If a random person came over to you on the street, would you give him your personal information? Would you allow him to follow and record your activities? Most certainly not. Although this answer may be obvious in the physical world, the general populations’ behavior on the Internet is strikingly different. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google retain vast amounts of personal information of their users. Although this practice benefits the user as well, unrestricted profiling can be quite unnerving. Since regulation from the government may impede Internet use, and unless the threat to internet users privacy are shown to exceed the benefits, the government will not regulate the internet, rather we should educate the public how to be more responsible themselves.
The most lucrative business on the Internet is marketing. Companies have come up with ingenious ways to generate revenue with very targeted advertising. Each company has their unique method to identify their consumers, some more complicated than others. For example, on a website geared to new mothers the advertisements would reflect that by advertising for baby diapers or formula. This type of targeted advertising is understood and acceptable. The consumer benefits by having advertisements in their interests and the vendor has a higher likelihood of making a sale. The Internet has introduced novel ways to track consumer habits and interests thereby creating smarter advertising. Microsoft employs their browser Internet Explorer using “cookies” to track user habits. Cookies are pieces of text stored by a user’s web browser, they are sent back and forth every time a user accesses a web page. These can be tracked to follow web surfers’ actions. Cookies are used to store...
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...egulation may not be a solution, history has proven that the power to resolve this glowing lack of privacy lies within the hands of the people themselves. The manner in which similar issues were resolved in the past, elucidate on the present. The now famous company Truste created the Web Privacy Seal, the little icon that tells you the website is secure. Ten years ago users were to afraid to buy anything in the internet with their credit cards for fear of identity theft, now one can just look for that seal. As mentioned before Facebook’s privacy changes prompted 2.2 million Facebook members to form a group protesting these changes. Consumers are recognizing the threat to their control and in the same way in the past have come up with ingenious ways to protect themselves they will continue to stand up for their rights that will ultimately affect company policies.
Did you know that almost everything you do on the internet is being tracked and recorded in some way? In the Article, George Orwell… Meet Mark Zuckerberg, by Lori Andrews, Andrews talks about how behavioral advertising, which is the tracking of consumer’s online activities in order to bring custom-made advertisements, is a topic that is concealed to many people and can cause damage. Search engines like Google store the searches you have made and in 2006 there were search logs released which had personal information that people were judged by (Andrews 716-717). Data aggregation is the main way Facebook makes its money. Andrews believes that it’s an invasion of privacy and is not known well enough by the public. This article is aimed at young and new internet users that are ignorant of the possible dangers on the web. Lori Andrews is successful at informing novice users about the dangers of behavioral
Lori Andrews, the author of “I Know Who You are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy” is a law professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology and an advocate for online privacy. This literary work goes in depth about the need for a Social Network Constitution to help law abiding private users like you and I actually have the privacy and security we think we already have in the vast, scary, and ultra-complex cyber world. Ms. Andrews throughout her book provides thorough evidence and information about people being fired, data collectors mining through user’s data, and other horrific stories of people being abused because of their “supposed” online activities. Her work and career has been so thorough that she is a common guest on astute shows such as 60 Minutes, and Oprah. In this response, I will elaborate more on her research and her particular findings; in addition, I will provide some examples of why I also believe there must be a Social Network Constitution as a result of the of the horrific and unnecessary accounts given by the witnesses who bravely provided this information for her and her research team. Privacy is an intrinsic part of the makeup of our proud Nation, and we as law abiding citizens must do all we can to preserve this freedom and fight even harder, because right now, Social Networks and advertising companies are stripping each computer user of this sacred privilege.
Privacy is becoming rare as our society continues to become more industrialized and move towards a society hyper-focused on technology. Nicholas Carr explains this obsession with technology in his essay “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty.” He identifies three dangers that are present in today’s internet society that are: personal data can fall into the wrong hands easily, personal information may be used to influence our behavior, and personal privacy is eroding and may lead us as a society to devalue the concept of privacy. These dangers are not only possible but they are seen in our world today.
Advertisement agencies use behavioral advertisement, or third party cookies, to track customers on and off their client’s website. This allows them to create specific banner ads that display content viewed and not purchased, in hopes of getting a larger customer return and purchase rate. This practice is increasing among e-commerce and is raising concerns with ethical and privacy advocators.
Online data tracking good because it allows companies such as Google, Yahoo, and Twitter to give you customize Internet service for better experiences. Online tracking allows advertisers to precisely target their consumer’s needs based on their b...
