Blog Post #8: Is There Really Any Privacy

    The question that we find ourselves asking nowadays is whether there is such a thing as privacy online. It is scary t think that you can never truly have your privacy if you are on the internet. I watch a couple of TED Talks about privacy on the internet. It makes you nervous about going on the internet and doing anything. The one TED Talk that made me the most nervous was one by Juan Enriquez about the similarity between your internet life and tattoos because it really made me think about how permanent what you do on the internet is. The comparison is pretty scary because you do not think about it when you are on the internet, but anything you do is forever out there, and it's really hard, if not impossible, to get back. Though this was not the only issue raised in these TED Talks, there was a talk about how the police can track you using special cameras, which is also terrifying. Overall watching these different  TED Talks, you really put in perspective different kinds of security issues and privacy issues that come from the internet.

    The effect of these issues is the same for everyone, and that is a lack of trust in the internet and fear of what could happen. I believe that now that these issues are becoming more talked about, it seems to be causing a lot of fear among people about the internet. I say talked about because I think these issues have always been there, but it just seems that nowadays, we talk about it more. I was reading an article about Americans and privacy, But it's all about how Americans are more fearful of their lack of privacy on the internet. A graph in the article says that 62% of Americans believe that companies are collecting their data, and 63% believe that the government collects their data every time they go on the internet. This article says of her all this level of distrust that is becoming more prevalent in people nowadays.

    The real question that I think should be asked is what we can do and what should be done now. For the part about what we can do, I think it's just being more careful with what kind of information we are giving out on the internet and to who we are giving that information. It's also very similar to what we talked about in class; just be careful with small things like clearing your internet history. I think we can look to the government and what they should do to keep our information more private online. Even though we know it's not entirely possible, I think what they should do is stop collecting data on people without the knowledge of the people that they are collecting the data. I read a piece by Cameron Kerry on the adoption of a baseline privacy framework for consumers in the U.S. He proposes making something called the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. One of the things it would state was that “have a right to expect that companies will collect, use, and disclose personal data in ways that are consistent with the context in which consumers provide the data.” I think this sort of thinking would lead us in the right direction to wear privacy needs to go, especially on the internet.

     I think privacy is an issue that needs to be discussed more, especially in terms of the internet, and I think we as a people need to do a lot more about it.