Lori Andrews
Technology
This book freaked me the eff out. Good lord. It also made me very glad that during the period of time I was applying to colleges, a little more than ten years ago, Facebook did not even exist.
I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did is a disturbing expose on just how, well, exposed we are on the internet these days. Ever notice how you do a little Google search one day for a new pair of high heels, then the next day you’re on a different website and all the ads seem to be for shoes? Yeah, that’s not a coincidence. Basically, everything you do on the internet is being tracked. There’s no such thing as a “private” setting anymore. Ms. Andrews delves deep into what this means for us as a society and gives horrific examples of ways the internet has taken our lives and turned them into public spectacles.
Andrews is a good writer and despite a few spots where my eyes glazed over because of long paragraphs (gah, I just cannot escape them!), this book really intrigued me. Mostly because I’m fairly wary of the internet. I realize what a joke that statement is considering I have my own blog, but it really is scary how much info some people put out there and the devious ways other people use it. Apparently, these days, college recruiters think nothing of looking up potential applicants online and deciding their four year future based on beer pong photos and status updates about smoking weed. Potential employers do this, too, which is even more disturbing. Not to mention thieves who scan Facebook pages to see who is currently on vacation so they can look up their addresses and rob them. Scary, scary stuff. In the conclusion of Andrews’ book, she suggests ways we can get some of our privacy back and most of her ideas are solid ones.
Everyone should read this book and learn more about what, and who, is really out there tracking us.
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