If I had an opportunity to write the final chapter of our history textbook about the

last nine years, I would write about how technology and the internet has been a major

factor in shaping the world and the nation we live in today. Technological advancements

have opened so many doors and led our civilization down an interesting and unknown

path, with no foreseeable end in sight. However, corrupt individuals have found ways to

use technology and the internet against the people (specifically the American people)

who it was meant to benefit. This has now become an issue so massive that it has

seemingly snowballed out of control. This paper is intended to talk about the

surrounding events which I feel were instrumental in causing this to happen.

For the sake of context and clarity, I would like to go back a little earlier than 2010

for a moment. On June 29th, 2007 the first iPhone was released. (Cooperative, n.d.)This

was the first smartphone to become widely popularized in the world and, boy, did Steve

Jobs open a can of worms; bringing many problems, as well as many luxuries to the

human race. With these new and fancy smartphone devices we could do so much in the

palm of our hands that we could never do before. Touchscreens were basically unheard
of on a cellphone. Browsing the internet was much more enjoyable, it was faster and

easier. We could download all kinds of apps and perform many other tasks; this was akin

to having a personal computer in your pocket. This was revolutionary, until Apple

pioneered the industry for virtual assistants.

On October 14th, 2011 the iPhone 4S was released which also included the new

virtual assistant Siri. (Cooperative, n.d.) This was something that wasn’t available to the

average person before. Siri listened to what you said and performed the tasks that you

asked it to do. As a user, being listened to was something you had to personally engage

in, but fast forward to 2019 and virtual assistants are engaged in our lives whether we

know or it or not. Devices such as Amazon’s Alexa, are always listening to what you say.

This is very suspicious to the people whom are aware of this factor, it feels like we are

being spied on. When we talk about a certain product and then we see advertisements

for that product on our smartphones or computers, it’s a little creepy. What I’m trying to

make clear is that user information is being harvested and used to gain profit or power,

and not necessarily with our consent. On February 27th, 2012 WikiLeaks revealed some
concerning information to the world about private intelligence firm Stratfor. About 5

million confidential emails were leaked to the public and what was gathered from those

emails is that Stratfor spies on people (not just Americans, anyone and everyone they

desire) and sells that information to whomever is interested. Again, this is concerning

because it could affect political outcomes or financial profit for certain organizations.

(Hastings, 2012)

Another significant event which occurred within the last nine years was Donald

Trump being elected as President of the United States of America. I knew many people

who were outraged because most Americans felt that Hillary Clinton was going to win

the election and that she deserved it more than Donald Trump. It was an exciting event

to watch unfold because many anticipated that we’d witness the first woman U.S.

President to be elected, yet our country was blindsided. Donald Trump won even though

Hillary Clinton received 2.9 million more votes than him. (2016 - What Happened - On

This Day, n.d.) It turns out that technological corruption had something to do with the
2016 presidential election as well. Take a look at this excerpt from the Council of Foreign

Relations website:

“The Internet was supposed to improve the quality of American democracy.

It may be our Achilles heel. The U.S. intelligence community agrees that
Russian operatives hacked email systems belonging to the Democratic
National Committee (DNC) and John Podesta, the chair of Hillary Clinton’s
campaign. They then passed along what they stole to WikiLeaks to release.
The hacking was carried out by groups nicknamed “Cozy Bear” and “Fancy
Bear,” both of which appear to work for the GRU, Russia’s intelligence
agency. The FBI notified a low-level DNC contract employee working on
tech support about hacking activity in September 2015. The contractor did
little with the information, and the FBI made little effort to get the attention
of anyone more senior at the DNC. WikiLeaks first began releasing the
thousands of pilfered emails in July 2016. They revealed embarrassing
communications among Clinton aides, potentially hurting her with voters.
In October, U.S. officials publicly blamed the Russian government. The
initial charge was that Russia was trying to create turmoil in the election
and thereby damage American democracy. However, news leaked last
week that the CIA had concluded with “high confidence” that Russia had
acted to help elect Trump and that Russian President Vladimir Putin
personally authorized the operation. The FBI subsequently concurred with
that conclusion. Trump dismissed claims that Russia acted to help him as
“ridiculous” and asked why the hacking wasn’t “brought up before [the]
election.” (It was.)” (Lindsay, Ten Most Significant World Events in 2016,
2016)

It seems more and more as technology progresses, people are finding better ways

to use it for corrupt and criminal purposes. This evidence that Russia influenced
the outcome of our presidential election is very concerning to me. Who’s to say if

we’d be better off with Hillary Clinton as our president but the mere fact that

something like this can happen is very alarming.

In a similar tune as the Stratfor email leaks, in March of 2018, it was

revealed to the public that social networking goliath, Facebook, was allowing

personal data to be extracted by Cambridge Analytica and sold without users

consent. Again, interested parties such as Ted Cruz (and one could rightfully

assume plenty others), were using this harvested data for their own personal gain

while it was wrongfully acquired. (Davies, 2015)

The last event that I would like to talk about is the #MeToo movement

which spread like wildfire and it all began in the United States. Women were

sharing their experiences with sexual abuse and sexual harassment, whether that

be in their personal or professional lives. They wanted to raise awareness on how

common these experiences are for women and it was truly shocking to see the

vast number of stories which came to light. Many famous and powerful individuals
have been cut down, fired, or prosecuted because of this movement. With the

internet and the ability to share a story with millions of people at the click of a

button, many victims are feeling like they now have a chance to be heard.

(Lindsay, Ten Most Significant World Events in 2018, 2018)

All in all, technology has been a wonderfully enriching addition to

humanity. However, it seems that over the last nine years the United States has

seen a lot of corrupt behavior within the technological realm. It has also given a

voice to many people and provided a way for humans to interact on a level they

have never been able to before.

Works Cited
2016 - What Happened - On This Day. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2019, from On This Day:

https://www.onthisday.com/date/2016

Cooperative, H. (n.d.). iPhone History: A Timeline From 2007-2019. Retrieved April 25,

2019, from History Cooperative: https://historycooperative.org/the-history-of-the-

iphone/

Davies, H. (2015, December 11). Ted Cruz using firm that harvested data on millions of

unwitting Facebook users. Retrieved April 25, 2019, from The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/11/senator-ted-cruz-president-

campaign-facebook-user-data

Hastings, M. (2012, February 28). WikiLeaks Stratfor Emails: A Secret Indictment Against

Julian Assange? Retrieved April 25, 2019, from Rolling Stone:

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/wikileaks-stratfor-emails-a-

secret-indictment-against-julian-assange-181655/
Lindsay, J. M. (2016, December 16). Ten Most Significant World Events in 2016. Retrieved

April 25, 2019, from Council on Foreign Relations: https://www.cfr.org/blog/ten-

most-significant-world-events-2016

Lindsay, J. M. (2018, December 20). Ten Most Significant World Events in 2018. Retrieved

April 25, 2019, from Council on Foreign Relations: https://www.cfr.org/blog/ten-

most-significant-world-events-2018