It is possible to predict our every move. Our every move can be predicted. All of our web searches, websites and behaviours on the internet are predicted based on the user’s history. Any personal information, such as credit card details or our likes/dislikes, that we provide online is thought to be reserved for the individual or site we have shared it with. It is true that anyone with internet knowledge and a connection can access it. Websites that we visit record and monitor all of our online activities, such as information exchanged. Although the data may not be made public, hackers can access it and leak it to anyone. Privacy is being destroyed by data harvesting.
Our internet habits benefit corporate giants. The demographics and interests of the users are analysed, then classified into different categories. Lori Andrew says that advertisers select “keywords or details” such as the relationship status of a user, their location, their interests, their activities, books they like, or employment information (9). The information collected is used by advertisers to target specific products at consumers. For example backpacks would be targeted to children and not adults. Results and ads will be displayed according to past user history. This means our internet searches and personal searches will be recorded. Moreover, advertisers create false needs. Advertisers can persuade consumers to purchase products they don’t need. The advertisers collect information about our likes, dislikes and preferences to create personalized ads. Companies make more money when they trick people into buying things that they don’t want. Irrelevant information can destroy reputations. Information shared with friends, but not made public by others, can be detrimental to a person’s life. Facebook friend of a teacher aged 54 referred to students as germs after she had contracted a respiratory illness. Although it was a private information, the authorities were able to access it and in turn she lost a job. It is not possible to delete any data that has been shared online. This is because the information is recorded and stored on various websites. Sharing information online can also affect the employment search. Employers will look at our background, including social media pages and accounts. Even if you delete the images or opinions that we’ve written, employers can still check them. Even if the information is anonymized and cleaned, the privacy of internet users is not protected as the data can still be traced to an individual. It is easy for anyone to access this information, which affects the future of us and that we only want to share with close people.
Information is easily accessible to criminals, who take advantage of this. All of our important data is online. The consumer must share personal information for every transaction, including their name, email address, phone number and bank account information. Hackers can steal this data and use it to carry out fraudulent money transactions, medical service theft, terrorist acts, or pretending to be someone else. Cybercrime is also more likely to occur when we use computers for daily tasks like sending emails, making online purchases, and online shopping. Internet banking participants must disclose a great deal of their financial and personal information to be eligible. Hackers may gain access to confidential data on the bank’s website, and then use that information to steal an individual’s identity.
Security is affected by communication online. The site stores everything we post on the internet, even private messages that we send to our friends. It is a way to make money by selling the user’s personal information to advertising companies. Tama Leaver teaches Internet Studies Department at Curtin University Perth, Western Australia. To play Zynga Farmville on Facebook, users must let the game access their Facebook profile data to authenticate themselves. Moreover, revealing personal information online can be harmful. Hackers, posing as employees of government, who locate teenagers using Facebook’s geolocation information, then contact the parents to convince them their child was arrested. This is done by stealing the profile data of Facebook users and claiming that the kid had been arrested. It is clear that social media sites can provide any kind of information, whether public or private.
Our privacy is invaded. Citizens are constantly being watched. The government uses social media data and runs algorithms on it to determine if someone is a non-compliant taxpayer. These algorithms which predict if a person will not pay tax based on their personal information may be misleading. This is because they can’t interpret how people actually communicate. The government can also discriminate by using big data. “The calculation, prediction, or recasting of criminal activity in a more favorable light creates filter-bubbles. This violates procedural rights and enables the police to target specific communities on an unfair basis.” It is racist and derogatory to make conclusions about a person’s criminality or involvement in criminal activities based on their history, gender, race or ethnicity. “Computer scientists Latanya and Sweeney have found that Google will show a 25 percent higher likelihood of showing an ad for arrest records if you search for African American names than a Caucasian common name.” This is discriminatory and embarrassing for African Americans who are not associated with criminal activity, but stereotyped because of their history.
Private information is collected and used to invade the privacy of individuals. Internet has opened up the world for us, but it has also made our private information available to others. Social media sites collect our personal information, which is used by government and advertising agencies. Hackers can also access this information, putting our security in danger. While we may think social networks are free, the truth is that they charge us for our information. Users need to be made aware of their daily tracking so they are able to protect themselves.
