AfwaahBusters

Revealing the truth about online myths and narratives

[afwaahbusters]

Privacy Settings Do Not Make You Invisible Online

“What if your phone knew more about you than some of your closest friends? Even with privacy settings turned on, the internet continues to collect pieces of your life every single day.”

You might assume that setting your privacy settings will be sufficient to ensure that all your personal data is fully protected online. It seems that once users set their profiles as private, nothing else can invade their digital lives anymore. But this assumption does not hold true. Despite having privacy settings set up, there are still many applications, websites, and other online sources that can gather a lot of data about you.

Every time you browse the internet, you leave digital footprints behind. Your location, search queries, browsing patterns, device details, and many other pieces of information are monitored by various websites and applications without your knowledge. All this happens when you are using social networks, watching video clips, shopping online, and even searching for something on Google.

Privacy settings offer you the ability to have control over your online activities that can be seen by others. Privacy settings can assist in preventing strangers, followers, or other specific users from accessing your content online. Nevertheless, privacy settings cannot fully prevent businesses, advertisers, and applications from tracking your online activity. People often misinterpret the role of privacy settings since they believe they offer complete protection.

Data collection occurs on most online platforms for different purposes. Businesses make use of this data for several reasons such as improving user experience, making content recommendations, personalizing advertisements, analysing consumer behavior, and boosting engagement within their respective platforms. If you were to search for shoes on one website, you would soon see advertisements for the same or similar items showing up on Instagram or YouTube.

There are many mobile applications that seek access to data that is not always required for their proper operation. They require access to data such as your contacts, camera, microphone, location, photos, and call logs. Often, users provide such permissions without even going through them. Thus, despite the fact that your privacy settings are active, apps are still able to collect lots of your data.

The next important thing is that social media platforms analyze user activity very carefully. Your likes, comments, shares, saves, views, and other activities give insight into your interests, preferences, habits, and feelings. All these details are then used for personalized advertisements and suggestions. Most users do not even realize how much personal data can be collected by social media platforms.

This problem gets even worse if the information ends up in the wrong hands. Cybercriminals, hackers, or even scammers could use such information for various types of fraud or identity theft. It should also be noted that even fragments of information obtained from various sources can be pieced together to form a full profile of a person.

Young people are particularly susceptible to these risks since they spend most of their time on the internet. Most young people have grown up on social media without knowing much about digital surveillance and data collection. By posting personal information, sharing location details, and even engaging in online trends, one might unintentionally leak confidential information.

But this doesn’t mean that individuals should completely refrain from using the internet. The internet is still one of the most powerful means of communication, learning, entertainment, and even business. It is simply a matter of building awareness and knowing how to use the online medium wisely.

Here are some of the best practices that can help people maintain their privacy on the internet. The first thing to do is to check app permissions before allowing access. It is advised to refrain from posting any personal details publicly and to change passwords frequently using strong combinations.

Users should also check privacy settings on social networking sites and even the settings in their browsers. Deleting cookies, restricting advertising tracking, browsing only on secure sites, and staying away from suspicious links will all help minimize unnecessary data collection. Equally important is downloading apps only from trusted sources.

These skills are a necessity for survival in the modern world. Students in schools and colleges, as well as parents at home, need to understand the importance of online safety, data security, and appropriate internet use. Knowledge of technology will help people make better choices.

Ultimately, while privacy settings serve as useful tools, they cannot protect individuals from all aspects of data gathering. The internet system is constructed in such a manner that it keeps collecting data from its users in different ways. Hence, people need to remain vigilant and responsible when using internet services. Data protection has now become essential not only in terms of technology but also because of identity and safety concerns.

[afwaahbusters]

AI Is Objective! And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves.

From Left Leaning Chatbots to racially biased tools, the data on AI is impossible to ignore. Let’s break it down. 

