Online Privacy: Is It Really Possible?

Everything that goes online can be accessed by others, and this makes it difficult for managers to identify matters and practices they should be concerned with, including consumer’s privacy (Ccnmtl.columbia.edu, 2014). Failing to protect consumer’s privacy could lead to hacking and intrusion of an individual’s personal information (Khosrow-Pour, 2002; 2). For example, social applications such as WhatsApp and Viber are becoming increasingly popular. The instant message Viber has failed to protect the user’s privacy. It has been hacked recently by the Syrian Electronic Army (“Viber free download” 2014) despite the technical measures used to protect user’s data.

It can help prevent and detect cybercrime, unauthorized access to sensitive data, and terrorism. However, over bearing monitoring policies often result in censorship and the suppression of unpopular ideas. The Internet should and possibly will always remain decentralized without being regulated by the U.N.

However, the use of social media can have risks such as the loss of an individual’s privacy. In his article, “Privacy as Product of Safety”, James Grimmelmann reveals that Facebook users care about their privacy, however they have great trouble achieving it. Frequent Facebook use raises the concern of privacy loss, since it serves as a tool for everybody to obtain information that should be kept private, it is imperative to raise awareness in order to prevent losing privacy entirely. The rapid adoption of Facebook creates a wrong image of “privacy” that users do not notice. Facebook users have the idea that their information is private.

But most often websites gather and use the data containing individual’s information without even their knowledge. Main concern of e-commerce business ventures in today’s world is lower the liability risk in regards to the site’s personal information collection practices. In order to achieve the desired success they should constantly determine and examine what kind of information is being collected by the site and should constantly develop privacy policy statement in order to protect the information. Among many aspects of crime on the information superhighway, electronic vandalism, theft, money laundering, electronic vandalism, illegal interception, electronic funds transfer crimes are some examples. In the following paper more insight on privacy issue.

Anonymity permits an individual to be contentious, to take disagreeable positions on unpredictable issues, and to attempt to change social order. This freedom of speech an... ... middle of paper ... ... of these people will shy away from expressing their opinions, as they would fear being at risk of endangering their lives. Therefore, the Internet society will be at risk of missing very significant information that may concern their lives. Moreover, the world as a whole will miss information that is vital since some of the anonymous people act as watchdogs in the society. Conclusion Anonymity must be allowed to certain levels.

Privacy is used to remain anonymity while online. While browsing online, there are lots of things that your personal information can be exposed to in the online world and there are lots of different ways to prevent this from happening. I will be discussing if it is truly possible to remain private online while using the internet effectively. Certain methods of remaining anonymous online will have different difficulties in order to follow them, I will take this into account when I am analysing my findings as not everyone who wishes to remain private online is going to be computer literate. I will also take into account that the internet is accessed through a range of devices (mobiles, tablets, and desktop PCs) so I will focus on remaining private

With a lack of disclosure on how the users' data is being gathered and analyzed with a difficulty in knowing which pieces of the data shared could later prove damaging, many users' may not be aware of the potential adverse effects of the information they share online. [1][2] Social media networks gather and analyze large amounts of data on their users' to build a detailed social graph to better target advertisements, which can create an ethical dilemma in what constitutes as sensitive user information and how that could vary between different users'. In one case that called for class-action lawsuits in the U.S was how Facebook would keep track of its users and the websites they visited via the “Like,” and “Recommendations,” buttons that many web sites include for social and sharing purposes. Facebook was notified every time a user would access a website that had a “Like” button, even if the button wasn't clicked or the user logged into their Facebook account. [3] Due to the accuracy... ... middle of paper ... ...glass-begins-and-they-arent-even-available-yet/ [9] The Day The World Fought Back https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/02/day-world-fought-back [10] Information Commissioner's Office: Cookies http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/privacy_and_electronic_communications/the_guide/cookies [11] All About Cookies http://www.allaboutcookies.org/ad-serving/ [12] Target retail http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/ Additional references used in study.

The many security risks that come with computers and technology scares many Americans to stray away from exploring this new horizon. Voting online in theory is appealing, but in practice is not realistic. Security issues and a social issue known as the “Digital Divide” provide major drawbacks to online voting, but the convenience and cheap cost can be sufficient enough to convince the United States otherwise. Security issues are the main setbacks when it comes to the topic of online voting. The Internet not only makes the average person’s life easier, but can also be abused if in the wrong hands.

Although the internet privacy policies set up some rules for website to follow and authorize websites collect part of the information for having better improvement, some internet privacy policies are not clear or people often ignore these policies and agree blindly. Anonymous web browsing is a process that hidden the information to prevent others obtain the data. The following essay will discuss the effectiveness of protecting personal information by comparing the anonymous web browsing and internet privacy policies. Internet privacy policies are used to set up the rule for organizations to follow that restrict what data can be collected, use or disclosure [1]. As the advancement of technology, there are large probability that website can collect large amounts of personal information.

Today many people are not aware of the online dangers that exist, people placing out numerous amounts of personal information to various sites, needs to become an area of interest, so that corrections to this mindset can be enforced. Over the years there have been a rise in technology, new websites are being created that enable individuals to create accounts that contains a variety of personal information, which leaves people vulnerable to scams and predators. Learning how scams work may enable individuals to learn how to avoid them. Learning to use alternatives to online sites and staying careful when browsing online is a very important strategy to keeping private information protected online. Driving to the bank, interacting in person, and learning how to use privacy settings are extra precautions that can be made by individuals to stay safe.