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Society is struggling with the morality of our use of technology. That's particularly true when it comes to social media platforms like Facebook, information collection and the monetization of that information.

Bruce Scheiner's book, "Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World," wrestles with unseen uses for information gathered by the technology we use every day.

Smartphone technology, he writes, "tracks where you live and where you work...where you like to spend your weekends and evenings...how often you go to church (and what church), how much time you spend in a bar...whom you spend your days with, whom you meet for lunch" and so on.

Location technologies enable companies to "deliver advertising to your phone based on where you are. Data is so valuable that cell phone companies are now selling it to data brokers, who in turn resell it to anyone willing to pay for it."

While we might recognize this as a contemporary social issue, is it an issue for Christians?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that "every practice that reduces persons to nothing more than a means of profit enslaves [people], leads to idolizing money and contributes to the spread of atheism." This understanding is rooted in the dignity of every person, "rooted in the image and likeness of God" and "endowed with freedom."

In society - and, therefore, in its technologies - "social justice can be obtained only in respecting the transcendent dignity" of people, the catechism notes. "The person represents the ultimate of society, which is ordered to him."

Can social technologies undermine that dignity? Many people would say yes:

•  A man is arrested for something serious, but is not guilty and is never convicted. Yet, after losing his career because of the arrest, he loses another job because an employer did a simple Google search that linked his name to a news story and mugshot.

•  A young person shares inappropriate images of him/herself to a boyfriend or girlfriend, and the image exists and propagates long after regret sets in.

These aren't hypothetical scenarios. While the catechism says "everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect," this is not people's experience. Bad choices and a person's past become an indelible mark on social standing -- and a tradition that teaches that God's purifying grace comes with repentance loses any analogue in society.

Hacking has exposed serious flaws in safeguards on technology: for example, remotely turning on a phone's camera without the user realizing it. Even the basic voice recognition with which many devices are equipped is used by companies to tailor-make advertising, just as Facebook profiles, Google history and online buying habits are used.

What happens when people are commoditized and personal information is exploited in order to sell more things and influence opinions -- in essence, to impede their autonomy?

The right to information is "based on truth, freedom, justice, and solidarity" and "that in the gathering and in the publication of news, the moral law and the legitimate rights and dignity of man should be upheld." As societies express themselves digitally, perhaps simple concern for "freedom, justice, and solidarity" is not enough. A balance needs to be struck between the goodness of communication technologies and the reality of exploitation.

Young people take for granted some regular monitoring. It has simply become normal for them. Perhaps we think only those who have something to hide should be concerned. But many people are disturbed to find their personal data, conversations and images exploited. Think of people who live under oppressive regimes and are singled out and discriminated against for having the "wrong" ideas, religion or social standing.

The Church reminds us in "Dignitatis Humane" -- the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on Religious Freedom -- that "the act of faith is by its very nature a free act." Freedom is a precondition for faith and is the bedrock of dignity. Even when it is barely perceptible, is it humane to compromise it even a little?

I would advocate for a critical use of new media -- a sort of examination of conscience that helps us see that technology comes with a cost: privacy for the uninformed and the willing surrender of personal information for monetization and quantification.

Technology has given us an unprecedented opportunity to share our lives, stay connected and evangelize. To not be present to that world is to not be present in society -- something simply unacceptable for a Christian. But it also requires us to separate the wheat from the chaff. 

(Mr. Acemoglu is pastoral associate for evangelization and catechesis at St. Ambrose parish in Latham.)[[In-content Ad]]

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