We like to believe that artificial intelligence is neutral. No emotions. No opinions. Just facts. That belief is what makes AI feel powerful. It feels clean. It feels rational. It feels objective. But the truth about artificial intelligence is far more complex, and far less comfortable. Researchers argue that AI systems may actually act as moral covers allowing its users to perpetuate inequality while maintaining that belief that it is objective in nature. 

The “Yes-Man” effect further affirms user assumptions meaning that it may at times affirm a belief which is incorrect or biased. AI often acts as a compliance engine that validates rather than challenges the thought or the behaviour of a user

We assume that because AI does not feel, it cannot be biased. But artificial intelligence does not need emotions to carry bias. It only needs data.

And data is never neutral. At its core, machine learning is simple. AI learns from data. It identifies patterns in data. It predicts outcomes based on data. This is why AI bias is not accidental. It is structural. If the training data reflects social, cultural, or historical bias, the AI will reflect the same. This is what we call machine learning bias. It is not a glitch. It is not an error. It is a direct outcome of how artificial intelligence systems are built.

A comprehensive 2024 Study analyzed that 6 leading language models showed some level of gene]der bias, measuring word frequency and sentiment to understand how often female specific language was used compared to male specific language. Chat GPT used 24.5% less female related words when compared to human writers. A UNESCO study of major LLMs found that women were described in domestic roles four times more often than men. 

LLMs also are noticed to show political bias with a study on the 2024 European Parliament elections found a stark bias in ChatGot in favour of the left-wing aligned and centrist parties. 

A study by MIT, which found that facial recognition systems were significantly less accurate for darker skin tones compared to lighter ones. This is not because the AI “chose” to discriminate. It is because the data it learned from was not representative enough.

Biased data in. Biased output out.

This is the simplest way to understand AI bias. And yet, it is often ignored in conversations about unbiased AI.

The idea of unbiased AI is appealing. It suggests that technology can rise above human flaws. It suggests that artificial intelligence can deliver pure, objective truth. But this idea is misleading.

AI does not exist outside human systems. It is built by humans. It is trained on human data. It is shaped by human decisions. Every stage of AI development introduces potential bias. From what data is collected, to how it is labeled, to how models are trained, every step influences the final output.

So when we talk about unbiased AI, we are often ignoring the entire pipeline that creates artificial intelligence.

Unbiased AI is not the default. In many cases, unbiased AI is not even achievable. What we can aim for instead is reduced bias, transparent bias, and accountable AI systems.

Not all AI systems behave the same way. This is where AI model comparison becomes important. Different companies build artificial intelligence systems with different priorities, different datasets, and different design philosophies.

This is why there is no single “objective AI.” There are multiple AI systems, each reflecting different slices of the world.

One of the reasons the myth of unbiased AI persists is because AI sounds confident. It delivers answers in a clear, structured, and authoritative way. There is no hesitation. No uncertainty in tone. This creates an illusion of accuracy. Researchers warn that the veneer of objectivity when it comes to technological tools could make people even less willing to acknowledge the problem with biased outputs, making the illusion of neutrality an even darker aspect of AI

Artificial intelligence is designed to produce the most probable answer, not the most truthful one. It predicts what is likely based on patterns in data. This is a key distinction in understanding machine learning.

AI does not verify truth in the human sense. It calculates likelihood.

A study conducted by MIT in 2026 revealed that LLMs systematically ignore the information in the middle of long documents often only focusing on the starting and the end. 36% companies also reported negative impacts from AI bias in 2024, including loss in revenue, Lost customers and employee attrition, making AI bias not just a social issue but a growing liability in legal, research based or business fronts.

Thus, it is to note that a tool that has become a part and parcel of life might just be slipping in machine learning bias into our brains through a lens of objectivity.

In today's age using AI tools is easy. Questioning AI outputs is harder. But it is necessary.

The future of AI will not be defined by how advanced these systems become. It will be defined by how critically we engage with them. Because artificial intelligence is not neutral. It is not objective. It is not free from bias.

Artificial intelligence is trained. Artificial intelligence is shaped. Artificial intelligence reflects patterns.

