A brave, new world

I step out of my house for a walk, on a whim or a forced errand. I step out only and only if I want to. It's a privilege to be able to able to get everything done by pushing some buttons. Pay the electricity bill, click! Order food or groceries, click! Order medicines for my mother residing in another city, click! Technology has revolutionised our lives and the pandemic has been the catalyst to expedite changes in an already altering world. There was a time when online payments (heck, anything online) meant a world of discomfort. I see that discomfort in older generations who still marvel at the way the world today is so connected, and yet so disjointed at the same time. If you can afford it, you can enjoy an ease of life where professional porter services pick up and drop furniture and goods or a genie on your command, runs your chores, and all through that click of a button. I look for the availability of grocery delivery before moving into a new neighbourhood than proximity to friends. I'm the master of online shopping; it's a skill I consider putting down on my CV. We never had it so easy in life (in some ways); technology has made it so.

But this newfound courage of allowing technology to navigate our day-to-day lives is not completely free of pitfalls It's a brave new world out there where every time we allow technology to aid us, we also expose ourselves to various kinds of threats. That very same unified payments interface (UPI) that has revolutionised our lives and is being studied by other countries, is not devoid of frauds. According to a recent news story, there are approximately 80,000 cases of fraud orchestrated through UPI every month. That means every month there are 80,000 naive, careless, or foolish people who fall, and are continuing to fall, victim to fraud. They are so susceptible to being taken for a ride that they voluntarily transferred Rs 200 crore, reported The Ken. And there exists almost no way of getting the money back.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. At least the laws of Physics remain the same in this exciting yet dangerous new world. Every time we embrace something new, there are bound to be consequences. I want to pay for everything with the click a button, I want to hire people to do my errands, deliver my parcel, do my shopping…so yes, I do make myself vulnerable to the repercussions should something go wrong. More often than not, it won't go wrong but sometimes it does. A close friend got card-phished not once but twice in the span of three weeks in Mumbai last year. So many times, we get calls and SMS-es asking us to share OTPs, PIN and CVV numbers, other sensitive information. You've won a car or Rs 15 lakhs in lucky draw! Those emails from Nigerian sounding names may be going into your spam box, but just as the new world is throwing open hundreds of ways of making life tech-enabled, it also has its shares of newer kinds of scams. Some of us are alert, many are gullible; they trust and pay for their negligence.

Of course, in any scenario how can we not talk about its impact on women. Investigations by The Wire into the 'Tek Fog' app reveals alarming tech tools and capability to manipulate social media trends, inflate news, capture unused WhatsApp accounts, maintain database of private individuals and then attack them with online trolling. Of these, women journalists were discovered to have been at the worst receiving end with threats of sexual abuse. The most serious was the usage of technology to spread hate.

It's a dangerous new world out there indeed. Where you can be sure that your groceries will arrive in 10 minutes, you can't ever be sure if you or your data can ever completely be safe. Either the big corporates are infiltrating your privacy or illegal apps are hacking into your devices. Better financial literacy and foolproof norms to prevent data theft or cyber fraud can decrease online scams. Champions of cyber security are working relentlessly to ensure the safety and privacy of data. Similarly, strict action should be taken against the enablers of illegal, undemocratic, and abusive apps that are infringing on our rights as well as encouraging communal hate and violence against women. Because we shouldn't have to be afraid of technology.

The writer is an author and media entrepreneur. Views expressed are personal