The Internet: How Private is Your Privacy?
Would you go up to a random stranger and hand them all of your personal information: home address, social security number, credit card number, etc…? This is exactly what people do every single day when they are on the internet signing up for online banking, social networks, and even online shopping. According to Internet World Stats, approximately 239,893,600 people in the United States alone account as internet users by 2010 (United States). Consequently, the Internet has infiltrated the lives of so many and has become the main source of dependency to get things accomplished. But as time goes on, and technology becomes more advanced, people are starting to see that their private information may not be as private as they once thought.
Before the internet, people had to pay their bills through mail or by taking it to the company themselves, communicate by telephone or letters, and shop by physically going to the store. As the internet advanced, the ability to pay bills, communicate and shop online seemed more appealing and convenient. With this, the act of openly sharing private information online became less of a taboo and instead became the norm of society.
Today, most billing agencies have online payment options for their customers. Although this new option has served to be more convenient and efficient than paying on paper, like all good things, it comes with its own risks. Nicola J. Mrazek, the trial attorney for the fraud section of the criminal division at the U.S. Department of Justice, reported that of all the fraud complaints received by the Federal Trade Commission in 2006, forty-eight percent were Internet related. Although the rate of complaints rose significantly, the rate...
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The Internet is a vast world of virtual information. Activities like online shopping and social networking sites have put people in the position to ask themselves how private their own information is among the rest of the Internet. Can the average person completely control their privacy or are some parts of their personal information out of their control? To go along with that, is online privacy the complete responsibility of the individual? I have found that online privacy can be difficult to completely control because of the various types of tracking and third party devices. With that said, although these devices can get private information very subtly, being informed of the information gathering methods can help a person make better decisions for their privacy on the Internet. However, complete privacy is unlikely (Mitchell, 2013).
The dangers of the internet continue to spread and cause massive effects on the way people interact and socialize. Carr explains, “Most of use view personalization and privacy
Americans pride themselves on living private lives. They appreciate the fact that they live without being under the watchful eye of someone. However, increased electronic technology has made it harder to live privately. There are privacy issues regarding Internet Service Providers (ISP), electronic correspondences, and telephone calls. More directly with the creation and increased popularity of the Internet, people who use the World Wide Web are undoubtedly concerned with their private information being leaked. The technology allows people to track your Internet activities, steal your credit card information and “hack” into your e-mail accounts. With this increase in technology comes an increase in the level of concern.
The personal connection Americans have with their phones, tablets, and computers; and the rising popularity of online shopping and social websites due to the massive influence the social media has on Americans, it is clear why this generation is called the Information Age, also known as Digital Age. With the Internet being a huge part of our lives, more and more personal data is being made available, because of our ever-increasing dependence and use of the Internet on our phones, tablets, and computers. Some corporations such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook; governments, and other third parties have been tracking our internet use and acquiring data in order to provide personalized services and advertisements for consumers. Many American such as Nicholas Carr who wrote the article “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty, With Real Dangers,” Anil Dagar who wrote the article “Internet, Economy and Privacy,” and Grace Nasri who wrote the article “Why Consumers are Increasingly Willing to Trade Data for Personalization,” believe that the continuing loss of personal privacy may lead us as a society to devalue the concept of privacy and see privacy as outdated and unimportant. Privacy is dead and corporations, governments, and third parties murdered it for their personal gain not for the interest of the public as they claim. There are more disadvantages than advantages on letting corporations, governments, and third parties track and acquire data to personalized services and advertisements for us.
If a random person came over to you on the street, would you give him your personal information? Would you allow him to follow and record your activities? Most certainly not. Although this answer may be obvious in the physical world, the general populations’ behavior on the Internet is strikingly different. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google retain vast amounts of personal information of their users. Although this practice benefits the user as well, unrestricted profiling can be quite unnerving. Since regulation from the government may impede Internet use, and unless the threat to internet users privacy are shown to exceed the benefits, the government will not regulate the internet, rather we should educate the public how to be more responsible themselves.
Hargittai, Eszter and Boyd, Dana. “Facebook Privacy settings: Who cares?” First Monday 15.8 (2010): 12-20.
Computers, tablets, cellphones and all modern tenchnology has decrease our expectations of privacy in this digital age. People don't care anyone for their privacy, they only want the benefits that modern technology has brought to them. In the essay, “Privacy is Overrated” by David Plotz (2003), argues that it is sometimes good to be open and not be bother by privacy. In Jack Shafer's (2010) essay, “The Invasion of the Cookie Monster” he argues that we are the ones to be blame for the lost of our online privacy. The didgital age has created an extremely big problem of privacy for people.