So the next time you use AI, ask yourself one simple question: Is this the truth?

[afwaahbusters]

Using Public Wi Fi Is Safe: The Dangerous Digital Myth

You walk into a café, order your coffee, open your laptop, and connect to the free Wi Fi without thinking twice. Or maybe you’re waiting at an airport, scrolling through social media while connected to “Airport_Free_WiFi.” It feels normal. Safe, even. After all, if hundreds of people are using the same network every day, what could possibly go wrong? A lot, actually. One of the most common digital myths today is the belief that public Wi Fi is safe just because it belongs to a popular place. People trust networks in airports, malls, hotels, coffee shops, and restaurants because the brands behind them feel reliable. But cybercriminals know this too, and they often take advantage of that trust. The truth is, public Wi Fi can expose your personal information, passwords, banking details, and online activity far more easily than most people realize. And the scary part? Most users never even know they were at risk. Why We Automatically Trust Public Wi Fi

Think about it. Nobody really stops to question Wi Fi anymore. The moment we enter a café or hotel, one of the first things we ask for is the password. Free internet has become part of the experience. In many places, it’s expected. There’s also a psychological reason behind this trust. We naturally assume that if a place is professional, crowded, and well known, its digital systems must also be secure. A luxury hotel network feels safer than a random hotspot on the street. An airport Wi Fi network sounds official. A coffee shop filled with students working on laptops feels harmless. But popularity does not equal cybersecurity. Hackers don’t avoid busy places. They prefer them. Large public spaces give cybercriminals exactly what they want: a huge number of distracted people connected to the same network.

What Actually Makes Public Wi Fi Risky?

Most public Wi Fi networks are designed for convenience, not maximum security. Unlike your home internet, public networks are shared by dozens or even hundreds of strangers at the same time. In some cases, the network may not even be properly encrypted. That creates opportunities for attackers. One common cyberattack is called a “man in the middle” attack. It sounds technical, but the concept is simple. A hacker secretly positions themselves between you and the internet connection. This allows them to monitor what you’re doing online. If you log into your email, enter passwords, or access banking apps while connected to an unsafe network, that information could potentially be intercepted. Another major issue is fake Wi Fi hotspots. Hackers sometimes create networks with names almost identical to legitimate ones. Imagine seeing these two options at an airport:

● Airport Free Wi Fi

● Airport_Free_WiFi

Most people would not notice the difference. Once connected, users may unknowingly hand over sensitive information to cybercriminals. And yes, this actually happens in real life.

A Real Airport Scam That Fooled Travelers

In 2024, Australian authorities charged a man accused of setting up fake free Wi Fi networks at airports and even during flights. Travelers connected to these fake hotspots believing they were official airport services. Some entered personal details that were then captured by the attacker. What makes this case alarming is not just the scam itself, but the location. Airports are heavily monitored, highly professional environments. Yet people were still vulnerable because they trusted the setting. That’s exactly how this myth survives. We assume digital safety based on physical surroundings.

“But I’ve Used Public Wi Fi for Years and Nothing Happened”

This is probably the biggest reason people continue taking risks. Most cyberattacks are invisible. If someone steals your browsing data today, you may not notice immediately. If your email password gets leaked weeks later, you might never connect it back to that café Wi Fi you used earlier. Unlike physical theft, digital theft often leaves no obvious signs. Cybersecurity experts regularly warn that public Wi Fi attacks can involve:

● Password theft

● Identity fraud

● Malware installation

● Financial scams

● Data tracking

And it’s not only hackers you need to think about. Many public networks also collect user data for advertising or analytics purposes. When you enter your email or phone number to access “free Wi Fi,” your information may be stored, tracked, or shared with third parties. In a way, free Wi Fi is sometimes not truly free. You may be paying with your data. Are All Public Networks Dangerous?

