#12 Data Privacy, Revenge Bodies and the New Year
Hi there, it's been a while. We took a small break owing to life catching up and all that but we're back now. This week we write about personal data, another body-shaming trend and the new year.
Personal Data or Public Data?
- Sneha
While it’s hard to put a number on it, many experts would vouch that data has surpassed oil in being the most valuable asset in the world. Hard to disagree when you realize in just how many ways data is being produced, collected, processed and utilised around us. The rapidly improving comfort and connectivity provided by the internet has finally hit us back with the repercussions. The (overwhelming) usage of social media and online shopping has already given the big tech access to a repository of sensitive and personal information about all of us. However, now the internet has escaped the boundaries of our 5-inch screens and laptops and jumped into ordinary things around our houses like fans, lights and vacuum cleaners. And my personal technological nemesis the - AI Virtual Assistants for homes. Yes, I’m looking straight at you Alexa, you all-hearing, all-knowing digital demon. Technology is literally all around us. So is our data.
In 2018, the world found out about the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal. Major political events like the 2016 US Presidential Elections and Brexit were affected due to illicit practices by Facebook and political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. It was revealed that they had tonnes of private, sensitive data on people which they used for targeting individuals for political advertisements, eventually resulting in influencing elections in countries across the world. And of course, the users had no idea about any of this. An elaborate investigation was launched and conversations about privacy came to the fore. We realised that tech giants that we willingly give over all our data to cannot be trusted anymore. Governments and citizens were now actively worried about a potential threat to their data rights. Calls were made for data rights to become human rights.
Much like other countries, India did not have a strong mechanism to protect personal data. The Internet was more or less outside the realm of government intervention till now and tech companies (not surprisingly) read that as an open invitation to plough away data from unsuspecting users. Given the global nature of the interwebs, data originating from one country is often stored and processed in another country. This makes it even more difficult to regulate entities in foreign countries. Modi-ji maybe God but Silicon Valley is not very religious and will not listen. But things seem to be looking up. The 2019 Personal Data Protection Bill offers many respites for misuse of data by companies. It lays down criteria for how and why our data can be used and stored by tech companies. It places importance on consent from users and some other passably good provisions. But as always, some things don’t fit right. There is the obvious problem with relying too much on the consent of individuals who do not understand what they’re consenting to. When we never read and understand what the terms and conditions are, would it really make a difference whether we agree to it or not? Consent forms are usually written in legal and tech jargon that ordinary people like us do not have the capacity to interpret. So relying too much on consent kind of defeats the purpose of regulation. But that is not the most worrying part.
The provisions of the bill have come under a lot of flak for the government potentially violating the privacy of individuals in an attempt to prevent companies from doing so. It gives the government and government agencies access to sensitive information on people on certain conditions. Tech companies are obligated to share personal data with the government even without the individual’s consent if the government has valid reasons to do so. If the government can prove they need it, information like our caste, sexuality, religious and political beliefs, etc. are open for the government and law enforcement agencies. And valid reasons here include things like “benefit of the individual”, “protection of national interest” and the other usual suspects. On one hand, there is an obvious need for strict regulation for companies that may misuse our data; on the other, we must also be wary of government authorities having broad access to our sensitive information.
In 2013, IT expert Edward Snowden exposed to the world how America’s intelligence agencies employed surveillance on its citizens. There were reports of NSA listening in on ordinary people’s conversations and recording them by tapping their phones and other gross violations of privacy. With a law like the Personal Data Protection, governments are only further strengthened to create mass surveillance like situation. In India, given the establishment’s penchant for picking up people for “being a threat to the nation”/ “offending religious sentiments” oh and not to forget - for 280 character tweets, we have reason to be worried.
Right to privacy was regarded as a fundamental right by the Supreme Court. And our right to data privacy is paramount in the age of the internet, be it from vulture-like tech giants or authoritarian governments. Data is perhaps the new oil, the US is still looking to invade the digital market right?
I started writing this article to make it a comprehensive look at data privacy in India, but while researching I realised there are a lot of interesting facets to explore. So, consider this piece an introduction to what topics I hope to cover in-depth later. A first in a series surrounding data and tech policy.
