Using python programming and surveillance technology, the class was able to decode information. I cannot share anything about my final group assignment for this class, as it was confidential. It culminated in a phenomenal presentation.
One assignment involved collecting my google location data. This is a tech feature that I usually have turned off on my devices, as I do not want to be tracked. I had to break out of my comfort zone to complete this assignment. I tracked myself for about one month, turning off my location at intervals when I did not want google to record the data. For example, I did not want google to know where “home” was for me so disabled tracking when I approached “home”.
We leave traces like these everywhere. It is very difficult to not have a digital footprint. What I learned from this class was that we live in a society where surveillance is a thing. We are constantly being monitored. Be it for our location data, browsing history, credit card usage, social media presence, whatever! The information that we leave out there is available for anyone with the skill – to track us and use our information to learn more about us. Can we truly go incognito? Yes, if we give up ALL tech.
Well, not really.