the understanding and support of your loved ones regarding the publication of data, otherwise all the measures listed above may be crossed out in one fell swoop. And, for God’s sake, don’t create accounts for your children! If this is not possible, at least close their accounts from outsiders. And install parental control. However, this is a topic for a separate article.

Raise your awareness! Subscribing to magazines on online information security, even if you only read the headlines, can significantly enrich your understanding of the various vulnerabilities of our gadgets and online life. Periodically run a search for your name in services such as Google (including advanced search), Yandex.people, local search within specific social networks. In general, always and constantly monitor your own digital footprint!

And never forget that your information, once published, continues to live its own life and becomes completely beyond your control.

Technology doesn't change human nature, but it does allow us to learn things we didn't know about ourselves. It largely depends on us how to use this new knowledge.

You can't hide

Let's look at the situation from the user's point of view. Why don't soldiers also install a popular app to monitor their physical activity? The only question is how the company will continue to manage this data. And since no one usually reads user agreements, clients agree to all subsequent manipulations in this large database.

What do we generally understand about our inclusion in digital databases? It seems that the data of one user will simply be lost in the general array. In fact, as the heat map showed, it is possible to notice the actions of one person (for example, if he “draws” a greeting card on the ice of a lake).

And the data of an individual can be deconstructed from the general array. We are increasingly learning how digital data is used in court as evidence, evidence, investigative materials - in cases of fraud or murder. The testimony of the accused is checked using data from a pacemaker or a fitness tracker. Are we ready to take responsibility for the technological projection of ourselves? Now “everything you say can be used against you” sounds different: “everything you do will be recorded” - we check the box to agree to the terms of use of the applications, and then we blame technology for everything, not our own hindsight and carelessness.

Learn a lesson

There is still a feeling that technology has little impact on everyday life. We use them as entertainment, we play them. And in each such game we leave digital traces - something from which, if desired, we can form our image. Or rating. Back in 2016, this was the plot of the fantasy series Black Mirror, where each person was assigned ratings based on ratings of everyday interactions. A year later, it's for Chinese citizens. China's social credit system was designed to "build a harmonious socialist society." Within its framework, a personal file is formed for a person, which characterizes him as a citizen (paying taxes), a member of society (compliance with traffic rules, family relationships, education) and an Internet user (communications on social networks, online purchases). The consequences of these ratings - again, based on human interactions - will be very real: from the inaccessibility of loans to a ban on leaving the country. And again technology will be blamed.

Researchers emphasize: technologies do not exist in a vacuum; their development is always a social and cultural process. Behind technology there are always real human actions, and the more users participate in this process, the more unintended consequences will arise. Technologies do not so much create something new as they reflect what already exists in society, which is not always obvious. Therefore, we cannot accurately predict their social effect in advance, but we get the opportunity to better understand ourselves.

The deseat.me service, with which any Gmail user can delete all information about themselves from social networks and various services. Lenta.ru finds out why more and more people are erasing their digital traces.

Web suicide

According to Swedish developers, to completely disappear from the Internet, just log into their deseat.me service through your Google account. The program will independently detect all subscriptions connected to the email, and the user will have to choose which profile to get rid of. Once the required positions are identified, the program redirects you directly to the resource page, where you can erase your account with one click. However, keep in mind: deletion using deseat.me is final and irrevocable - information cannot be restored.

Less radical users, as well as those who do not have a Gmail account, will have to be content with deleting profiles manually. So, to hide your presence in Facebook , Twitter or in "In contact with", you need to go to the page settings and delete your account yourself. After some time (from two to four weeks, depending on the rules of the social network), the account and all publications associated with it will disappear from the Internet.

Calculate by IP

Few people think about how much information about ourselves we leave in the public domain. And the point is not at all in reputation-defaming photographs and videos - today it is absolutely not necessary to be a seasoned hacker to find out the phone number, address and even location of any person.

In July 2016, workers at one of the British cafes conducted a social experiment. They offered passersby a free drink in exchange for a Facebook like. And while the participant was placing an order, his data was quickly collected online. As a result, visitors received a short profile about themselves, including contact information, as well as information about education, work and religion.

Video: Cifas / YouTube

Moreover, there are many special programs for searching user data. Thus, with the help of facial recognition systems, you can find out a person’s name from just one photo, and from the most ordinary email, you can find out the IP address and location. And the first thing we do is search for every new acquaintance or business partner on Google, simply by entering the first and last name in the search bar.

