Most of the time, you unintentionally or voluntarily divulge sensitive information like your age, location, preferences... etc.
Your private information is gathered by tracking companies, who then analyze it and use it to personalize your online experience. These tracking companies may potentially disseminate your personal information without your knowledge or consent.
How does AI collect our personal data?
Our private data collecting is now much simpler than ever thanks to contemporary technologies like surveillance cameras, smartphones, and the internet.
In current digital age, it is quite simple to follow everything of a user's interests and actions, from their conversations while at home to their product searches to their restaurant visits.
In addition to this unintentional disclosure of personal information, we also upload our own personal information to social media.
When we go to a restaurant or a store, for instance, we may take a number of pictures of the food or merchandise we enjoy and upload them online.
The majority of this data is moved to cloud computers, greatly increasing the likelihood that this sensitive data can be tracked.
How AI may violate our privacy by gathering our personal information:
1. Constant Monitoring
Constant observation of a person, place, or object is referred to as persistent surveillance.
The military and police employ this method the most frequently to learn all they can about a potential adversary or suspect. With the aid of the following inventions, AI is currently posing the same continual surveillance in our lives:
2. Electronic assistants
Constant monitoring has evolved into a component of so-called AI assistants like Google Home and Alexa from Amazon, Cortana from Microsoft etc
Through these AI-driven devices that gather audio data from the user's home or any other location, the parent firm may readily access what people discuss while sitting at their homes.
3. Privacy Violation Contracts
Most people are unaware of the terms and conditions that online service contracts contain. The contract is so long and difficult to comprehend that they simply accept the terms and conditions without ever reading them. However, their effects could be disastrous. Every message, picture, or video that is submitted is owned by Facebook and Google, who don't think twice about selling your personal information to other businesses.
4. De-anonymization of data
AI is able to recognize and monitor people using a variety of gadgets, whether they are at home, at work, or elsewhere. For instance, using AI, anonymised personal information is easily de-anonymized. AI-powered facial recognition can also be used to locate and identify people.
How AI manipulates our private data for non-intended purposes?
1. Speech Imitation and Deepfakes
AI poses a serious threat to humankind since it can impersonate individuals. A system that could mimic a person's speech after around 20 minutes of listening to him was unveiled by Adobe in 2016. AI's invasion of privacy goes beyond vocal impersonation and includes "Deep Fakes," in which videos are altered using Artificial Neural Networks. The videos are being manipulated by exchanging faces and are shared online. This has become common in this era of misinformation and it is being weaponised.
2. Vulnerability to Cyber-attacks
AI algorithms used in an organization are highly vulnerable to cyberattacks as well, hence posing threats to the data reliability of the user. AI increases the possibilities for cybercriminals to have accessibility to our private sensitive information and manipulate it for their interests. Furthermore, AI is being used to identify vulnerabilities and zero days as well as to carry out automated cyber attacks.
so, is there a solution? well......sort of.
Protecting our Privacy at the individual level
Try to browse through networks that are anonymous like Freenet, I2P, Tor, etc. Such anonymous networks secure end-to-end encryption, hence protecting your data from being violated.
Choose an open-source web browser like Firefox. This browser is preferable to Chrome as it can be inspected freely for security susceptibilities.
Use an operating system (OS) that is open-source like Linux distributions, as operating systems of Microsoft and Apple have several backdoors to collect your private data without consent.
Prefer using android cellphones as they are safer as compared to Apple and Microsoft counterparts. Android cell phones have open-source software which makes them less susceptible to privacy violation; however, few privacy risks are still associated with these phones.
Conclusion
About 707 million cybersecurity breaches occurred in 2015, and 554 million occurred in just the first half of 2016. To keep ahead of hackers, businesses are fighting a losing battle. (quoted from Tech geniee)
AI-enabled self-learning and automation, according to USC academics, can protect data more effectively and affordably, keeping individuals safer from terrorism or even smaller-scale identity theft. Before they can steal vast amounts of information orwreck havoc, AI-based techniques search for patterns linked to harmful computer viruses and malware.
