The short answer to that question is no. Most people can’t live without access to the world’s knowledge, most recorded music, on-call transport, the world’s largest retail store, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, instantaneous traffic and weather reports, etc., all of which can be found on the Internet. Just ask the President of the United States, who can’t stay off his Twitter Account, or the six billion people who are estimated to own smartphones by 2020. See http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/17/6-billion-smartphones-will-be-in-circulation-in-2020-ihs-report.html
If you can order dinner on GrubHub, get a ride on Uber or Lyft, and do your shopping on Amazon, why bother to learn how to drive a car. “in 2014, just 24.5 percent of 16-year-olds had a license, a 47-percent decrease from 1983, when 46.2 percent did. And at the tail end of the teen years, 69 percent of 19-year-olds had licenses in 2014, compared to 87.3 percent in 1983, a 21-percent decrease.” Maybe one reason young people are no longer getting drivers licenses is they don’t need to go to the mall to go shopping or to go to the mall to hang out with their friends, assuming their mall still exists. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Defunct_shopping_malls_in_the_United_States and http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/01/the-decline-of-the-drivers-license/425169/ Why visit with your friends in person when you can use FaceTime?
The mobile device that sits in your hand carries great power but like anything with great power it carries great danger as well. With the ability to access the world’s knowledge, its goods and services, your friends and relatives as well as your financial information it gives you amazing powers.
But there are dangers as well. See http://www.wired.com/story/app-permissions/ For example, on my Android phone, Amazon’s app can access my device’s location, identify when I’m on a call, access my contacts, pictures, music documents and other files stored on my device and even in the cloud, and record sound using the microphone. My Facebook app can access my calendar as well as my pictures, music documents and other files stored on my device and even in the cloud. My Fitbit app can access my location, identify when I am on a call as well as access my contacts, pictures, music documents and other files stored on my device and even in the cloud as well my device’s camera and if I want to access my wearable Fitbit device and use that app I cannot delete those settings. My bank’s app will access my device’s current location, identify when I am on a call, access my contacts and record sound using the device’s microphone and I cannot delete those settings and use that app. My Spotify app will access my device’s location, identify when I am on a call, as well as access my contacts, pictures, music documents and other files stored on my device and even in the cloud. And, again, I can’t change those settings. My smartphone is designed to locate me, the names of my friends, record my voice, potentially access images of my family and whereabouts, learn my future plans and even listen in on my conversations and, unless I’m willing to not use my Fitbit device, enjoy Spotify or bank online, etc., i.e., exchange my smartphone for a flip phone, by using that device, the control that I think it gives me, I have, in fact, granted to larger entities; a big bank, Spotify, Facebook, Amazon, etc. over which I have no control. By using that device, I have willingly become a character in a Black Mirror episode.
See the Black Mirror episodes Nosedive, Shut Up and Dance, and Hang the D.J.
Maybe, the Godfathers of Tech knew something we didn’t realize. See
http://nyti.ms/2JkjOdJ
So what to do? Maybe we can live without the Internet, that is, the Internet that exists as we use it today. And what would that future Internet look like? Can we enjoy the power that it provides without the surveillance that it provides to the powers that designed it? I suggest that we pay for its convenience. Before the Internet, I used a service called Lexis/Nexis. There were no ads and I could retrieve articles from almost any newspaper or scientific publication in the world as well as any published court case. The cost for this, which my employer paid, was not cheap (There was an annual subscription.) and while Lexis/Nexis knew what I was reading and how long I was on line; after all, I was paying for the ability to read what they provided to me, they couldn’t access anything else on my computer. Similarly, if you have a “dumb” TV and Cable, you can access HBO, Showtime, Comedy Central, FX, etc., and pretty safely assume that unless you purchase a movie that your Cable TV provider probably doesn’t know what you’re watching and, if they do, at least they are not peering into your living room or obtaining the names of the people watching Sunday Night Football with you. Hell, Blockbuster knew what movies you were watching and your public library knows what books you are reading.
So, here’s what I propose. A subscription-based Internet. If you want just a browser and email, you can purchase that; if you want Facebook, Spotify, Google Maps, Google Hangouts, your bank’s app, Amazon, Netflix, etc., you would pay for those packages. In return for the money that Facebook, Spotify, Google, Bank of America, Amazon, Netflix, etc., makes from your subscriptions, there would be limits on what information they could gather from you. For example, Facebook could obtain your profile and the names of your friends, if you opt to provide the latter. In addition, you could opt into advertising which would be limited to advertising based on your newsfeed. For example, if you have a dog or post your vacation photos, Facebook could provide advertising for pet supplies or travel offers but not political ads or Russian bots. In the case of Spotify, it would be entitled to a list of the music and performers you listen to and could provide information to you as to when those performers have concerts in your area or suggest similar music to what you are listening to. They would have no further access to your device or your data. Google would be entitled through the use of anonymous cookies to provide advertising on its site relevant to your searches; they already can learn your location, your operating system and the device on which you are searching, but would have no further access to your data, e.g., being able to identify you personally and determine what you are searching. Your bank would have access only to the financial information that you supply to them and to your smartphone camera for the purpose of depositing checks, limited to from the time you log in to the time that you log out. At no time could an app access your device’s location, identify when you are on a call, access your contacts, pictures, music documents and other files stored on your device and even in the cloud, unless that information is necessary to the operation of the relevant app, e.g., Dropbox, Google Maps, Waze or a Weather App. I see no reason why an app would need to identify when you are in a call except for the limited technical purpose, if you are listening to Spotify or watching a You Tube or Netflix video, to resume the audio or video transmission when your call ends.
Wrapped up in the ability to order dinner on GrubHub, get a ride on Uber or Lyft, and do your shopping on Amazon is the sense of control, but the reality is on today’s World Wide Web, someone else is on the line listening; you have no control. If we don’t have the option to get that control back, we may become willing to trade-in our smartphones for dumbphones. “Security and privacy offer more reasons to consider a dumbphone. Smartphones are sophisticated tracking devices. GPS and motion sensors, along with the always-on internet servicing dozens of apps doing unspecified processing in the background make these devices encyclopedias of their users’ actions and behavior. While the cellular network can always be used to determine a handset’s location, the granularity and accuracy of its physical tracking is limited compared to a GPS device. And given recent examples of border agents demanding access to travelers’ smartphones, feature phones might become standard equipment for frequent travelers.” See http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/the-wisdom-of-the-dumbphone/518055/ & http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/best-flip-phone/
