Privacy

"Privacy protects us from abuses by those in power, even if we're doing nothing wrong at the time of surveillance"

Privacy has always been an issue. Its just this century it is becoming more of an issue. And there is many different kinds of privacy. Ever since Facebook appeared, more and more people are creating profiles, thus doubling its original size. The issue of privacy really came into question, when the internet was created and became a worry when people began to spend more time on the internet.

With the invention of social media, people began posting information and pictures of themselves. Unknowingly slowly destroying their own privacy. A survey found that 52% of adults post information about themselves. The criminal side of the internet has noticed this. So every time someone posts something personal about themselves, they open themselves up more for cyber criminals to take advantage of them. In a video, they discuss how Facebook has killed privacy in a way.

All it takes it the wrong person to find this at the wrong time and they could ruin your life. Even those little status updates can hurt your privacy.

If you think about it, we are unknowingly giving our information out today. An example is when we travel with passes, we give away our location when we use transit passes such as Presto. It may seem simple, but within moments, you can be found (if it was found necessary) and your location compromised. So those ideas that happen in movies (ie Borne Identity) could really happen. A study found that out of more than 470,000 Web surfers, 83.6% had left an identifiable "fingerprint".

The key to keeping your privacy is to remain anonymous and keep personal information close. Be careful of the sites that you visit and make sure you absolute want to create an account. Remember whenever you create an account, they ask for your personal information. If you really wish to go in depth about it, there is a really good article to read at the global mail site, read it here. Most sites out there, give you the option to create an account, and allow you to create an profile page. On these pages you can display: Name, Location, Age, Gender, and thats just the tip of the iceberg. Image to the right is an example of a youtube form that users can fill out to control how much information is given out.

Unknown to us, every action we take on the net gives a piece of us away. Think of it like having to pay one cent for every time you look at something. It may not be a lot, but it adds up soon and will eventually become something big without you knowing it happened.