Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1345126
13 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 FEBRUARY 2021 OPINION Taking control of our data dal). The problem with this hypothe- sis, however, is… well, for starters, it would instantly point towards the possible involvement of oth- ers apart from Fenech – who was not exactly the only (nor even the most prominent) protagonist in that particular scandal. So if the police are going to claim, in open court, that Yor- gen Fenech murdered Daphne 'because of what she was about to reveal about Electrogas'… it wouldn't sit very easily with their simultaneous hypothesis (i.e, that he also acted alone and unaided). On a separate level, however, that same leaked cache is now in the hands of the investigators (and has been since 2017); and while there may be room to argue that the Maltese police simply can't be trusted to evaluate the information… what about Inter- pol? Europol? Or the German police, who have (allegedly, at any rate) been in possession of Daph- ne's laptop for three whole years? Unless those, too, are some- how involved in a conspiracy to obstruct the course of justice in this case… there is no reason why they would withhold any evi- dence those emails might provide (against Yorgen Fenech; or any- one else, for that matter). Yet nothing has so far come out, a full three years later. Of course, this doesn't mean that there is 'nothing further to come out'; but it does mean that, unless this presumed evidence does one day materialize – ideally, in time to actually be used against Yor- gen Fenech in court – it is, quite frankly, useless. In any case, I could go on with the conspiracy theories – there are even those who believe that Yorgen Fenech is being 'framed'; and that the real murderers are none other than Daphne's own family (How's that for a classic Scooby Doo ending, huh?) – but… well, that example alone proves just how unhelpful all this speculation really is. Yet this, I fear, is the only pos- sible outcome of the police's pre- mature victory declaration this week. For with the investigators now excluding the involvement of anyone else in the murder - and, worse still, with the police themselves failing to provide a reasoned explanation for how they even reached that conclu- sion at all - we are all left with no other option but to piece togeth- er a scenario, for ourselves, that translates into a plausible reason to convict Yorgen Fenech – and only Yorgen Fenech – for the murder of Daphne Caruana Gal- izia. All things considered, then: I am probably far from the only one feeling vaguely unsatisfied by the final 'closure' (if such it can be called) of this particular investigation. Certainly, I don't come away with the same sense of absolute certainty – which you do, at least, get from watch- ing Scooby Doo – that ALL the bad guys really have been un- masked in final scene… … but then again, I guess that's what happens when you watch too many cartoons as a kid. IF we had to ask ourselves one thing that we could not spend time without, the mention of digital devices and the use of social networks would certainly come up. Whether it is for work or for communicat- ing with our friends and family, we cannot deny that the digital world has become an integral part of our lives. We are all aware how much our lives have changed with the advancement of digital technology, but we rarely stop to think further about the con- sequences that every click on- line may have. It is for this reason that I com- missioned a study in recent months to focus on the use of social media and the use of other digital services in the Maltese Islands. Specif- ically, the study looked at the impact that the use of these services may be hav- ing on our lives and also sought to gauge the aware- ness of the Maltese popula- tion when it comes to our privacy online. It emerged that 20% of the survey's participants claimed that they spend more than four hours every day on social media, with 80% of these indi- viduals also claiming that they believe that social media has become an ad- diction for them. And even though a per- ception may exist that the use of social media is mostly for the younger genera- tion, the findings from the study show that almost 63% of all participants, spend be- tween one and four hours online daily. When one takes stock of these results, it is easy to understand how dependable we have become on the use of these digital platforms. These platforms have become the new town squares, replacing the tradi- tional squares and physical spaces where human interaction used to take place. So- cial media has grown into the place where the majority of the Maltese choose to so- cialize, network and keep updated with the latest news. It is common practice to believe that the use of these digital platforms come at no cost to us, but this is not in fact true. Without us ever realis- ing, digital platforms are making use of the data we provide by sharing it with companies for financial gain. By analysing our da- ta, businesses can target their online advertising to those people who are more likely to show an in- terest in their product. It is unacceptable that our per- sonal information is being sold for financial gain and I believe that we have a re- sponsibility at a European Level to make sure that we act on this practice. This new digital age has brought with it countless benefits and we must ad- mit that is unlikely that we will ever stop using such platforms. Users who do so feel excluded from society as they lose the space to com- municate and express their opinion. This fact has been abused by companies where users see themselves as digital citizens while companies see us as consumers. The study shows that the Maltese give high priority to their privacy but then rare- ly take any action online to protect it, with the younger generation more willing to trade their privacy for the benefits that be- ing part of society gives them. Our aim should be to create a more just and transparent digital space where users feel free to participate and involve them- selves without being exploited for their data. For this to happen, the work must be two-fold, a focus on educating our society to protect our privacy online and legisla- tion to create a fairer playing field online allowing users to choose their preferred platforms and which data they wish to share online. Alex Agius Saliba is a Labour MEP (S&D) Alex Agius Saliba Without us ever realising, digital platforms are making use of the data we provide by sharing it with companies for financial gain