by Kimi Lim
DUBLIN – “The Editor of Vogue Anna Wintour actually said that it’s more in vogue to be un-Googlable,” was one of the catchier lines that Nico Sell, founder of Wickr said on the third day of Web Summit 2015 as she was joined by Nathalie Nahai for a talk about privacy on online security.
Nico Sell is a woman who takes online privacy seriously. Wickr prides itself as an instant messenger app that endeavours to be absolutely secure, so much so that she’s offered a $100,000 for anyone who can find any critical vulnerabilities. In an age where oversharing and data hacks are quickly becoming the norm, Nico is one of many growing voices expressing the need to educate future generations on the importance of being safe online.
Many people are unaware of the various vulnerabilities on their phone or device which inadvertently shares out critical information – the conversation quickly turned to that of parents posting pictures of their children online. Often parents forget to turn off geotagging on their photos, leaving a record online of locations that their children frequent such as homes, schools and hangout spots. Sell was quick to call parents who post pictures of their children online “irresponsible”, saying that she would rather leave the choice of what is put online of them to her children. She was conscientious of the digital footprint she will leave behind and wants her children to be similarly aware.
Unlike traditional records or photographs, the Internet is forever. The relative difficulty of deleting your personal data is something that is being contested in legal courts in Europe. But since legislation cannot keep up with rapidly developing technology, Sell strongly advocates teaching children about the importance of online privacy. It goes beyond future employability, but also what kind of eternal footprint you would leave on the internet. While current reception isn’t the strongest towards actually learning about online security amongst children, Sell notes that once children learn how easily phone calls can be eavesdropped on and how Facebook can be hacked, “they are able to make their own decisions (about their own privacy).”