This phenomenon has long been noted by Boston University professor and author of the book “What Happens in Vegas Stays Online,” Eric Qualman. According to him, due to the abundance of constantly stored data about users, you need to behave online as if “your mother, boss, coach and enemies are watching you.” “In essence, that’s how it is. Whether we are talking about your personal life or your career, your reputation on the Internet today determines your reputation offline,” says the researcher.

The dangers of storing user data were discussed back in 2009. Then the famous American marketer Tony Fish, in his book “My Digital Footprint,” noted that by analyzing network activity, users can not only be forced to impose “advertising based on interests,” but also easily manipulate them.

Digital footprint

Fish identifies two types of digital traces: passive and active. Passive ones are formed on the basis of data unintentionally created by the user - visits to various sites, social networks and resources. This kind of information is automatically stored on provider servers, in web archives and data centers.

Of course, de jure it is available only to administrators of resources visited by a particular user. But in reality, it is precisely thanks to the passive digital footprint that network users are haunted by intrusive targeted advertising, subtly hinting to them that they recently visited a site with sneakers or household appliances.

Active digital traces are actions on the Internet performed directly by the user. For example, publishing a photo, post or comment. Such information is not only automatically stored on special servers, but can also be used by anyone.

Fish predicted that users would demand that search engines remove their personal data, and his prediction is coming true.

Right to be forgotten

Since 2014, the European Union has had a law on the right to be forgotten. Now all EU citizens can demand that Google remove information that defames them from search results. The law applies to links with false or irrelevant information about the applicant.

The adoption of the law was the case of the Spaniard Mario Costeja Gonzalez against Google, considered in May 2014. Gonzalez demanded that the corporation remove several defamatory publications in the media. The European Court of Justice upheld the Spaniard's claim because, according to the court, storing personal information without the user's approval is contrary to the EU Directive on the Protection of Personal Data of 1995.

In Russia, the Internet came into force on January 1, 2016 in the form of an amendment to the federal law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection.” An exception is information about events containing signs of criminal offenses, the terms for bringing to justice for which have not expired, and information about the commission of a crime by a citizen for which the criminal record has not been expunged or expunged.

In the first three months of the law alone, Yandex received more than 3.6 thousand requests from 1,348 people, but 73 percent of the applications were rejected. Yandex explained this by saying that it could not verify the accuracy of the information. This, in particular, applies to doctors who demand that links to resources with negative reviews about them be removed.

Network contraception

In order to avoid deleting accounts, communicating with technical support of social networks and making statements to Yandex, you should behave extremely carefully online. For example, use the Adblock blocker, which not only allows you to get rid of intrusive advertising, but also, as Edward Snowden claims, protects you from disguised malware.

Personal correspondence on social networks can also easily become public, because hacking an account on Facebook or VKontakte is not so difficult - in Russian-language Tor it will cost from 2.5 thousand to 7.5 thousand rubles. Unfortunately, even the most complex password will not provide a 100% guarantee of data protection.

In addition, to access the Internet securely, you can use a virtual private network or VPN, where traffic is redirected through a chain of servers. However, firstly, the services of most VPN clients are not free, and secondly, they readily transmit information about users at the request of intelligence agencies. For short and discreet access to the network, there are free services such as VPNBook with support for Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android and iOS.

The most reliable solution to the problem of anonymity on the Internet is the anonymous Tor network, which operates using onion routing technology. The information in it is encrypted and passes through a large number of intermediate systems, but this results in extremely low page loading speeds. In addition, according to rumors, the intelligence services of leading countries have already managed to identify users on Tor and are actively developing a method for de-anonymizing the entire network.

Direct access to popular Internet services and mobile devices, which will allow them to monitor all users. Our gadgets themselves can tell a lot about the adventures of their owner. For those who want to avoid surveillance, Lenta.ru has collected the simplest ways to disguise their location.

Surveillance by default

Modern smartphones and tablets can tell a lot about their owners, who sometimes don’t even know it. When you first start the device, the user may not track the checkbox next to the geolocation function, and it will begin to record all of his movements. Android OS allows you to view his routes throughout the day, and also records them on Google maps in the Timeline section. Similar functions are used by most owners of iPhone, iPad and Windows Phone devices. Also, on modern smartphones, upon first launch, it is suggested to enable the option to search for a smartphone if it is lost. This will help you find it or even track the thief’s movements in the event of a theft, but if it’s important to you not to let strangers track your every move, you should disable geolocation services.

To disable geolocation on iPhone, you need to go to the “Settings” menu, select “Privacy” and “Location Services”, move the slider to the left and confirm the action in the pop-up window. Here you can also configure the use of the geolocation service for various applications: if you disable positioning completely, many programs will not be useful, so a reasonable compromise is the “work while in use” item; when you exit the service, determination of coordinates stops. It is worth remembering that Apple gadgets also track information about the places you frequently visit, so you will have to disable this feature additionally (Settings - Privacy - Location Services - System Services - Frequently Visited Places).

