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INFORMATION PRIVACY

Privacy: Text

TECHNOLOGIES

The Matrix builds a world without any form of privacy since it is completely operated and monitored within a system, a computer system designed by AI. In this way, personal information can no longer be private. 

 

The behavior of people in The Matrix can be traced. For example, Neo is recognized as a hacker by the system but have no clue of it. The system can “spy on” anyone without being noticed. This form of surveillance is personified as “Agents.” Agents are AI programs that identify unstable elements in the system and solve them. All in all, AI in the movie was depicted as a form of “governing” force, like we have detailed in the “Privacy and Government” section. However, AI in The Matrix is less visible, people wouldn’t even notice their existence, and thus they invade people’s privacy more easily. 

 

In real life, people are also aware of AI’s potential threats to human, and one of them is privacy invasion. As it would “utilize large data sets” during trainings, personal information are inevitably collected, no matter if they are put in intentionally or gathered online by data mining[1]. AI could track identification, recognize face and voice, predict human behavior, and profile a single person with their information [1]. These processes could be done quietly by computer, with or without human supervision, and definitely without the consent of the people whose information is collected. 

 

The similarity between the movie and real life alarms people that technology is a double-edged sword. Apocalyptic fictions like The Matrix can often remind people of how technology can turn against us [2]. Being aware of the future threats would always be good against unknown power. 

 

 

 

[1] Michael Dean(Sep. 5, 2018). “AI and the Future of Privacy”. https://towardsdatascience.com/ai-and-the-future-of-privacy-3d5f6552a7c4

[2] An Apocalypse of Total Communication: Utopian and Dystopian Perspectives in Star Maker (1937) and The Matrix (1999), 9) JOSÉ ÁNGEL GARCÍA LANDA. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jose-Angel-Garcia-Landa/publication/256023906_An_Apocalypse_of_Total_Communication_Utopian_and_Dystopian_Perspectives_in_'Star_Maker'_1937_and_'the_Matrix'_1999/links/00b4952b58bc22396a000000/An-Apocalypse-of-Total-Communication-Utopian-and-Dystopian-Perspectives-in-Star-Maker-1937-and-the-Matrix-1999.pdf

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