Not necessarily. The internet is more secure today than it was years ago. Many websites now use HTTPS encryption, which helps protect information while browsing. Apps and operating systems have also improved their security systems. But that does not mean public Wi Fi is completely harmless. Think of it like crossing a road. Modern traffic systems are safer than before, but you still look both ways before crossing. You still stay alert. Public Wi Fi works the same way. The goal is not panic. The goal is awareness.

The Biggest Mistake People Make on Public Wi Fi

The biggest mistake is behaving exactly the same way you would on your home internet. People casually:

● Open banking apps

● Shop online

● Access office files

● Save passwords

● Send confidential documents

All while connected to shared public networks. That’s risky. Cybersecurity professionals often recommend treating public Wi Fi as a “low trust environment.” In simple words, assume the network is not fully secure and act carefully. Simple Ways to Stay Safe

The good news is that staying safer online does not require advanced technical knowledge. A few habits can make a huge difference.

Use a VPN

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, encrypts your internet activity. It acts like a protective tunnel between your device and the internet, making it much harder for others to monitor your activity. This is one of the best ways to improve public Wi Fi security.

Double Check Network Names

Before connecting, confirm the exact Wi Fi name with staff. Tiny spelling differences are often used in fake hotspot scams.

Avoid Sensitive Activities

If possible, avoid banking, online payments, or accessing confidential work documents on public networks. Using your mobile data is often safer for important tasks.

Turn Off Auto Connect

Many devices automatically reconnect to previously used Wi Fi networks. This can accidentally connect you to fake networks with similar names.

Keep Your Device Updated

Software updates are not just annoying notifications. They often contain important security fixes that protect devices from known vulnerabilities.

Why This Conversation Matters More Than Ever

Today, almost everyone depends on constant internet access. Students attend online classes from cafés. Remote employees work while traveling. Influencers edit content at airports. Digital payments happen everywhere. Public Wi Fi is no longer occasional. It’s part of daily life. At the same time, cybercrime is growing more sophisticated. Hackers no longer look like movie villains typing aggressively in dark rooms. Many attacks today are automated, quiet, and designed to exploit ordinary user behavior. That’s why digital awareness matters. The goal is not to fear technology. It is to understand it better.

The myth that public Wi Fi is safe because the place is popular sounds harmless, but it creates a false sense of security. A crowded café, luxury hotel, or international airport may look trustworthy, but that does not guarantee digital safety. Cybercriminals know people lower their guard in familiar environments, and they take advantage of it. Public Wi Fi itself is not evil. In many situations, it is incredibly useful and convenient. But convenience should not replace caution. The next time you connect to free Wi Fi in a public place, pause for a second and ask yourself: “Am I treating this network too casually just because the place feels safe?” Sometimes, digital safety starts with simply being a little more aware.

[afwaahbusters]

A Screenshot Is Not Always Proof

The Digital Media Myth We Need to Stop Believing

Digital media culture today relies on screenshots as the definitive currency of truth. People treat these images like absolute evidence during celebrity scandals, political squabbles, and viral gossip sessions. Someone posts a clipped image of a chat log or a deleted tweet, and the internet essentially declares the mystery solved instantly. Investigation fades away. Questions become obsolete. Everything reduces down to collective vibes and performative outrage. Truth be told, this constant reflex to treat pixels as judicial authority remains a massive oversight in our modern habits. That is the reality. Accepting screenshots as objective proof is practically reaching for a mirage while dying of thirst. Users habitually forget to interrogate the actual origins of what they are viewing. What if the image is fake, meticulously cropped, or missing the critical context required to understand the exchange? Navigating the chaotic environment of digital misinformation requires recognizing that these files change hands faster than anyone can verify the underlying reality. They represent a dangerous shortcut in an age that demands patience. Digital platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, or X operate on specific visual dialects that our brains recognize instantly. When we see a familiar bubble design, a verified checkmark, or a standard timestamp, our cognitive biases latch onto that as an objective truth. It feels genuine because it mimics our daily digital lives.