“Human beings are not meant to lose their anonymity and privacy,” Sarah Chalke. When using the web, web users’ information tend to be easily accessible to government officials or hackers. In Nicholas Carr’s “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty,” Jim Harpers’ “Web Users Get As Much As They Give,” and Lori Andrews “Facebook is Using You” the topic of internet tracking stirred up many mixed views; however, some form of compromise can be reached on this issue, laws that enforces companies to inform the public on what personal information is being taken, creating advisements on social media about how web users can be more cautious to what kind of information they give out online, enabling your privacy settings and programs, eliminating weblining,
Third party cookies enables single-sign-on authentication (e.g. Facebook Login), web analytics (e.g. Google Analytics), and third-party advertisements [1].3rd-party cookies enable 'third parties' - websites other than those the user explicitly visits in their browser's address bar or sees on their screen - to record the user's browsing history. The third party can then archive, analyse, and/or trade, sell the information they've recorded [2]. If a first-party website is untrustworthy, users may decline to visit it. But, since users are unaware of the very existence of many third-party websites, they cannot reward responsible sites and penalize irresponsible sites. Thus, Risks associated with third-party tracking are heightened by the lack of market pressure to exercise good security and privacy practices
Part of the allure of the Internet has always been the anonymity it offers its users. As the Internet has grown however, causing capitalists and governments to enter the picture, the old rules are changing fast. E-commerce firms employ the latest technologies to track minute details on customer behavior. The FBI's Carnivore email-tracking system is being increasingly used to infringe on the privacy of netizens. Corporations now monitor their employees' web and email usage. In addition to these privacy infringements, Internet users are also having their use censored, as governments, corporations, and other institutions block access to certain sites. However, as technology can be used to wage war on personal freedoms, it can also be employed in the fight against censorship and invasion of privacy.
Internet cookies are extremely valuable to consumers and website operators alike, despite concerns that they threaten web users’ personal privacy. Without cookies, the Internet would be slower, the electronic marketplace, a difficult place to navigate and the entire online experience frustrating. The Internet Alliance urges lawmakers not to regulate cookies but to work with industry to address the underlying issues: privacy and security. Together we must alert consumers on how to use technology and common sense to protect their own personal privacy online.
People have the right to keep certain things private and it is essentially insulting, impolite, and disrespectful to ignore their wishes to keep their personal data private. Privacy may clash with essential values, so it is possible that privacy not always be possible. Citizens’ request to of privacy are often thrown to the side because of the view that protecting one’s privacy is completely insignificant. Those that are enthusiast of the “nothing to hide” argument believe that to have a serious case of violation of privacy that there had to be significant injury or loss whether it is financial or physical and not solely a feeling of disquiet. This issue with privacy is that it is never lost in one occurrence, it happens over a time and will get worse as time progresses.
Perhaps the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, said it best when he claimed that privacy is no longer a “social norm.” Virtually everyone has a smart phone and everyone has social media. We continue to disclose private information willingly and the private information we’re not disclosing willingly is being extracted from our accounts anyway. Technology certainly makes these things possible. However, there is an urgent need to make laws and regulations to protect against the stuff we’re not personally disclosing. It’s unsettling to think we are living in 1984 in the 21st century.
"We live in an age of technology, and with that an age void of privacy. We put our information out onto various social medias, chat with people we meet online, and share pictures and locations on the daily. In recent years especially, there has been a surge in the belief that the government monitors our internet use. Internet surveillance is the monitoring of computer activity and data, seen in the USA on a national level.
Cookies are used to enable us to present appropriate messages to our customers. For example, to:
As can be seen, from the information presented, the need for laws and restrictions concerning internet data collection is greatly needed. Moreover, the government can search private citizens data without warrant or cause. Also, companies are not only collecting internet user data but also selling it. The companies and agencies who commit such crimes should be fined or either closed down. In closing, the privacy and security of individuals on the internet should be upheld by the United States government.
Everyone in today’s world uses the internet without knowing its potential dangers. Hackers could steal medical histories, bank records, and credit histories with just the click of a few buttons. Companies can harvest and sell their customers’ information without any consequences. The government data mines and stores information in an attempt to target terrorists, despite violating millions of people’s privacy. People need stronger privacy protection to ensure their personal safety, to stop companies from data mining, and to prevent the government from gaining excessive control.