Without technology, our lives wouldn’t be just the usual walk in the park daily routine. Technology is a huge contributor to the well being of human kind. It’s hard to imagine that how difficult it would be to make it through the day without the simplest of technologies. We have grown by using the luxuries that technology provides. Technology has surely proven itself to be very beneficial, if not necessary. Some people may be confused on what exactly technology is? Technology is the systematic study of the methods and techniques employed in industry, research, agriculture, and commerce. These studies are then put to use in order to make daily life much easier. One such technology is the Internet without which one cannot imagine one’s life.
Today, the Internet has become unavoidable in our daily life. Appropriate use of Internet makes our life easy, fast and simple. The internet helps us with facts, and figures and knowledge for personal, social and economic development. There are many uses of Internet, however, the use of internet in our daily life depends upon individuals requirements and goals.
We can now do pretty much everything we need to online from ordering the weekly groceries through to booking a vacation, enjoying entertainment, finding a new job, a socializing with friends and family.
Despite the value that the Internet and modern technology as a whole have brought to our personal and business lives, there is also a downside that has to be considered. One of the things that many people are concerned about is how their personal privacy is affected as a result of the internet. In general, our privacy has been affected in a range of ways and it is little wonder that people are concerned over this matter.
First of all, let us dicuss the meaning of Privacy – Privacy is defined as freedom from being observed or receiving public attention, or the ability of an individual to seclude themselves and their information. That applies to all kinds of scenarios, including the digital world.But the internet privacy or online privacy is becoming a growing concern these days for users of all ages, all around the world. As the Internet continues to evolve, and the number of websites, online products, services, and special applications continues to expand, the full range of potential internet privacy issues grows exponentially. Ironically, people continue to daily share their personal lives on social media, losing the boundaries of how much they are exposing themselves.
There are millions of Internet users connected at the same time, all over the globe. Interconnectivity has brought incredible benefits to the world today. However, one don’t know who they might trigger online, and that’s when keeping vital, personal information private, is essential. One need to safeguard personal information such as financial data, medical records, home address, social security number, phone numbers, and much more, from being used against a person or in a wrong way.
How is Privacy violated on Internet?
Social Media:-
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat etc., they all have a lot of information about a person, their Geographical data and behavioral data connected to their interests.
However, one can not change the way the Social Media Platforms deal with one’s data. Since, most of them are free to use, they make money on creating user’s profiles and exchanging those profiles with advertisers.
Subscriptions and E-commerce Websites :-
Today, there are many online services that require one’s Personal Info when signing up for their Service. They collect lot of Personal data, so one need to carefully read their Privacy Policy.
Also, they collect credit card information, which are very sensitive financial information.
Checks on people:
Sometimes, it is necessary for someone to carry out background checks on a person, which is something that is commonly done online these days. For instance, if one is applying for a particular kind of job a potential employer may have to carry out criminal checks to see whether person have a record or if there are any pending convictions. While these checks are sometimes necessary, it does give an indication as to how easily people can get a hold of information about a persons present and their past.
Cybercrime activities:-
Perhaps the most worrying invasion of privacy online comes from criminal activities. Cybercrime has become a serious issue over the years and hackers can easily obtain information about people via the Internet. This then enables them to commit crimes such as fraud and identity theft, which can cause huge issues for individuals both on a personal level and financially.
One such recent example of privacy being hampered on internet is through Zoom app which gave data to third parties without users’ knowledge. An April 2020 piece from The New York Times alleged that popular video conferencing site Zoom engaged in undisclosed data mining during user conversations. The coverage asserted that when a person signed into a meeting, Zoom transmitted their data to a system that matched individuals with their LinkedIn profiles.
Moreover, when someone signed into a Zoom meeting with an anonymous name, the tool still connected that person to their respective LinkedIn profile. Thus, the person had their real name revealed to a fellow user despite efforts to keep it private. Zoom promised to disable the tool and remove it from the company’s offerings.
How can one prevent ones data and online behaviour from being leaked or tracked?
Unfortunately, one cannot control the data scraping, but one can control how much information one put out there. Also, if one find themself in the database of some “people-search” site one can ask them to remove their details, and then edit down the information made public via social networking.
Facebook privacy issues should be a main concern when networking. As engaging applications created by independent software developers show up frequently, one can’t know which ones are the leakers. Sometimes, Facebook doesn’t either. One can change ones Facebook password after accepting an app, to invalidate those access tokens.
As for kids’ privacy while networking, Parents must have a talk with them about online privacy threats. Also, parents can use software to monitor their online activity. In this respect, BullGuard Internet Security and BullGuard Mobile Security can act as vigilant privacy guards on the PC and smartphone, respectively. The Parental Control feature incorporated in both suites enables one to see what their kids are up to online and block their access to certain websites or content.