Fakery succeeds because of this psychological familiarity. Reactivity dominates the online landscape. Most users consume information in a blur and react with raw emotion before stopping to analyze the data. Content that triggers anger, shock, or empathy travels at light speed across social feeds compared to dry, nuanced explanations. Algorithmic rewards for engagement prioritize these high-tension clips, turning dramatic, misleading screenshots into the primary drivers of internet traffic. It just works. Adding modern AI tools to this mix creates a landscape where fabrication becomes effortless. Sophisticated software is no longer a requirement; simple web generators turn anyone into a visual forger within moments. Changing a username, altering a timestamp, or inventing an entire conversation occurs in under sixty seconds. Beyond outright fabrication, cropping remains a pervasive weapon against the truth. A screenshot captures a single, frozen second while intentionally omitting the broader, messy picture. Imagine seeing a person yelling back at someone in a text thread. Without visibility into the preceding insults, that person appears unhinged and aggressive. Proper context dictates the true nature of communication, yet these images thrive on what experts call context collapse.

Reputations crumble daily because of these singular, static images used to fuel hate campaigns. By the time a full record emerges to tell the accurate story, the internet has already moved to the next controversy, leaving the original victim labelled by a falsehood. People latch onto the initial scandalous claim far longer than they attend to any subsequent, boring correction. Recurring issues like sharing five-year-old tweets as if they happened ten minutes ago further muddle our collective history. Parody accounts frequently trick gullible users who never bother to click the actual profile. Journalism suffers as well, with media outlets often reprinting screenshots as content instead of chasing down real sources and verified documentation. This creates a feedback loop where misinformation gains a veneer of legitimacy through repeated exposure. Artificial intelligence only deepens the divide by making images easy to fabricate, meaning our old intuition about visual evidence essentially holds no weight anymore. Deepfakes and synthetic conversations now blur reality to the point of exhaustion. Many individuals choose to trust a redacted, grainy screenshot from some random troll account over a multi-sourced, professional report. It turns out that velocity and sensationalism now dictate our standards for belief more than anything else.

Scrutinizing evidence is a dying art. Not every screenshot is a lie, but not every one is a holy document, either. Activists and researchers often save these files as necessary records before companies delete active data. They provide windows into genuine harassment or evidence of institutional corruption. The flaw is not the feature, but the blind trust individuals place in a single screen capture. Treating a file as a starting point for inquiry is mandatory, but treating it as a closing statement is reckless. Becoming a smarter consumer requires specific habits. Check the source first. If a faceless account with zero credibility pushes the image, skepticism remains the only logical path. Verify the account. Check the formatting. Scan for inconsistencies in the fonts or the spacing that might suggest a digital edit. Does the information appear on established news wires or other independent platforms that avoid the trap of unverified viral drama? If not, remain cautious. Slowing down represents the most critical act a user can perform. Emotional contagion on social media is a design feature, not an accident, and resisting that pull requires discipline.

Modern digital habits train the mind toward rapid consumption and away from deeper reflection. Scrolling through endless feeds encourages a state of agitation where critical thinking seems too time-consuming to execute properly. We are wired to react. We are not wired to verify. However, as AI tools improve, manipulated media will grow far more realistic than anything we have seen thus far. Detection will only get more difficult. Maintaining functional literacy in this environment is, therefore, a survival skill for the social landscape. Next time a claim arrives with the boastful declaration that the person has screenshots, take a breath. Do not let the visual format do the thinking for you. Investigate the origins. Search for the larger conversation. Examine the wider, messy context of the situation before deciding on a conclusion. Believing every flashy, viral, or emotive image posted to a public forum without performing even a basic level of investigation is quite possibly the single biggest mistake a person can make in the digital age. It is what it is. Dig deeper or accept that you are part of the problem. Logic demands that we look beyond the image to find the reality hidden just beneath the surface of the screen. Keep searching for the truth. It is rarely found in the first image you see.

[afwaahbusters]

We've heard the word "Cybersecurity"

But do we know what it means?

