Frequent data breaches
Welcome to a bleak future where privacy is a relic of the past and trust is a commodity in short supply. Here, data breaches plague the Philippines with alarming frequency, leaving a trail of devastation in their wake:
In a world where personal information is treated as currency, trust in government institutions has plummeted to an all-time low. The specter of data breaches looms large, casting a shadow of fear and uncertainty over the populace. The infamous PhilHealth breach was just the beginning, a harbinger of the chaos and despair that would soon engulf the nation. With each new breach, Filipinos' faith in the government erodes further, shattered by the realization that their most intimate secrets are no longer safe. Personal health data, once considered sacrosanct, now lies exposed for all to see, a grim reminder of the dangers lurking in the digital realm. Careers are ruined, relationships destroyed, lives irreparably altered by the callous disregard for privacy and security.
But it's not just government institutions that have betrayed the trust of the people. Private companies, once seen as bastions of reliability, have also fallen victim to the insidious threat of data breaches. Ride-sharing services, once hailed as a convenient and safe way to travel, have become breeding grounds for harassment and exploitation. Drivers, emboldened by their access to personal information, now wield it as a weapon, using social media platforms to stalk and harass unsuspecting passengers. And in the world of fintech, where mobile payment services promised convenience and security, unauthorized fund transfers have become a daily occurrence. Filipinos live in constant fear of waking up to find their hard-earned savings drained from their accounts, victims of a system that prioritizes profit over protection.
In this future, privacy is a luxury few can afford, and trust is a fragile commodity easily shattered by the cold reality of data breaches. As the walls of privacy crumble and the specter of surveillance looms ever larger, Filipinos are left to wonder if their most personal information will ever be truly safe again.
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Patrick finds himself cast out from his church due to his low score, facing ostracism and exclusion from the community he once called home. As whispers of his downfall echo through the streets, he grapples with the harsh reality of being judged not by his character or actions, but by a numerical rating. In this dystopian world, the weight of his low social credit score becomes an insurmountable barrier, marking him as an outcast condemned to navigate the shadows of society.
Fuming with indignation over a low rating, a Grab driver plunges into the murky depths of cyberspace, unearthing the passenger's Facebook profile with chilling ease. With trembling fingers, he crafts a barrage of furious messages, each keystroke a testament to the erosion of privacy in an increasingly digitized world. In this future, personal boundaries are but relics of a bygone era, lost amidst the relentless march of technological intrusion.
Selected Quotes
...Maybe I'm pessimistic when it comes to how our data is collected when it comes to our health, it can be misused kasi, especially [since] our government is not careful enough with our data. Think of [the] PhilHealth [data breach, for example]...So yung mga personal data natin when it comes to our health, that's really problematic kasi it can hamper your employment, personal relationships, etc.
...[H]ealth and wellness is mostly on data privacy again. I can imagine if my data got leaked in some hospital, it would be so disastrous because that would impact my career, and [it] would impact my family as well. So that's all, more on data privacy issues. So health and wellness would mostly concern employment.
Maybe...Grab drivers who might have access to personal information. Oh yeah, there's one time I accidentally [rated] one star of one Grab driver, and he was able to contact me on Facebook and freaking SMS...and he was like sending me scary messages like: "You have no mercy", "I'll go to you", "Tell Grab to change the rating". Of course, I got scared, because I was thinking: "Where did he get this information?". So I have a feeling that Grab is exposing some data about me to Grab drivers, and they were able to access my information as easily as that. So yeah, I have no protection as a passenger. So you have, you're relying your life [on them]...sorry to that Grab driver. Who knows, you could end up in Tondo, Manila without you knowing. It's scary.
While so many people are being thrust into digital transformation, they may not realize the implications of how that technology is, for example, interrupting the right of privacy or data security. And that'll be accelerated by emerging technology, especially AI...AI is powered by massive unconsented data collection for...billions of people around the world. AI is essentially built on the backs of people...without them knowing.
...I think in late 2010s, the issue of data was larger than AI itself. So I'm seeing much more emphasis on data issues, with data leaks from...the elections, etcetera. But that being used to actually target people?...I think the moment we started getting more and more smartphones in the Philippines, and the algorithms being used and constantly being surveilled around us...like literally, I could be talking about furniture, and suddenly IKEA...already starts sending me ads on Facebook, and I didn't even look at anything yet. It's listening; it's actually listening. I kid you not...that happened to me in Hong Kong. I remember there's such a thing as...food meal plans. And I remember...constantly getting an advertisement for meal plans and nutrition kitchens in Hong Kong. And I think my phone heard me say how I was so tired of seeing the nutrition kitchen ads, specifically the one with this girl. Then it started feeding me different ads already from nutrition kitchen, but just not that girl...When we started like using...data that way, smartly, because I kid you not...the amount of data that [SM Supermalls] has before was immense; it's just that they didn't know how to use it in 2014. [But] they're now use actually using it. So you get recommended shit about SM Home, etcetera. Like SM Home knew I was moving into an apartment even before I signed a lease...and that's been happening since 2016-2017, when it was starting to recommend things to you in different ways, especially as we started using more chat messaging...and it was recording things. And the algorithm was getting smarter and smarter and smarter that way...to the point that literally my friend...would talk to me once, and then the next day she gets recommendations about bicycles...because she talked to me once. Yeah, that is a turning point, because like that never happened in the Philippines before. The Philippines used to do [corporate social responsibility (CSR)] very old school [like]...they know somebody bought...pregnancy tests today, [then] nine months later, they're gonna be sending you ads for diapers. That's still very old school...that's just your points from what you put in your credit card. But now, it's actually actively listening.
In the medium-term, I will be very careful about phishing attempts.
[The government is] [p]rofiting from our data as well, saan ba ibebenta ng Globe yan, diba? Nakakatakot siya at tingin ko iigting yung madedevelop siya nang sobra na maraming implications sa atin na malungkot.
In the political sphere, I would say that...it's also again, like a more intense level of extraction, where as we produce more data that could be used for the data science of like political campaigns and engineering, it'll become much more easier to hijack the so-called democratic institutions that we have. I mean...we've seen that with Cambridge Analytica, but also in the future where...you just have data of like, for example, your transactions that are [linked] to your national ID, you have the kinds of media that you consume, tracked by Google, Gmail, and Telegram...and all of [this is] data that could be hijacked or leaked, or utilized for different sorts of campaigns that will benefit obviously the people with money who who have different political agendas.
