The Digital Age: safety vs. freedom

By Geon-Hee Lee

​The  world of today is no longer approaching the digital era; rather, it has already reached its peak. With  innovation and technological progression which has never been experienced before, governments and people around the world are facing new conflicts regarding the boundaries between digital safety and freedom of access to information. One one hand, there is a tremendous social and political value placed on any individual’s freedom, including freedom of access to information.

Therefore, public life is dominated by voices speaking out on limitations of freedom  and for the right to conduct themselves as they would like to, without the threat of being censored or experiencing limitations, of any kind, on individual freedoms.

On the other hand, opposition to this ideology claims that freedom cannot be ensured if the digital world cannot maintain safety and security. Thus, advocates for safety claim that limitations, or any other measures taken to maintain safety, including to limit freedom of access, must be accepted and followed.

The Social Networking Service (SNS) is what began to establish  a digital  connection between individuals around the world, because it  allowed people access to  information without keeping in touch via e-mail or letter mail.

SNS also served as a catalyst for  the beginning of the digital era and the fundamental idea of connecting the world digitally, andI it is now considered one of the most powerful ways to deliver messages to the world, including through advertising. For this reason, almost every  company with a global influence, or world  leader,  has one or several accounts with  major SNS services.

However, the disadvantages of spreading digital messaging is now being distorted. One current and highly publicized example is the use of SNS by the Islamic State (IS) militant group, utilizing social networking as a recruitment tools for attracting  teens and other demographics to participate in potentially terroristic activities by using the Internet to promote their cause.

For this reason, governments around the world have begun putting limits on digital freedom and started intervening from within the  the digital setting. Tracking, spying and hacking;  governments have taken an active role to catch people that could potentially cause harm to their citizens, and the rest of the world. As a consequence of  this process, many innocent people were also identified  and deprived of their rights to freedom.

Looking at these examples, it's increasingly evident that there needs to be a clear, definite line drawn between safety and freedom. Establishing clear boundaries will serve to protect citizens from any possible harm to catch  those perpetrating crime and to show that justice can prevail.

However, this approach must also be implemented with the least damage done to those who are innocent of committing crimes.

One way to ensure this happens is by integrating government services with a third-party intermediary. As an independent, impartial role in the process, a third party would make sure the government is kept within appropriate boundaries.

Another method to ensure damage minimization would be to use artificial intelligence (AI). Though it is considered  very controversial, it is also considered to be one of the most effective ways. If an AI program is given enough data to analyze,  patterns of  terrorist activity  can  be inserted into  the web, where AI cannot be accessed by the outside world, and produce  data or trigger alarms  when there is a potential threat. This method would block any possible infiltration  while providing  protection to the public.

​Digital safety is a very important issue, but it should not be enforced at the expense of protecting individual freedoms; monetary gains  must not be placed above the golden rule of the digital world. Only by doing this can we let  future generations grow in peace and make the world a  better place. 

Geon-Hee Lee is a second year student at Busan International School in Korea. He is a member of AVEC, a chamber orchestra club, and Economiyaki, an economics club. In the future, his goals  are to pursue a degree in Economy and Management at university, become an analyst and develop a program capable of  analyzing past economic events and estimating the fluctuation of the future markets .