Cybersecurity is a term we’ve seen thrown around millions of times. “Don’t share passwords, don’t share personal details, don’t do this, don’t do that.” We have all been nagged at one point or another to be cybersafe, and we’ve all ignored it. We’ve gone on the ‘dangerous’ sites, the ones with the sketchy links to download a game, or to watch some show not accessible to you (R.I.P Bato, you will be missed). The thing is, none of us takes cybersecurity as seriously as we should, and that’s a problem. It makes us vulnerable, both online and offline. Surprising to no one ever, people online can track us if they have the technical know-how. First of all, what even is cybersecurity? Cloudflare says, “Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting networks, applications, confidential or sensitive data, and users from cyber attacks. Cyber attacks are malicious attempts by individuals or groups to gain unauthorised access to computer systems, networks, and devices in order to steal information, disrupt operations, or launch larger attacks.” Why should that matter to you? Because it’s your information being stolen, or maybe your identity that is being used to conduct some of these scams. In fact, North Korea has one of the biggest identity theft circuits in the world. On Discord, of all places. Don’t accept private messages from strangers, by the way.

Now that the problem is somewhat explained, what should we do about it? Listen, I’m not going to tell you anything you haven’t heard before. I’m going to repeat it so you at least think about it and try to implement what everyone has already said. Do not share your personal information online, i.e., your name, age, date of birth, where you live, where you work or study, your banking details, your family’s banking details, your medical history, or personal documents. None of those things should be online. 

Next, do not talk to strangers on private chats online. I assure you, Carol, 18, from Minnesota, is not named Carol, is not eighteen, nor is she from Minnesota (I’d be surprised if it turns out to even be a woman). Don’t get scammed. If you must interact with people online, try to get a VPN. There are free ones available; they work well enough. A VPN will hide your IP address from strangers who may not have the best intentions. I almost forgot, do not do any of the aforementioned things either. The internet isn’t entirely lawless. You aren’t an invincible entity. Don’t do unto others what you wouldn’t want done to you, or whatever the saying goes. Well, that was your cybersafety lesson, I guess. To sum it up, don’t be an idiot online, be aware and educated, and please, do not partake in cybercrime. With that, I leave you to make your decisions a little more sensibly than before.

[afwaahbusters]

Your Digital Footprint

The Invisible Identity You Leave Online

“What if every click you made, every post you shared, and every search you typed became a permanent part of your identity? In the digital world, nothing truly disappears. Your digital footprint follows you everywhere.”

Each and every click, like, search, share, or comment that you perform creates an impression. No matter how much you may think that there is nobody watching you, the internet stores much more than what you might think. Every reel that you browse through during the midnight hours and every website that you visit during the daytime forms a part of your life that goes unnoticed. This unseen profile is called your digital footprint, and it plays an important role in today’s world.

Digital footprints, also called digital shadows or electronic footprints, refer to the trail of information that you leave behind while using the internet. Digital footprints include many things such as the information you submit online, the websites you visit, emails you send, posts on social media, and online shopping activities.

A digital footprint is often used to track a person’s online activities as well as the devices they use. An internet user can create their digital footprint either actively or passively.

Active digital footprints are created when users knowingly share information about themselves. These are created through posting or participating on social networking sites or online forums. If a user is logged into a website through a registered username or profile, any posts they make form part of their active digital footprint.

On the other hand, passive digital footprints are created when information about the user is collected without them being aware that it is happening. This is done in various ways, such as websites collecting information about how many times users visit, where they come from, and their IP address. This is a hidden process that users may not realize is taking place. Other examples of passive footprints include social networking sites and advertisers using your likes, shares, and comments to profile you and target you with specific content.

Digital footprints matter because they are relatively permanent. Once data is public, or even semi-public (as may be the case with Facebook posts), the owner has little control over how others will use it. A digital footprint has the power to determine a person’s digital reputation, which is now considered as important as their offline reputation.

