Fun fact about Shivangi, a 95 batch IIMC alum: of the 4 members in the family, her mom is the only one who is NOT an IIMC alum. Shivangi runs Arrka. Have always thought that there should have been one more vowel in the name – but it’s a Sanskrit word, and why play around with our Sanskriti? Btw, the company website, www.arrka.com, informs me that Arrka stands for the Sun. In her TED talk, Shivangi throws light on how our choosing ‘free’ service providers has transformed us from consumers to products. I guess that even relatively ancient newspapers have always viewed readers as products to be sold to advertisers.
The big difference between paper newspapers and digital ones is the two way communication flow. When you are reading, your machine is talking – continuously to the newspaper. Informing the newspaper folks about your digital and maybe physical address, about what you are reading, about how much time you are reading. If your newspaper has tie-ups with Russians and Chinese gangs, then they are also probably going through your phone contact list, ready to send that request for an OTP which will whisk away all the cash in your bank account.
Arrka is doing great work in helping companies comply with global privacy standards. But I believe charity begins at home. You need to start by understanding the basics of privacy and security. About the best way to store your passwords. The frequency of change. Going about setting notifications on your apps. Which apps and sites to avoid. Shivangi scares you sufficiently about how you are ‘exposed’, but unfortunately, offers no solutions in the talk.
She is not optimistic about the role of individual actions in privacy battles. To quote her: ‘The situation is akin to when toxic chemicals were being released into the air/water by industries. People around couldn’t do anything at the individual level.. but laws and standards ultimately had to come together to do the trick pushed by aware citizens.’
I am told that you can’t do self promotion in TED talks. but I do feel she should have made a pitch for her Privacy 101 course in the TED talk!
You can watch the talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r10AAYB8Q60