An Electronic Tattoo

-

When applying for a job, it is now a known fact to make sure your online reputation is spotless. If an employer sees an inappropriate image on one’s Facebook or Instagram, that employer will most likely not hire that person. Just the other day I found out a girl in a sorority in Texas got fired from a job because her company saw a month old Snapchat that she had posted to her Snapchat story. The company paid another company to unlock her social media accounts, where all of her previous posts were displayed. Even though Snapchat claims that a story is only visible for 24 hours, it essentially lasts forever. 
An online footprint, or “electronic tattoo” as Juan Enriquez calls it, is incredibly important in regards to one’s reputation online. A post from years ago could easily resurface once uploaded to a social media platform, which we have seen over and over in today’s current climate. For example, Kevin Hart was let go from hosting the 2019 Oscar’s due to an emergence of a previous tweet he posted on Twitter. The tweets in question were posted between the years of 2009 and 2011, with all of them having homophobic remarks. Despite already publicly apologizing in 2018, people still held it against him a year later. Another example is demonstrated in singer Camilla Cabello’s twitter scandal. In 2012 Cabello published a tweet using the “n” word, which resurfaced in 2019. The singer sent out a page long apology, but nothing can fully take back what she, or Hart, did. 
In his TED talk, Enriquez emphasizes that electronic tattoos go much further than social media posts, as facial recognition has become a new tool that companies use to identify their users. Just as iPhone’s use face ID to unlock an individual’s phone, companies can now register your face across the entire web. I have personally seen some sense of recognition pop up on my electronics, specifically in terms of search results. If I search anything into Safari or even say a topic out loud (while my phone is off), i will get an advertisement about that certain topic on my phone screen. For instance, the other day I was discussing the possibility of going vegan to see its effects on my health. The following hour or so, I encountered an advertisement for a vegan food product while scrolling on Instagram. This goes to show that even though you may say something privately while your phone is off, your electronics are always listening. Hence, an electronic tattoo is born.  



https://www.billboard.com/articles/events/oscars/8492982/kevin-hart-oscar-hosting-controversy-timeline
https://www.miamiherald.com/miami-com/miami-com-news/article238549913.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dead or Alive?

-
Image
One of the most prominent and infamous political figures in today’s world is North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He is widely known to be a dictator, and has a quite ominous reputation. Un was back again in the news recently, but not for any usual political reasons. Instead, it was reported that he was “gravely ill,” leading to his “death” after undergoing cardiovascular surgery. This was a shock to people everywhere, as nobody would have thought Kim Jong Un, a powerful figure having been credited with killing several people, is now on his own death bed. This left all who heard the news wondering, is he dead or alive? The headline that Un was seriously ill first emerged a couple weeks ago, and stated that he was not doing well after having heart surgery in months prior. Normally, reporters fact check this by investigating the claims--but North Korea is different. North Korea is largely shut off to the outside world, with no negative press regarding the country being broadcasted t
Read more

The Invention of the Printing Press

-
Image
The Printing Press was an invention that catapulted the world into the communication field, as it was the first of its kind to ever print words onto paper. Invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440, it was truly a technological innovation. Gutenberg’s design was so important due to his development of replacing wood with metal to print each letter on paper. The first book ever printed on the device was the Bible, which makes sense to me since it was so universally known to those across Europe and the world. It is estimated that he printed around 180 copies of the Bible, each with 1300 pages. After researching this, i was left wondering how long that would have taken for the device to print so many pages. Since the device was new in the olden days, i'm assuming it must have taken a while. Now with the printers in the 21st century, printing that many pages would only take an hour or so, but i'm sure it took much longer with Gutenberg’s invention.   The news of th
Read more

Protecting the Right to Dissent

-
Image
  Public opinion has always been something people have, whether they proclaim it or not. Back in the 1800’s and early 1900’s, the government made it a crime to criticize the government (sedition & espionage act). This was later eradicated in the future, as one can freely comment on the government and disagree with its process however they wish under the first amendment. These acts were passed to prevent the rapid spread of dissent aimed at the government during the time when the Acts were passed (war time). Many Americans were extremely against the government and executive office at the time, causing them to comment on their actions in a harsh manner. This upset the government, thus making them pass the acts to make such dissent illegal. In today’s world, this would definitely not be okay--as people are extremely vocal on their opinions of the government today.  More specifically, the government is currently dealing with the global pandemic due to the Co
Read more