Hands off, my information is my property!

I was on a trip to one of my frequent destinations and on the way back, as we queued to board the plane, three ladies from the Gulf region were in front of me. One of them had a big round package that she was carrying with difficulty. I suspected it may be a cooking pot, and when I asked her, she confirmed it.

My curiosity satisfied, as I was moving with others closer to the boarding gate, one of the ladies told me they were in Dubai for a short conference about healthy foods.

Before we boarded the plane, she asked for my phone number.
As soon as we landed I turned on my phone and there was a message from her with all kinds of advertisements for “healthy” food products. I was not interested in these products that invaded my phone without a ‘hi’ and ‘how are you,’ I deleted the message.

A few hours later, I got a message from the second and third lady, all trying to sell me the same products. I was very upset that she had shared my contact without my permission, so I blocked all three numbers.

This incident reminded me of the social media invasion. Many people post photos on social media while eating, drinking, walking, and swimming.

But then, there are others who do not like this and even more, they do not like their pictures with mouths full of food, or on a bad hair day to appear to hundreds of people without their permission.

Selfishly, the person taking the selfie, makes sure he or she looks great and does not care if others in the picture have half-closed eyes or food in their mouths! This is so irritating.

I remember when we used to make extensive safaris in Africa, the new comers in our group would rush to take photos of the locals without their permission.

One day, on a trip in Kenya, a local man was so offended that he grabbed the tourist’s camera asking him to delete the pictures he had taken, telling him, “We are not animals you take snaps of!”

The other day, I received an advertisement on Facebook, trying to sell me a T-shirt with the exact month and year of my birth. Though I shared my birthday month publicly, I never shared the year. My personal information was given to some company which, in turn, used it to try and sell me their products.

Yes, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg has a lot to answer for before many start leaving his social network. No one should share, use or take advantage of people’s information without permission.