After reading a chapter in a book I Know Who my Comrades Are, I wanted to muse on what privacy actually is, specifically in relation to mobile apps. While many users of mobile apps, when they first install an app, are asked if they want to allow the app to use their camera, microphone, and location, they don’t actually think about the implications of what that actually entails. For all intensive purposes, whenever a user of the app gives consent to the app to use their microphone, camera, and location, they essentially allow the app to not only use these things when they want it to, but also when they are unaware of it, as well.
It’s almost as if the app argues that unless someone wants to give up certain aspects of their own privacy that they will not be allowed to participate in the realm of the app. Many different types of media make this argument that one cannot participate in society while maintaining their own type of privacy. This is similar to many websites that do not allow people access without signing up for the website and creating an account when, for all intensive purposes, one would be able to enjoy what the website or app has to offer without needing to sign up.
