G Phone and Security

As discussed in class, there is yet a new phone that will soon penetrate the market called the g phone. The g phone is attempting to rival the newest technology presented by the iPhone by presenting similar technology but at a much lower cost. The source of this reduced cost is the area of concern for many users. The g phone is able to lower the cost of the phone and the monthly subscriptions by allowing pop-ups while a user collects data from the g phone, and the money these advertisements raise will put a pretty penny in the user’s bank. The issue with allowing pop-ups is the increased security threat. The security threat relates to the idea of “consumer Panopticon.” By allowing outside companies to advertise on individual’s g phone, those companies will essentially be able to track users and collect a database of user preferences and gear the user’s g phone to meet their preferences in terms of advertisement. For example, if I search political parties many times on the g phone, I will eventually start to see pop-ups geared towards politics. In the beginning, this sounds like a good idea because it helps the user. But in a sense it is infringing on the user’s freedom and allows companies to literally follow and track where the user has been on the web. This may seem harmless but in reality this opens a user’s phone to many threats than just being tracked for preferences. For example, a company could potentially use their pop-ups to somehow break into your phone and steal valuable private information. This happened back in the day when China came to a convention in America and so nicely handed out free USB adapters. Some high government employees used these USB adapters and the Chinese had installed a program that was not seen by the user that could literally get into a person’s computer and break through their firewalls. The point to make here is that as technology increasingly becomes more sophisticated, people need to understand their private lives are at risk and they should minimize this risk by using a secure operating system as much as possible. Perhaps the iPhone is a better choice after all.