I'm losing to the internet, my life a black mirror

Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg and Roman Abramovich each sent me an email - lucky me?

I was researching NGOs and think tanks that interfere in the foreign policy and internal politics of countries when, over 8 hours, I received promises of hundreds of millions of dollars from the foundations for Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg and Roman Abramovich.

Helluva coincidental timing, or an AI spammer ripped my edress (which I never supplied) and tailor-made email to my interest (but the opposite of my intention).

Either way, it was another reminder that the internet isn’t safe.

WARNING OTHERS BUT NOT OURSELVES

We write about activists being banned from social media, a publisher in Belmarsh prison, and digital whistleblowers vilified by the White House, yet we keep using the internet and smartphones as if we’re a weapon against it.

It’s paradoxical. It’s liking curing obesity with MacDonalds.

Sure, I have protection but what’s it worth against governments if I can’t defeat spam and online fraudsters?

I’m thankful for the new following I’ve gained here, but I imagine myself slowly fading from everything.

ESSENTIAL EDUCATION

‘Harvest’ is a black mirror type video created by Kevin Byrnes from Indevu Films. He skillfully emphasises our dangerously casual relationship with technology.

“Harvest follows the daily life of a woman named Jenni, exploring the simple patterns that define her. As we get to know her, we come to understand the extent to which her seemingly ordinary life is of great interest to people she has never met.”

Byrnes poses a follow-up question which you can try answer when watching ‘Identity’.

The trailer below is the scary macrocosm. Check your streaming service for the full documentary by master Alex Gibney (‘Taxi to the Darkside’, ‘Crime of the Century’, ‘Crazy, Not Insane’, ‘Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God’).