Privacy

The definition of privacy from Google is "the state of being free from being observed or disrupted by other people". Privacy has been a growing concern in our society as more and more technologies arise and more concerns are becoming present. I have never really thought about privacy as an issue until concerns about privacy relating to my phone and social media arose. Like many other college students, I love taking photos, videos, and posting them online for friends and family to see. But who is really seeing these posts? Even though we think we are taking precautions like being safe online and making our accounts private, the internet is smarter than us.

The first video is an introduction to online privacy. Juan Enriquez compares our active lives on social media to that of a tattoo. He goes in depth to say that social media and our online posts are our a "electronic tattoo". Social media sites such as Facebook, X, TikTok and Instagram all use facial recognition. Much like tattoos, what you post on social media is permanent and while it can be removed, it isn't forgotten as it can be shared to other sites you might be unaware of. For example, the most startling part of the video was when Enriquez introduces the website "Face.Com". This is a website your face is probably on! This website was sold to Facebook in 2018 with more than 18 billon photo images of just peoples faces worldwide. I thought the extent of my privacy being invaded or taking my data was that social media companies track your data due to ads and what group of people they are targeted to but I didn't know how intense it was. 

The second video is hosted by Christopher Soghoian. He explains the concern of wiretapping and surveillance through communication such as phone calls, texts and emails. I researched and talked about this previously when I was focusing on the telephone and it's impacts. Soghoian mentions the use of wiretapping for surveillance within products through telephone companies specifically for government use. These can be tapped by other governments and intelligence agencies as well as anyone who has the capabilities. This is so scary and alarming to me because it makes me think someone can know everything about me. This also can create issues like stalkers listening in on a phone call whether it be the government or a regular person which creates physical safety issues. This also makes me question if data like my medical history or credit card information in websites is safe. Luckily, their has been an increase in protection in surveillance issues through the iPhone. Companies like Apple are getting better at programming their systems to make it more difficult to tap in. 

We all think to limit and censor what information we voluntarily put onto the internet. We know not to post things like our phone number, address, and family information. But it is vital to consider what personal information is on the internet without us sharing it or knowing about it. For example, what other people are posting about you, your employers, or your school. The rise of technology is incredibly useful but it may be getting too alarming and worrisome.