WhatsApp recently came up with their new privacy policy and it has come under a lot of fire with many users switching over to other messaging apps like Signal and Telegram. Read: Indian Express
What’s wrong with the Personal Data Protection Bill? Read: Deccan Herald
What really happens to our personal information anyway? Read: Builtin
On the safety and security of the Internet of Things:
Love, Breakups, Revenge Bodies
- Diti
According to Dua Lipa’s groovy (yes, I am someone who thinks it is permissible to use ‘groovy’ as an adjective even though we don’t live in the 70s anymore) bop, ‘New Rules’, she has three rules that she follows after a breakup. Not to disagree with her but all the time that I have spent on the internet (an unhealthy amount, if I say so myself) has revealed that there is a fourth rule that Ms Lipa failed to mention. That is, losing a ton of weight in order to fit the ideal body image that society and pop culture has fed to us, so that your ex can eat their heart out with regret. The course of true love never did run smooth. This final rule even has its own name: Revenge Body.
Revenge bodies, however, are not limited to relationships. It encapsulates the idea that the only thing keeping you from living your best life is your weight and that the most effective way of getting back at someone who has wronged you is by getting a rocking body. And the media makes no attempts to change this narrative. Before/after pictures of celebrities who lost weight post pregnancy or divorces and majorly publicised breakups, majorly impact the relationship people, especially women, have with their bodies.
A recent example of this phenomenon was when Adele revealed photos of herself looking much slimmer than before. While fans were stunned to see the singer’s transformation, the media was quick to draw comparisons. Many popular magazines and news platforms didn’t take long to say that this was the perfect way for Adele to make all those who had previously trolled her for her weight to eat their words. Why must the trolls eat their words only after seeing said pictures? Adele was just as talented and worthy with the weight, as she is without. This narrative attempts to criticise people for judging people based on the way their body looks by doing just that. Every time we put a timer on how fast a celebrity loses their weight or measures how drastic the transformation is we are feeding those consuming the media a warped idea about happiness and their bodies.
Like every other trending topic, the Kardashians have managed to make money out of this one too, with Khloe Kardashian’s The Biggest Loser-esque show, Revenge Body. Hosted by Khloe this reality show involves people coming to her with stories of how someone wronged them. The solution to their problem is always hiring a celebrity personal trainer and losing weight so that the next time they confront their offender the stunning weight loss proves them wrong. While this show may not be as graphic as its predecessor, The Biggest Loser, it works on the same principle despite its attempts to have a slight body positive attitude. In her harrowing memoir, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, Roxane Gay says, “The Biggest Loser is a show about fat as an enemy that must be destroyed, a contagion that must be eradicated. This is a show about unruly bodies that must be disciplined by any means necessary, so that through that discipline, the obese might become more acceptable members of society.” The Biggest Loser may be an exaggerated example but shows like these have led us to believe that the hourglass - tiny waist - big rack ideal is what everyone should strive to achieve. To achieve this standard means magically getting rid of any other problems you might have. The lack of a romantic partner, promotion or mental illness is somehow directly linked to a person’s weight. Not only does this narrative attach happiness to weight, it also associates any potential future happiness to it.
Much closer to home this idea is often perpetuated by Bollywood, too. “Jab tak tumhara weight reduce nahi ho jaata koi ladka-wadka nahi milne wala tumhe.” says Naina (Preity Zinta) to her best friend, Sweetu (Delnaaz Irani) in Kal Ho Na Ho. I can harp on about the way Bollywood decides a woman’s ability to get into a relationship is by the male gaze with no end. (To be frank, Sweetu and Ramdayal’s love story is much less toxic than any of Naina’s relationships in the movie, but that’s something for another article.) Conversations like this further the very real body image issues that the audience is constantly battling with. Even if a person manages to achieve that ideal size / weight, it does not imply that they will be in a better mental space. Unresolved issues and feelings cannot be dealt with solely by enforcing discipline onto one’s bodies.
COVID’s not the only thing that said ‘New Year. New Me’. Like every other year, millions of people pledged to make 2021 the year they finally lose the weight that they have been told to hate. What makes this even more troublesome is that the corporates are going to take advantage of this sprout of new year resolutions by selling products and services. The same corporates also use the ‘body positivity’ tag to help them in branding and marketing, a double standard that very rarely registers in the minds of the audiences..
