My digital privacy, before reading Lindsey C. Kims’ “Understanding and Maintaining Your Privacy When Writing with Digital Tech,” was nuanced. The term “cookies” was limited to only a few meanings. One being, my love for cookies. Even slang like, “you want a cookie” asked in a snarky way if you think someone is being a know-it-all. Like many, I was ignorant to the internet’s cookies. There was no meaning behind it. No one in my circle, including myself, ever looked up what it meant. It was a mere obstacle, an annoyance. Something that stood in between me and the site that was asking permission to “allow cookies.” I would be ashamed if I didn’t know I wasn’t the only one.
When discussing networked privacy as a relation to spatial privacy, I had to start thinking about privacy as a whole. The well renowned Virginia Woolf stated, a woman must have “a room of her own if she is to write.” How does this relate to a digital space rather something like your room? Your privacy is a tangible entity within some grasp of my control. This can, and is, being invaded.
During the moments I crave physical privacy, I not only shut the door but, I also lock it. My family then has to knock instead of being able to just swing it open. This gives me a sense of control. So then, perhaps privacy can be controlled. But, just because I create a step in asserting privacy, her inability to accept boundaries is still there. Not everyone online will accept your steps toward privacy. Sometimes you might even accept privacy. People will want more information and human beings usually cave under pressure.
Locking the Door for More Privacy
Make them knock, not barge in.
You can metaphorically ‘lock the door’ regarding what you post. I’d consider myself a very private person so I don’t really post my personal life. That doesn’t mean I have the digital privacy we should all strive for. It is the very fact that our networked activity is tracked. We are being ‘watched’ based off the location something is searched. The information you intentionally decide to post, can pop up anywhere and everywhere until the end of time. We “allow cookies” as a byproduct of the lack of information given to us. This is so that our privacy isn’t seen as important of a factor as it should be. Taking steps like pressing “do not allow,” researching the site’s data policies, and being cautious of what you like, post, and share, locks your door. Will they somehow barge their way in with surveilling agents and third-party advertising, bloodsucker companies? Of course. At least now you have some control over the amount of space in which they could enter the door.
I agree with Kim; digital privacy, intertextuality, and agency are concepts with so many layers and complexities whose true solution will take generations to come. Still, being aware and spreading knowledge is a fruitful step into our digital autonomy. I leave you with these questions:
What is a healthy relationship without consent? How can we fully trust a partner if they aren’t ‘lying’ but withholding the truth? Detest algorithms and “filter bubbles;” ignorance is NOT bliss.
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