The technological apogee of digital tools (social networks, emails, applications, etc.) represents one of the greatest revolutions of the 21st century; Its implementation has shaken reality, simplifying gaps, overcoming geographical barriers and altering the way we relate.
On a national scale alone, the INEI diagnosed that 77.7% of the Peruvian population aged six and over uses the Internet. In the world, according to DataReportal (2024), the number of Internet users has increased by 167 million until mid-July. This implies that 67.1% of the world’s population is connected to the network.
But the high rate of access to the digital world is not the problem. What is questionable is the conditioning that these technologies exert by requiring acceptance of their policies in order to enjoy their services. Although the façade of serving as free instruments created to satisfy the interests of their users makes the majority of them consent to access to their personal data without thinking about it, as they are instruments whose use is unavoidable to relate economically, politically and socially, they do not There is no such freedom, but rather the expectation of a pseudo-freedom conditioned by these platforms.
But there is another problem here: the ability of these systems to weave their power at the expense of personal data. Considering that seven out of ten people in the world use smartphones, this data becomes assets put into circulation in the digital economy, thus leading to the fading of privacy and informational self-determination. As Martin Hilbert indicated, “with 10 ‘likes’ you give on Facebook, the AI knows you better than your work colleagues; with 100, better than your family; with 150, better than your partner and your mother; and with 200, better than yourself.”
There is no doubt that digital technology offers benefits, but it also represents a risk to the security of personal information, hence the danger of social control systems being implemented. Steward Brand says well: “Trying to change people’s minds is a waste of time; change the tools they use and you will change the world.”
*El Comercio opens its pages to the exchange of ideas and reflections. In this plural framework, the Diario does not necessarily agree with the opinions of the columnists who sign them, although it always respects them.
