Many people, when it comes to the internet and what pieces of information of theirs is readily available for the world to see, feel like they truly don't have anything to hide. But lets be serious here for a second, don't we all have a few secrets we wouldn't like to get out?
In my most recent Computer Science class, we watched a video that talked for an hour and a half about the troubles with "The Terms and Conditions" pages when making accounts. How many of us actually read them? I can tell you that I do not. But this video really got me thinking. It made me realize that maybe written in the fine print of some of these great long terms and conditions pages is something truly important. Most of the time when we are agreeing to these terms we are agreeing that any and all of the information in our profiles including pictures, conversations, and posts belongs to the company and another portion of those things can be used and given to the government. Is this a breach in our privacy? Yes, I think it is. Is it our own faults though; yes I think it is as well. We are the ones who accepted these terms.
I am one of those people that believe that within all of my searches on search engines, posts and conversations on social media that I do not have anything to hide. If the government got ahold of any of that information I don't think they could find any reason to arrest me or anything of that nature. However, needless to say a lot of other information about me because of these terms is out there for anyone to see, no matter how private you make it. If certain information gets into the wrong hands like my address, email address and other things of that nature i'm sure problems could arise.
We should all be a lot more concerned I feel with the things that we are posting to the web. Our lives are all over the place for everyone to see. No matter how safe we all feel and how comfortable we all feel, someone somewhere knows something about you that you didn't know. How safe could all that be ultimately? And if the government has control over all of our information through these companies could it later be used against us need something go wrong?
Right now, we might not feel directly affected by this and maybe years to come we might not either. But down the road I feel we all will start to feel the affects of losing our privacy. Anyone anywhere can know who you are. Things aren't kept a secret like they used to be anymore. Our lives are way to accessible and its nothing but our own faults. Our lives wouldn't be put out there... if only we read the terms and conditions.
Hi Allie
ReplyDeleteI definitely feel the same way about posting my information online. I know that if the government got a hold of my search history or information, I would be safe from any legal consequences, as I have done nothing wrong. But I also agree that some of our information could fall into the hands of the wrong people. I may not have committed any crimes or anything like that, but I do have things that I wouldn't want the whole world to know about me. And no matter how safe we feel, there should still be that thought of concern crossing through our minds.
-Alyssa Guida
Allie,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with what you had to say about posting information online. I don't really have anything to hide either and if the government got a hold of my personally conversations they wouldn't find anything illegal. But I also agree that some of this information could fall into the wrong hands and be used against us. I think it's creepy that anyone is able to search my name and immediately know where I live, my age, my email, etc. This information should be harder to find. I honestly want to start being more conscious about what I post on the web and there are things I wish that I never posted, not that they're bad, they're just things I don't want everyone in the world to know about me.