The issue of Internet privacy is not a new topic. Numerous articles displaying the urgency of the issue have been published time and time again. Yet no immediate action seems to have taken place. The issue of privacy over the Net can be in the form of personal privacy, privacy of details, and even physical privacy. The Sunday Mail published a special three-page report on June 4th 2000, outlining a variety of cases where individual’s privacy, had been invaded over the Net through various chat sites. This report was based as a warning to parents, telling of how children, and young teenagers are having their personal privacy invaded by perverted older individuals, who seduce them. Another electronic media article was that of ‘Internet privacy? What privacy!’ by James Norman. This article focused on the problems of Internet privacy, rather than the solutions, however it did come up with various interesting comments. Norman states, ‘Given the number of entities that have access to our personal information through databases and list-swapping, it becomes impossible to know how our lives are being rifled through’. Which is completely true, once you’re information is on the Net, it free for the tak...
The web has in recent years brought new concerns about privacy in an age where technology indefinitely stores and records all social media aspects, every online photo posted, every status update, blogs and twitter posts by and about us will be stored forever available for future generations to see. At the heart of the Internet culture is a force that wants to find out everything about you. In 2010 Microsoft published a report that stated that 75 percent of United States recruiters and human resource professionals that they surveyed are not only checking online sources to learn about potential candidates, but they also reported that their companies have made online screening a formal requirement before hiring any candidates. Of the recruiters and human resource professionals surveyed 70 percent say they rejected candidates based on information found on social media site. This has lead so many people’s awareness about online privacy and the need to control public access to private accounts by online privacy settings in order to protect they online and real world reputation. There have been legal suits against many sites and employer’s over the invasion of privacy on the internet. The authenticity of what the recruiters find on these social media sites should be questioned.
Our class is centered on learning about the computer and how to use it. In class we learn how computers and technology can be very helpful. We should discuss some of the negative things that can come from using this technology, and I believe that is why this article relates directly to our class. The internet is not as safe as it once was. Before, websites would promise not to release consumers’ information, but today the very same websites are no longer making these promises. I believe this article relates to class because we have all been subjected to release some personal information to a website. Everyone should be aware that when we fill out the questions of our name and age that our information is being released to different companies, and people, all over the world.
In this new era of the Internet, most people use the Internet to acquire information of one kind or other. But what these people are not aware of is that the Internet is collecting information about them. Every time we get onto the Internet there might be a compromise of privacy of our personal information. The information flows both ways. With every clock of the mouse on a hyperlink, or an addition to the mailing list, someone out there might be gathering information about us. This raises the seriousness of privacy of our information on the Internet.
Today, society is affected by the many advances in technology. These advances affect almost every person in the world. One of the prevalent advances in technology was the invention and mass use of the Internet. Today more than ever, people around the world use the Internet to support their personal and business tasks on a daily basis. The Internet is a portal into vast amounts of information concerning almost every aspect of life including education, business, politics, entertainment, social networking, and world security. (idebate.com) Although the Internet has become a key resource in developing the world, the mass use of Internet has highlighted a major problem, privacy and the protection of individual, corporate, and even government security . The argument over whether or not the Internet should be controlled by the government has developed into a controversial issue in almost every country in the world.
The first aspect being addressed is the problem with social network sites exposing information. Social networking has created an environment where it is nearly a duty to expose oneself. Profiles on these social websites are updated everyday with personal information such as locations, status, and future plans. Anyone can search another’s name and find information about their history, pictures, and activity. With the help of social networking sites...
Created for communication, the internet, both the world wide web and the deep web, is the greatest way to transmit information between multiple platforms. The exponential growth of the internet only increased its use in the world, with a myriad of digital services, like the media, articles, forums, and entertainment and social platforms, especially twitter, youtube, facebook, and multiplayer gaming, using it as a vehicle for communication and spreading information, and possibly also influence. The uses of the Internet is good to know, sure, but what does it have to do with the concept of privacy? Today, the involvement of the internet with privacy gets quite convoluted, and countless issues, successes, controversies, and terrors have occurred
Internet technology is accelerating the rate of globalization. Email, in particular, is now one of the fastest ways for us to communicate with each other, and to do business, making our world much smaller and more immediate. This same technology that can enhance our lives and accelerates the pace of global change can also destroy our personal privacy at the same rate.