These resolutions often have very little to do with becoming healthy and have everything to do with hating the image that one sees in the mirror. It is a manifestation of this idea fed to us over and over, that looking a certain way will make our lives a whole lot easier. While, being the ideal size does come with a set of privileges, I wish life was that simple. 2020 has been a rollercoaster of a year for all of us. Those with proper eating, exercising and sleeping schedules said bye to all their discipline while those without had a ready-made excuse not to make an attempt. The lockdown and the consequential work from home / limited exertion has resulted in most people putting on weight. No matter how much we want it to, our revenge bodies are not going to make up for the travesty that was 2020. So our resolutions should go beyond just our size and include physical, mental and emotional well-being and we must do it for ourselves. At the end of the day, if your relationship ended because of your body, your ex didn’t deserve to have you in the first place.
Celebrity fat-shaming can have very real impacts on the audience. Read: EatingDisorderHope
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body) by Roxane Gay may be a difficult book to get through but I highly recommend you read it to understand how trauma can change the way we think of our bodies through the Gay’s own story of her relationship with her body and food.
If you think fat-shaming in Bollywood and immediately think of the likes of Guddi Maruti and Tun Tun, there’s a few newer examples for you to ponder on. Read: ScoopWhoop
New Year New Blues
- Sneha
Cue a cliche, corny New Years acknowledgement article. This last year has been a rough set of days for the world as a whole. A microorganism wrecked some pretty massive damage and big protests tried to shake things up. And the rest of the year was spent coming to terms with it. Most of our lives saw a sudden disruption from its normal course. Many declared the arrival of a new normal and we all spent prophesizing or reading up about what will change in the Post-COVID World. But not much did. As economies everywhere have stumbled back to operation, workplaces, malls and restaurants open up and people (including myself) are back on the streets. Our grisly apocalyptic version of 2020 is nearing its end, or so we choose to believe. New Year’s marks a ceremonial end to the clusterfuck that was 2020. Yeah, I know time is a construct, new years is just a new calendar and all that, but I wouldn’t take away the joy of celebration from anyone. If a new calendar gives people a sense of a fresh start and to potentially forget about a tumultuous year, then that’s a good thing right?
But we often forget that a change of dates has not taken away the pandemic. Death and sickness are all around us, we’ve just got numb to it. Politically, there’s chaos everywhere. Over 70 farmers have died at the protests in India and the flagbearers of democracy i.e. the US witnessed a bunch of white supremacists staging a coup at the US Capitol. The world slips further into a well of chaos and distress and it’s only been one week into the new year! Our free trial for 2021 has expired and it looks like it’s the same as the last one Problems like these have been around us since the beginning of humanity. Most of us were just immune and blind to it. But the pandemic forced us to slow down and take note. Suddenly we were glued to our phones for 10 hours a day and all the troubles of the world became clearer. Atrocities in our own country sounded louder and 100 other issues begged for our attention. Regardless, the year would go down in history for all its morbid glory.
Irrespective of how the year has been for you on a personal note, I hope you’ve had something to take from it. Hope you learned something new and were able to let go off something old. Hope things start looking up for us soon. Happy New Year folks!
Somethings to watch out for this week from India and around the globe:
One of the largest protests of modern India is currently underway on the borders of Delhi. Farmers are protesting against the Farm Bill and there has been no conclusion reached despite repeated talks between farmers and the centre. Here’s a quick explanation of where the relationship between the Indian Government and the farming community in India stands. Read: Indian Express
The coronavirus vaccines and their trials are all the buzz right now. We’ve even come up with our own versions of it. However, something sinister is happening as we find reports of the vaccine trials being conducted on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims. Read: Scroll.in
The US is imploding as we speak. White Supremacist rioters took over US Capitol building and Trump fanned their fires. Here’s what it means for US politics. Read: ThePrint
As a result of it, Trump was suspended from Twitter. Read: Firstpost
Richa Chadda starrer Madam Chief Minister has received a lot of flak for its casteist tropes. Bollywood could really do with a lesson or two. Read: Feminism In India
The year of grief for the world has also brought with it bittersweet art. Read: Guernica Mag
That’s all from us this week.
Love it? Hate it? Disagree with us on something or have something to share? Reply to this email to write back to us. Or you know, you can always text.
Until next week
Love & Seafood,
Diti & Sneha