Screenshot: Lenta.ru

On Android OS, in the settings you need to select “My location” and uncheck the tracking items based on network coordinates and GPS satellites.

As for applications, first of all you should pay attention to the mobile clients of Facebook Messenger, the social network VKontakte and the Instagram photo application: they do not necessarily need to know where you are now. Alas, now almost any application stores data about your location.

The word is evidence

It is also undesirable for your personal correspondence to fall into the hands of third parties. Even the most reliable password cannot provide a 100% guarantee of its safety, but a messenger with encrypted data transmission will radically complicate access to it. Telegram, created by Pavel Durov, is already being used by terrorists, and Signal, Edward Snowden’s personal one, is gaining popularity in Russia.

Another tool for obtaining non-public information about the user can be personal mobile assistants Siri, Google Now and Cortana. If for Siri the ability to predict a user's question based on previous requests appeared only in the new iOS 9, then the Google Now service already has deep capabilities for intelligent data processing - both incoming messages and actions. To help the user, the assistant takes into account his daily routine, main travel routes, search queries, and even his online shopping list. The same can be said about Microsoft's new mobile assistant: Cortana actively collects data about user actions to provide the most relevant results for queries.

This was done, in general, for the good, but an outsider, following the assistant’s prompts, can predict your intentions and preferences.

You can disable Siri in the main iPhone settings. To disable Google Now, you will have to completely abandon Google search by sequentially going to the “Settings” - “Applications” - “All” - “Google Search” - “Disable” sections. Cortana is also turned off in Settings, where in the “Voice Features” section you need to uncheck the “Enable Speech Recognition Service” checkbox.

Such a dangerous internet

It is worth remaining vigilant even when simply accessing the global network. In Russia, many public Wi-Fi access points are already subject to government decree No. 758, according to which the telecom operator, before allowing Internet access, is required to enter a mobile phone number to which a data verification code is sent. This means that when you connect, you are automatically authorized, and since the SIM card is in your name, the provider knows your identity. Moreover, most operators can also track the time and place of your appearance on the network.

Public access points pose another danger. Experts warn that attackers can install their own hot-spot with the name of a public Wi-Fi, and through it distribute a malicious application disguised as an update for one of the typical programs on a laptop. If your wireless connection is not password protected, there is a risk that your data will be intercepted using a sniffer - a program for recording and analyzing network traffic.

A simple query in Google or Yandex can provide information to attackers, since modern targeting advertising mechanisms are adjusted to search results. If you were looking for some information or wanted to know where to buy a certain product, for some time you will have to watch advertisements that are most relevant to your request. To confuse the trail, you can regularly enter some extraneous queries - for example, about the availability of nails in London.

Ad blockers such as Adblock help you get rid of intrusive advertising. According to Edward Snowden, every Internet user should install them, since many advertisements may be disguised as malware or contain spyware.

From “user” to “anonymous”

The main problem for those who want to avoid surveillance remains the Internet architecture itself, in which each device accessing the network has its own unique identifier - its IP address. It is necessary for the correct routing of data, and with its help you can establish where the device itself and, accordingly, its owner are geographically located.

However, the IP address can be hidden in several available ways. First of all, these are online services that provide the capabilities of a free anonymous proxy server, that is, a remote intermediary computer for accessing the network. Services like Hide My Ass or Proxy Networks additionally provide a secure SSL connection, allowing encrypted access to the pages you request. However, access through a proxy server significantly reduces page loading speed.

A more effective way to anonymously access the Internet is a virtual private network or VPN. Traffic on such networks is not only encrypted, but also redirected through a chain of servers. However, many of the VPN clients are paid and also provide information about users at the request of intelligence agencies. For short-term, unnoticed access to the network, there are also free services, such as VPNBook with support for Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android and iOS.

Perhaps the simplest and most reliable solution is to use the anonymous Tor network, which operates using “onion routing” technology: information is encrypted and passes through a large number of intermediate systems. To access the network, you need to install and configure the Tor browser. Although there are suspicions that the FBI is already “digging” under users, a method for de-anonymizing them.

Victims of civilization

Although modern electronics make it possible to disable geolocation tools and programs to encrypt data, the use of anonymization technologies entails a loss of functionality - for example, without knowing where you are, a mapping application will not be able to plot the desired route. Therefore, we have to choose: the fruits of civilization with the risk of turning personal information into public information or freedom without the usual consumer conveniences.