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Back to To the Point

To the Point

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With every click, tap and swipe on our digital devices we're creating massive amounts of data — messages, purchases, status updates – and we're archiving everything we do for companies, security agencies and other interested parties to see, sometimes without our permission. How to deal with the burden of our data trails?

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KCRW placeholderBy Barbara Bogaev • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

With every click, tap and swipe on our digital devices we're creating massive amounts of data — messages, purchases, status updates – and we're archiving everything we do for companies, security agencies and other interested parties to see, sometimes without our permission. How to deal with the burden of our data trails? Some people are turning to more fleeting forms of communication like Snapchat and Whisper, apps that erase photos and messages almost immediately after they're opened. Imagine an Internet that leaves no trace. Could these ephemeral forms of communication be a model for a new way of living our lives online, less burdened by data storage and our digital histories?

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    Barbara Bogaev

    radio journalist

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    Evan George

    Director of Content, News

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    Benjamin Gottlieb

    Reporter, Fill-in Host

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    Farhad Manjoo

    New York Times

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    Jennifer Golbeck

    University of Maryland

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    Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

    Oxford University

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