Blog Post #7

Violations of Privacy

The thought of governments and corporations having free access to your personal information is a scary thought to have, yet it is completely commonplace in our modern technologically advanced society. Our government itself reaches into almost all aspects of communication that most people use, and there have been instances in recent years where they have been caught outright spying on American citizens. Even though we are supposed to live in a free country without fear of the government watching us like Big Brother in 1984, these publicized incidents have brought this assumption into scrutiny.

On the other hand, the way that corporations violate our privacy isn't much better. When you sign up to join any kind of social media or communication platform, you sign a contract, which makes an agreement between you and the company. However, most people don't actually bother reading what they're signing, and what's in these contracts may be surprising. Many of these platforms take full ownership of any content published by users, have the right to collect and sell data about the users to third parties, and have full access to any private and personal information associated with users.

Another thing to be considered is that technology can enable not just governments and corporations to violate the privacy of individuals, but also just normal individuals can be capable of this too. These days, there is so much information about us that gets harvested and put out on the internet, and if someone had malicious intent and wanted to find out more about a person, it's easier than ever for them to do so.

Identity theft is a crime that has been happening more and more often. Data breaches of corporations sometimes happen, which leaks the personal information they had on you out into cyberspace. Cybercriminals can then use this stolen data to access even more of your personal information, and most scary of all, can even impersonate you and do things with your accounts and info while pretending to be you.

However, it is possible for people to protect themselves from corporate and individual threats to their privacy. When signing up for any kind of platform, make sure to read the contract you're signing and make sure it's something you're willing to agree to. If not, either don't use the platform at all, or don't attach any kind of personally identifiable information to your account and use a fake email. Speaking of fake emails, make sure that you have one that doesn't have anything that could identify you on it, and use that instead of your personal one on certain websites and services.