If you think your privacy is protected by the government, you are wrong — AI will beat you

Have you ever been asked for personal information from any organization through a website, email or using your usual digital services? Have you been asked for your preferences, age or address? Well, the truth is that our personal information is a valuable resource, primarily to target goods and services. Companies of different sizes are after this information either to use it themselves or to disclose it to other companies in exchange for profits.

Why do we care about companies using our personal information? Perhaps the problem is not that companies like YouTube or Spotify can improve their services and, therefore, recommend better content while making profits. Anyway, we do want better services, and it does sound fair that better services might incur some costs. The complication rises when this data is used for other purposes than improving services, for instance, through digital consumer manipulation. More perturbing is the case when data shapes the economic and social destinies of our societies. The scandal of Cambridge Analytica is an exemplary case that exposed how it is possible to manipulate the electoral vote.

Can we protect our privacy?

The short answer is no. The problem is that, in recent decades, the law has been trying to catch…