The upside of being followed is that you are offered things based on your preferences, from coupons to returns on Internet searches. The more information you are willing to share with vendors, the more they are willing to pay you through various rewards and loyalty programs. Many of the rewards seem enticing but, as Grandma said, “Nothing in this life is free,” and, in this case, the cost is the dark side of the digital life.
We have all come to ignore pop-up ads. However, in their time, they achieved their goal. They manipulated our behavior and generated revenue for search engines through pay-per-click programs designed to drive traffic to specific vendors. Our “free” searches were then used to drive ads to us, which put us at risk for having our behavior manipulated. And if media or government used those searches to manipulate our behavior, frightening scenarios could be imagined.
As disconcerting as those scenarios might be, equally alarming is the hacking we have seen played out in recent months. From monitoring of electronic communications to credit-card hacks spawned out of Eastern Europe, which, by the way, is not a new phenomenon. (See “‘Dark Market’ Takedown.”) There is a very dark side to our digital lives. Your life is being hacked, and you are an active participant in the process. You didn’t think that reward or email account was really free, did ya?
As part of “Building a better planet,” IBM has tasked its supercomputer, “Watson,” to analyze treatment and practice patterns of oncology practitioners with regard to outcomes. Additionally, these efforts include use of genomic analysis for development of targeted chemotherapy intervention. At this point, we are, whether we like to think about it this way or not, being genetically modified by the computers we have created. Presumably, given time, those same computers will have the ability to predict the future, just as they did with relative certainty in the consumer-behavior model. Do you really want to know how long you are going to live? Do you want other people to know that? And what about the ability to manipulate it? Off to the scary dark side we go!
As we genetically engineer and reengineer the planet, we are also making great strides in biomechanical engineering. We have seen the quality of life of veterans returning from conflict improve, due to advanced prosthetics. Cochlear implants have enabled the deaf to hear. Implantable defibrillators have saved countless lives. Envisioning a future enabled by implanted technologies, politicians have dazzled us with stories of implanted devices that warn of an impending heart attack by sending an email to the owner’s cellphone and calling EMS. Sadly, as promising as this technology is—and it’s within reach—it, too, comes with a dark side.
All of these auspicious medical devices share a common element—a microcomputer. Taking the next step and actually embedding computers in our bodies has done great good. However, computers, by definition, can be hacked.
The preceding thought brings a frightening new possibility to the phrase “having your life hacked.” If you thought having to replace your credit cards because you shopped somewhere was an inconvenience, it’s a really bad day when your implanted defibrillator gets hacked!
So, I have two questions for you: Are we ready for the first time this happens? And what do you think the reaction and fallout will be?
For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.
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