Words and photos that you post online can be misinterpreted or altered, causing unintentional offense. Cybercriminals can exploit your digital footprint and use it for purposes such as phishing for account access or creating false identities based on your data.

For these reasons, it is worth considering what your digital footprint says about you. Many people try to manage their digital footprint by being cautious about their online activities in order to control the data that can be gathered in the first place.

Digital footprints are a huge part of everyday life today. Students, professionals, influencers, businesses, and even children are building digital footprints every day. Even merely searching for a product online can affect the ads you see on Instagram, YouTube, or Google later. Companies often gather user data to learn how consumers behave and enhance their marketing tactics. Whilst this can make online experiences more personalised, it also raises serious concerns around privacy and data security.

The digital footprint of an individual might also influence their future prospects. Companies and institutions usually conduct background checks on candidates through online searches. Content posted years ago, such as offensive messages, inappropriate pictures, and controversial viewpoints, might come back to haunt a person. Many individuals have lost jobs and internship opportunities, as well as their reputation, owing to content they had assumed would eventually be forgotten.

On the other hand, digital footprints are not necessarily negative in nature. A good digital footprint may actually help individuals develop their personal brands and professional identities. For instance, posting accomplishments, artistic works, academic materials, and professional stories on digital platforms can result in building an excellent and positive reputation for oneself. The use of LinkedIn accounts, portfolios, blogging, and appropriate social media usage can do wonders for students and professionals.

Nevertheless, controlling one’s digital footprint is something that requires knowledge and a sense of responsibility. For instance, many people sign up on websites and install applications without even bothering to read the terms and conditions, thus unintentionally allowing those programs to use their private data, which includes location, contacts, browsing history, and personal preferences. Apps and websites that provide services free of charge tend to collect user data.

The following are some of the measures that an individual can take to safeguard his/her digital footprint. The first one entails being cautious about what one posts on the internet. Individuals need to refrain from posting personal information such as passwords, phone numbers, addresses, and bank account details on the internet. Other tips include the use of two-factor authentication and deleting browser cookies.

Another effective technique is to periodically search for yourself on the internet in order to find out what kind of information is accessible about you. This will help individuals become more conscious about their online identity and do something about it if needed. It also helps if individuals restrict access permissions and avoid clicking on dubious links or websites.

The problem with modern times is the fact that technology changes quicker than people understand the importance of privacy and security in cyberspace. The majority of people, particularly younger generations, spend hours on the internet daily without realizing how much personal information is collected during their activity. Social networking sites, video games, commercial websites, and mobile applications collect user data all the time in order to increase their profitability and attractiveness. In this regard, people get included in large databases without even knowing it.

It is thus very crucial to be digitally literate and aware in today’s society. Schools, universities, and parents need to teach individuals how to use the internet responsibly and the significance of safeguarding their personal data online. It is through knowing terms such as cyber safety, privacy settings, online scams, and digital footprints that individuals will be able to make better choices while using the internet.

In the end, the internet can be a very useful tool if we know how to use it correctly. We are all responsible for ourselves and what we do on the internet. Our digital footprint can represent our creativity, intelligence, and professionalism, but it can also bring trouble if we are not careful enough. Since our digital footprint becomes an inseparable part of us, we have no choice but to manage it carefully.

[afwaahbusters]

NO, India’s Data Protection Law does not fully protect you or your privacy

Here is the proof

When your phone lights up, someone somewhere learns something about you.

Not because you allowed it consciously. Not even because you agreed to it after reading the long terms and conditions form. But because the law allows it.

India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 often introduced as the country’s first comprehensive privacy law, promises consent, accountability, and rights over personal data. While on paper it gives citizens the right to access their data, correct it, and even request deletion in some cases, the story becomes more interesting when the State enters the picture.

Because while the law protects your data, it also gives the government significant legal room to use it.

