The rise of internet invades people’s privacy is an issue to people today. Privacy has several meanings. It states the quality or state of being apart from a company or observation. Another definition is it states the freedom to unauthorized intrusion, One’s right to privacy. Privacy is something that shouldn’t be taken away, Privacy can either be a good thing where people can use on a daily basis or it could be a bad thing, But unfortunately we get our privacy taken away everyday without us even knowing. Privacy is where you can relax and let your mind wander anywhere and really take the time to zone in on yourself as well as think about others.
Privacy is way to escape and find yourself when you really need it, it can take the pain away the someone has been experiencing and really help them cope with life and their everyday struggles, Everyone has gone through something hard in their life and using privacy can be their only way out but it also can be someone’s worst nightmare. Online websites are formatted so that consumers’ private information can be invaded. For example, online shopping can be a huge risk of interfering with one’s privacy and information. When people put their credit card information into the computer, the entries could be taken away by other people they can get into use of your money and all other information. Someone could get ahold of the credit card number and spend as much money as they want how they want it. The hacker doesn’t even need the credit card information; they could take the consumer’s money with other personal information.
According to Credit cards.com, “80 percent of people in this country can be identified with only three pieces of information: Their birth date, gender and ZIP code,’ Prosch says. ‘Once a company has that, it can get your name and address and start sharing your information.’ Once one person gets ahold of the information, it can be shared with multiple people that could also share your information which could lead into one big mess. The victim of this crime might not know their information has been stolen until it’s too late and can’t do anything about it, which can cause them to get into some situations they would have never thought they would have gotten into and could possibly ruin their life. The privacy of a person’s information can also be taken from a variety from ‘cookies’ in computers. According to Loss of Online Privacy: What’s the Harm?, “ Some of the cookies then allow companies to track you as you move across the Web, noting which sites you visit, which ads you click on, what you buy online, etc.” There is nothing much that people can do about having a cookie track you and your privacy because with the direction technology is going, the advancements are making it more difficult to avoid. It also makes makes it hard to control or even identify who or what is taking your information.
That same article says “When you click on a ‘keep me connected’ check box in sites such as Facebook, you are similarly allowing those sites to come along with you for the ride as you surf the Web.” Even when people are not on their accounts on social media or any online source, they are allowing those companies to have access to their personal items and get into their private information just by checking those boxes. Through search engines, information is being gathered and personalized advertisements are being generated. According to the Odyssey, “[e]veryday millions of social media users are tracked by advertisers who in turn create advertisements tailored to the consumer’s particular actions and/or interests. Many times users are unaware that they are being tracked and the advertising industry doesn’t offer the public any way to opt-out from this intrusive action. This situation basically puts these users in a trap that they have no idea they are in and if they happen to realize what is happening, it is too late for them to act out on the situation and actually stop the hacker from taking their personal information. Their information is not only being taken by third parties but also being allowed by higher authorities to get into their information and take and use it as their own. The same article reported that “the advertising industry receives backing from the government.”
In a significant way, people’s information is being shared throughout the internet without any type of protection. This is a huge issue because the people would not have anyone in a position of authority to rely on to help them resolve this issue on their or other personal privacy being taken away from them. Through this essay it is explained that our privacy is invaded almost everyday, Whether it’s online shopping that can take our credit card information and use our money, little trackers like ‘cookies’ that can track us wherever we go or as well as our history on our computers or phones creating advertisements that pop up while searching the internet, almost everyone as internet users all have a target on our back for getting our privacy taken away from us without even knowing it. Technology today is getting more and more complex as life goes on and can continue to interfere with any internet users privacy or can become even more of an issue than just privacy invasion as it continues to grow into something we can’t control.
