Com. 125 Assignment #5: Privacy

So basically, internet privacy issues scare the holy hell out of me. And now that I'm finally starting to realize the potential risks that might accompany these choices that I've made about information that I have put on the internet, I'm terrified. There are many aspects as to the levels of privacy that one can put online. I think one of the most common scenarios is people putting their credit card number and other personal information onto online shopping websites. I am very guilty of this. I think that privacy is one's right for personal seclusion and freedom to keep information to oneself until they are ready to let that information out. But the problem of personal privacy on the internet is another story. People willingly hand out all sorts of information to thousands of ‘secure’ online resources. How are we to know if our identities are safe in the cyber world?

According to the MSNBC article “Privacy Lost” by Bob Sullivan, according to a recent survey, only 7 percent of Americans change their ways in order to achieve a greater level and sense of privacy (Sullivan 2006). 7 percent! Honestly, this is messed up. We seem to be a culture that puts too much faith into things we are given, never asking questions or really thinking about the future. And I repeat, I am guilty of risking my privacy on the internet. Wikipedia lays out potential ways that privacy can be infringed upon within the internet. There are ways to track users like ‘Cookies’ that HTML-writers can access. Internet Service Providers (or ISPs) can literally track and examine the content of every website one goes on and produce a list of one’s personal surfing habits (Wikipedia). Big Brother is watching. And we don’t even know it or begin to understand the power that these overseers have over us.

One time that I was personally affected by a privacy invasion was when my computer somehow got infected with spyware. Basically, Spyware is a malicious sort of virus that impedes one’s ability to fully control his computer. It redirected me to websites and randomly installed programs and accessories onto my computer. This was very annoying and I was uninformed and terrified that it was going to steal my personal information and break my computer. I got my computer fixed, and the spyware removed, but it cost a lot more than I thought it would. Now I try to keep up on virus and spyware protection updates in my privacy programs that have been uploaded onto my computer.

However, internet privacy is not solely confined to personal information being stolen by people or programs. This term can extend its reach to what people post on the internet, and more specifically, on social network sites like Myspace and Facebook. Especially in the young teen generation of this country, more and more personal information, pictures, and in-depth autobiographies are showing up on these sites. Danah Boyd writes,

“When asked, all youth know that anyone could access their profiles online. Yet, the most common response I receive is "…but why would they?" Of course, the same teens who believe that no one is interested in them are pseudo-stalking the ‘hottie’ they have an eye on (Boyd 2007).”

This quote perfectly explains this issue. Teens putting all of their information online, including phone numbers and addresses on Facebook, are seriously just asking for a real life episode of How To Catch a Predator. I don’t want to sound malicious towards these people…but honestly…how stupid can you be to put your phone number and address on Facebook? But I digress.

These sites have made efforts to fix this problem brought on by the ignorance of people who feel too comfortable and safe on the internet. Privacy settings are included on most every social network site and every shopping site that I have ever seen. But the thought sometimes crosses my mind that one day PayPal will be hacked into, and all of us will be screwed. Internet privacy is very important and all of us have to be very careful of what we put on this thing that has infiltrated our lives in almost every possible way.

Sources

1) Sullivan, Bob. "Privacy Lost: Does Anybody Care?". 17 Oct 2006. MSNBC.com. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/print/1/displaymode/1098/

2) Wikipedia Article. "Internet Privacy". Accessed 26 Sept 2008.

3) boyd, danah. 2007. “Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What?”. Knowledge Tree. Accessed 26 Sept 2008. http://www.danah.org/papers/KnowledgeTree.pdf.