Who monitors Digital Data?
There is a place online for everyone. You can easily search and find student study groups, book blogs, volunteer organizations, non-profits, and even hate groups. You would think, between the NSA, FBI, and DHS, that there would be a department dedicated to monitoring and auditing online output. The goal should be to keep users safe, not to impel ignorance. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe we have a particular agency that supervises this type of digital data. Which, for some people, is probably a good thing. While for others, it makes the digital world a very scary, unexpected place.
Dangers of Misinformation
In Safiya U. Noble’s article, “Google and the Misinformed Public,” she discusses the dangers of misinformation being spread on the internet. Because, of course, no one is fact-checking or cross-referencing to verify credibility. Especially if they agree with the content. If you read it online, it must be right… right? WRONG! Apps like Google and Facebook build an algorithm based on things you search and interact with. If you are constantly liking funny puppy videos, you’d start to see more and more puppy videos and corresponding advertisements. If you are researching how to get away with murder, the algorithm will push more content on that topic. You can essentially find digital information about anything, along with supportive groups of people, whether their beliefs are good or bad.
The example used in Noble’s article was regarding a hate crime in Charleston, SC. A group of radical racists allied based on biases and misinformation found on the internet. One false statistic claiming that there is a crisis of African Americans targeting whites was enough for Dylann Roof. He found an online hate group who motivated him to carry out the massacre at Emanuel A.M.E. Church in 2015. 9 individuals were murdered because someone simply didn’t like their skin color. Moreover, Roof felt empowered and entitled to this behavior because he had false statistics and a group of individuals supporting his actions and beliefs.
The internet can be a terrifying space that will eventually seep out into our physical reality. Users should be aware of the risks on the internet. Furthermore, people should be skeptical of what they encounter on the web because not every source is credible, and misinformation is often published online.
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