Under the DPDP framework, organisations that collect your data called data fiduciaries must usually obtain consent before processing it. Your name, phone number, location, financial records, browsing behaviour, and biometric data all fall within the category of “digital personal data.” The law requires companies to explain why they collect this information and to keep it secure 

But consent is not always required.

The government can legally process personal data without consent under section 7 and 17 of the law.

For instance, data can be accessed or processed for preventing, detecting, or investigating offences, enforcing legal claims, or carrying out judicial functions. 

The Central Government has the power to exempt its own agencies from parts of the law if it believes doing so is necessary for various reasons pertaining to India’s sovereignty. Section 7c of the DPDP act allows the government and any of its fiduciaries to be entirely exempted from consent requirements including requirements to notify the users.

This means that the same law designed to protect personal data also creates pathways for the State to access and process it. In some cases, the law even allows government bodies to retain personal data indefinitely, regardless of whether the original purpose for collecting it has been fulfilled. 

Citizens may not always have the right to demand its deletion.

No other institution can collect such large amounts of data at such a large scale. Cross linking databases across sectors lead to comprehensive 360 degree citizen profiles but also significantly increases the chances of data breaches and surveillance risks.

Every little click on your phone, your aadhaar authentication at your bank, your metro card tap from your daily journey, your digital payments, your health records on government portals, your location permissions on apps that interact with state systems. Each one is a small fragment of you stored somewhere in a database. Individually, they mean very little. Together, they become a profile.

The modern State does not only govern territory. It increasingly governs information about the people within it.

“State Instrumentalists” a term left undefined within the act has been observed by experts as so ambiguous that any body or entity carrying out government operation can be deemed as one. The ambiguous definition gives power to any entity to access citizen information without consent in the name of the nation. The worse aspect of the same is that very few citizens are aware that their data is within the fingertips of a so called “state instrumentalist’

Rule 23 of the DPDP act further allows the Union government to ask for data for personal information from any data fiduciary or intermediary for reasons such as sovereignty or integrity of India or the security of the state. In practice this means that the government can compel any data holding entity to furnish user data en masse, merely by invoking rule broad and vague reasons such as security of the state under rule 23 of the DPDP act.

The act further silences the whistle through rule 22 of the DPDP act wherein data fiduciaries cannot disclose the fact that data has been shared with the government in situations where it is likely to prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India.

While the bill talks of privacy rules and creating consensual barriers, it tied the hands of its own citizens by delaying the enforceable time of aspects such an ability to take back permissions, right to correct or delete data and clear consent till mid 2027. 

This act has further restricted the scope of Right to Information as the public interest provision of the RTI act has been amended wherein any information, even if asked in public interest can be denied by the authorities. The absence of data minimisation requirements, appellate mechanisms to challenge government demands and unclear definitions for broad terms like sovereignty and integrity of India has heightened concerns about unchecked surveillance leading to the possibility of restricting speech and dissent. 

And so the question is no longer whether your data exists in government systems. It does.

The more interesting question is

How clearly do we understand the laws that allow it to be there?

[afwaahbusters]

What is Incognito?

What Incognito Mode Actually Does and Why Most People Get It Wrong

People confuse private browsing modes. People think it prevents you from being tracked, it hides activity, and makes browsing anonymous. That’s not true. Incognito mode actually does not do much at all. It does not delete activity. It just stores activity locally as little as possible.

An incognito window will create a new session. That new session allows you to not have your browsing history, search history, previously entered form data, and cookies from an incognito window saved when you close it. Therefore, no one who uses that device can see what you have done during that session. They can’t see that you have been in that session.

The purpose of incognito mode is to maintain a person’s local privacy. 

Just because someone uses incognito mode does not mean that people can’t see a person’s data. An internet service provider can see what times a person’s device connects to a website. An IP address of a user will be logged, and any browsing activity will be tracked. Activity on a site will be tracked to a user’s account if that user is logged in, no matter what browsing mode is being used.

If you are using a work, school or public network, the administrators will still be able to survey the network's transmitted data, even if you are using incognito mode.