(Newswire.net — December 16, 2022) — A world in which the web increasingly becomes our only source of access to reality is a world exposed to a series of hazards which until a while ago were confined to the domain of science fiction, but today represent a threat that should be dealt with immediately. This is why companies whose mission is the defense of individuals from phenomena such as privacy violations, revenge porn, fake news are springing up in Europe and the United States. Among these, the leadership of Ealixir Inc. is increasingly evident. The company, listed on the Nasdaq’s second market (OTC), was created by the Italian entrepreneur Enea Angelo Trevisan and is considered world leader in the creation, management and defense of digital identity.
Mr. Trevisan, what does digital identity mean today?
In today’s world the word “digital” next to “identity” is superfluous. Today, when we go on a date or a job interview, we meet people who have already read about us online and made up their mind. Somehow, they have already known us, and if the information they have found online is harmful to us, we risk serious consequences in real life. A negative online reputation means being rejected beforehand at a job interview, not being able to access bank credit, not receiving the phone number from a person we are chatting with on a dating app.
It doesn’t matter that our real identity is different from how it appears on the web: unfortunately, we are forced to sentence and experience first-hand what the Internet says about us.
Why is it important to defend one’s identity, as it appears on the web?
When I go to an important appointment, I’m free to carefully choose every piece of clothing, every accessory with which I want to present myself. In short, I manage the information I want to release so that others get a certain idea about me.
Today this does not happen on the Internet: anyone can put false information about us, or links that carry old and obsolete information about us, altering the way we present ourselves to the outside world.
This was already true before the pandemic, let alone in a present in which people, at regular intervals, risk being forced to stay at home and the only way they have to get an idea of a person is online.
What means are available to manage one’s online identity?
In Europe, based on the 2014 European Court ruling on the “right to be forgotten applied to the web” we can delete links containing obsolete, false or no longer current information. Thanks to other privacy regulations, we are able to obtain the same results in South America and dozens of other countries around the world. Obviously, following a strict Code of Ethics.
When you speak of a “Code of Ethics” what are you referring to?
Of course, there is the other side of the coin, that is when people who try to portray themselves as someone they aren’t. We do not work with anyone who has committed crimes against women or minors or who has been involved with criminal acts related to drugs or organized crime. I point out that it is a free choice, due to respect for the values in which we at Ealixir believe in: legally, even these people, would be protected by the right to be forgotten.
It is clear, however, that there is no regulation in this sense, no awareness of the international community about one of the most characteristic problems of modernity. But it was like this even when the automobile was invented: every new frontier needs some time before being disciplined.
Does deleting online links concerning a person pose problems in terms of freedom of the press and of speech?
Right to be forgotten and freedom of the press are two like two parallel lines destined to never intersect.
The media is free to inform and write about any fact relating to any individual in the world. However, once the topicality of a piece of news has passed, or when the piece of news itself no longer constitutes a reason of public interest, the right to be forgotten establishes the right of the individual covered by the piece of news to protect their privacy, preventing that same piece of news from persecuting them for a lifetime.
When the web didn’t exist, a piece of news appeared in the newspapers or on TV and it was talked about as long as the public was interested. Then, inexorably, the news ended up on the back burner, and remained accessible only to those who wanted to do a specific search, by consulting an archive.
The web has changed everything: news remains available forever and for anyone, even information that now belongs to our past.
It is something inhuman and never experienced before