Online Privacy: A Big Scam

The article of Online Privacy by Patrick Marshall, discusses in depth the privacy of important personal data that is stored online such as credit-card numbers and bank account information to family photos and histories of their online purchases. He goes on to stating how the personal data that is stored online doesn’t have the same legal protection as it would if you were protecting it at the comfort of your own home. The reason behind this is because we always have hackers and advertisers who always find a way to steal your information. Hackers will hack into your system and steal your identity. While advertisers are also able to track down the websites you visit. They’re also able to view the actions you take on these websites in order to sell you products effectively according to your interests.

For example, on Facebook, if you were to put in your hobbies/interests  graphic design and art. On the right corner you will instantly see ads like Want to be a Graphic Designer? Come study at Full Sail University or Visit the Museum of Modern Art for the latest exhibit. Pressing in any of these links and sharing your information is also dangerous because you can never be too sure if an ad is really authentic or not. As tempting as these ads might sound to our own personal interests, we also need to keep in mind that not every link and ad online is trustworthy. You can also be at risk of giving a virus to your computer when pressing these links. Some advertisers are only behind the evil scheme when they try to sell you products online.

Many of them are only looking out to scam people especially those with good credit. Advertisers might also tried to sell the information that they have collected from you to others. This is why many people in congress are urging and fighting for a law to be passed down that will be able to protect the personal data of online users. But many Republicans believe that too much regulation will just deprive users from going to certain websites and that it will also just cripple down the economic structure of the Internet. I believe this statement is some what true for example, in iTunes, to set-up an account you need a credit card now. I have already heard many people complaining about this issue. I’m guessing that iTunes is using this method as a means to verify your age, or at least I would hope so.

-Astrid Sarmiento