Blog Post #4 - Privacy

Privacy, especially when it relates to the information given out on the internet, is a huge concern nowadays more than ever. A malicious intent has definitely grown over the years on behalf of many people, companies, organizations, and governments through the years. They use technology for their own gain, even if it includes using it in harmful ways. This issue affects myself and everyone I know. Anyone who uses the internet, which is basically everyone nowadays because life has been made to where you sort of need to be on a certain communication level with others and for jobs, school, or even for just friends and family. There are companies out there that are collecting our information, about who we are, and not just basic things- but preferences, and certain mannerisms we have based on how we react and respond on the internet. This is a bad thing because it violates our privacy and is slowly turning technology away from us. I believe that the government shouldn’t be able to dictate what is said on certain platforms, unless it gets violent and harmful to someone or a group of people. They shouldn’t be banning platforms or taking things away that do have benefits for people, but they should have somewhat a little bit more control of what data is being mined and stored, and mainly being aware of what the point of keeping that data is. I recently watched a video about how car companies take a lot of data from us and we don’t even know it. Yes, they track how fast you go, and what times you use the car, and how much you press on the brakes, but they take more than that. When you plug your phone into any car, it now has access and maintains the information that is on your phone- so now the car knows even more about you than it did before. Some companies are more blatantly open about it than others, but if you read into the privacy policies of some companies, they admit to taking basically all of your information. Another insane privacy disrupter is public charging stations. These are known to also take your information and who knows for what? What do these stations have to gain, your information, that is what it gains when you plug your phone into it for power. Privacy concerns in general are a mess because anyone can come in and take your information right out of your hands, and not only that but other people can come in and attack specific areas or organizations which causes a data leak and that reveals even more private information. I think the only thing people can really do to stop this, is to be cautious of it and aware that this is happening, and to read through the privacy policies when signing up for something.