Research Paper on The Danger in Your Back Pocket

January 1, 1983 is considered the birthday of the world wide web, or better known as the Internet. Now, almost thirty years later, the internet consists of billions of websites. With more than half of the global population having access to the W.W.W. plenty have come across websites that require some personal information to continue browsing. These sites claim that our information will be kept private, however, in most terms and conditions we agree to allow the sharing of our information to other vendors on the internet. With our personal information being bought and sold by companies, it is almost impossible to not be tracked and studied like lab rats. We are taunted with ads to see which one piques our interest. These experiments lead to us sharing more information with more companies. This never-ending cycle eliminates our ability as a society to preserve our personal autonomy. In Schneier’s essay “HOW WE SOLD OUR SOULS—AND MORE—TO THE INTERNET GIANTS”, he identifies how technological industries are taking over. We are constantly surrounded by computers in our everyday lives. With this realization, Schneier highlights the danger of being this close to technology. Furthermore, the author begs his readers to wake up and take back control of their personal information online. Finally, Schneier powerfully concludes by calling on the government to help society take back the control when it comes to our life. In his essay, “HOW WE SOLD OUR SOULS—AND MORE—TO THE INTERNET GIANTS”, Bruce Schneier utilizes ethos and pathos to convince his readers that we need a plan to educate and protect ourselves and our data from the dictatorial technological industries.

Schneier utilizes ethical appeals to gain the trust of his audience and better convince us of his argument. The author puts himself on the same level as his readers through the use of diction. As Schneier introduces the idea that we are being taken advantage of by the many technological companies, the author reveals that “Our relationship with many of the Internet companies we rely on is not a traditional company-customer relationship. That’s primarily because we’re not customers—we’re products those companies sell to their real customers” (Schneier 317). By employing words like “our” and “we”, Schneier includes himself in his accusations of the internet giants. He acknowledges that he is also at fault where it comes to letting himself be manipulated by the companies in this invasive industry. The author had the option to exclude himself from the discussion and focus more on the readers’ mistakes; however, his self-insertion into the argument makes him seem more relatable—not to mention trustworthy. This aids in gaining confidence from readers that he has experienced this situation first-hand and is reliable enough to accept the information that he feeds them. Additionally, Schneier highlights the words of a credible source to further his argument. While elaborating on the consequences of being complacent when it comes to our online security, Schneier shares that, “Political scientist Henry Farrell observed: ‘Much of our life is conducted online, which is another way of saying that much of our life is conducted under rules set by large private businesses, which are subject neither to much regulation nor much real market competition.’” (Schneier 319). By using the words of another credible source, the author provides the reader with more proof that he should be trusted. This quote reveals that Schneier did his own research to provide the most valid information for his readers instead of making up a random statistic. Furthermore, the author invokes the trust of his audience by identifying who he has gained the information from. This goes a long way when it comes to earning the trust of readers and supporting his argument. It is clear to see that by including himself in the argument and providing the words and ideas of another credible source Schneier is able to gain the trust of readers and build his credibility.

Schneier employs emotional appeals to develop a stronger and closer connection between himself and readers. By identifying a haunting and unsettling fact and sharing it with readers, the author is able to tap into specific emotions in his audience to invoke the response he wants. As Schneier describes the ways in which technology is becoming more and more invasive, he reveals “This year, we have had two surprising stories of technology monitoring our activity: Samsung televisions that listen to conversations in the room and send them elsewhere for transcription—just in case someone is telling the TV to change the channel—and a Barbie that records your child’s questions and sells them to third parties” (Schneier 316). This unsettling fact pulls at the hearts of readers. Nowadays, many people own spart televisions; especially from Samsung. Additionally, an immense number of children have owned a Barbie at some point in their childhood. By combining these two groups, and unimaginable number of people could have possibly been under surveillance without even knowing it. It is a very scary thing to think about so when Schneir brings this up in his essay, it is a very tactile way of getting his audience to agree with his argument. And since so many people have had either a smart television or a Barbie—or both—it is very easy for the author to make his argument more relatable to the most number of readers possible. In addition, Schneier also utilizes real world experience to help readers resonate with his ideas and argument. While discussing the continuous surveillance that is taking place in the technology industry, Schneier resonates with readers when he says, “When you wake up in the morning, you don’t think about how you’re going to allow a bunch of companies to track you throughout the day; you just put your cell phone in your pocket” (Schneier 317). In 2020, it was reported that the number of mobile internet users has reached 4.28 billion. That number makes up over 90 percent of the global internet population. With this number of people accessing the internet with their mobile phones, there is bound to be safety risk being online. Personal information being stolen from under your nose is a very daunting idea, but just imagine how much more information is at risk when you are accessing the internet from your cell phone. Even more personal information is on your pocket computer than just usernames and passwords. Hackers and these technological companies have access to phone numbers, addresses, banking information, and even social security numbers. This level of unprotected information is a recipe for disaster. However, by identifying this terrifying issue, Schneier is able to reveal to his audience that there is an issue with person security and it is a whole lot bigger than they thought it was. All in all, the author makes it very clear that there is a major issue when it comes unauthorized surveillance by elaborating on relatable ideas and highlighting the unknown problems that most people would not give a second thought to.

In Bruce Schneier’s essay “HOW WE SOLD OUR SOULS—AND MORE—TO THE INTERNET GIANTS”, he appeals to both ethos and pathos to convince his readers that it is necessary that we begin to educate and protect society and it’s data from the controlling technological industries that we surround ourselves with every day. After analyzing this essay and identifying how the author ethically and emotionally appeals to the audience, one can see that Schneier is passionate about his argument and truly wants to educate his readers on the dangers that hide on the internet. As the technology has slowly become a part of a normal day in society, it would be outrageous nowadays to ask someone to turn off their phone for a whole day. Now that Schneir has identified all the dangers that lurk on the internet and has pushed his audience to better manage their data online, there will inevitably be in a decrease in activity. Even though this might be safer for our data, how will it affect our connection to society?

Works Cited

Schneier, Bruce. “HOW WE SOLD OUR SOULS-AND MORE-TO THE INTERNET GIANTS.” 

Rereading America, edited by Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle, Bedford/st. martin’s, 2019, pp315-319.

“A Brief History of the Internet.” A Brief History of the Internet, Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit07/internet07_02.phtml#:~:text=January%201%2C%201983%20is%20considered,Protocol%20(TCP%2FIP).