Why Internet Privacy Should Be Protected

Why internet privacy should be worried about? My basic personal information has nothing which are illegal to be hided. I am not against any laws. These are thoughts that almost people believe. However, the loss of privacy causes real damage to people’s lives.

According to “Facebook Is Using You” by Lori Andrews, she starts this article by discussing about Facebook. First of all, Andrews emphasizes the way Facebook is selling users’ personal information to advertisers automatically. Then, surprisingly, she changes the direction of the article by analyzing about our privacy and the initiatives about what the social media, specifically Facebook and Google, are and are not be allowed to do with people’s personal information resources.

For the reason to get information, the media company have some tools to serve that purpose. Data from history is the enormous information sources. Cookies is the most essential one. It collects users’ clicks data in websites through surfing the internet. Background information can be collected through profile through social media, like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube,…

Internet privacy should be protected since evidences show that it can influence negatively on positive diversity in people’s lives. When your personal information are used not only to apply in the ads which have been turning on in your computer screens, but also to violate our privacy. The company get your information by depending on what you search for, what your statuses are, or what you like, etc. Consequences, your chances are limited when you compare to others, such as, getting loans or credit cards, finding jobs,…

My friend, Faryal, looked up for college to study in the future. All results from Google she could receive are about colleges in her country, India, especially colleges in the area near her house. When she try to find information foreign colleges to study abroad, more than half what she read are about inter-college program from Indian colleges to foreign colleges. That is the example about stealthy taking users’ personal information and giving limited information to them to approach new opportunities.

Using the personal information for advertisements causes impact on consumer behaviors. It can be called “personalized advertising”. That means these advertisements appear just only for each person base on this one’s information. It is fundamental knowledge that this type of advertisement roles the important model in the business on the internet. Some popular websites for shopping, for instance, Amazon, eBay, Jet,… collect your personal data and experience through the online cart to know about what you bought, what you interested in, or what your favorite lists are,… It helps the organizations predict what next you will want to buy.

My aunt loves making desserts, and she spends the big amount of money to serve her hobby, and this is one of the reason to explain why. Whenever she uses her computer for work, lots of ads about the kitchen equipments or ingredients with attractive slogan like sale with cheapest price. Thus, my aunt spend time, effort, and even money for searching, and later, buying many things, but some of them she do not really need. Besides, she forgot what she should focus on is her work, not her interests.

My cousin, Leo, borrowed my laptop to buy some horror movies and books online. Unimpressively, a bunch of creepy advertisements about this kind of scary things sprang up all the websites I visited, including Twitter’s feeds, Facebook’s timelines, or Youtube’s recommended videos, etc. It was really inconvenient, and more importantly, the feeling of being followed and not knowing how much your personal data was shared and with strangers is extremely frightening.

Another major reason need to be considered is the fact that every your move is recorded without installing any cameras around you. You are the culprit to reveal your movements. Posts, check-in, images, statuses,… all of them are the tools to record and show your activities to the public. My sister, Anh, knew her old friend travelled near her place by check-in through Facebook. They hadn’t contacted to each other for a long time, but my sister still knew everything about her old friend, including what this girl looked like, what she was doing and where she was. Some of people who bring almost their life to social media or do not care about personal privacy, do not know the dangers behind these kind of behaviors. Some kind of criminals happens because of undeliberate behaviors, for example, kidnapping, faking certificate or degrees,… You have your own responsibility about protecting your privacy and understanding how important it is.

To conclude, privacy should be protected not only from social media companies, governments, but also from every person. The unshared information should be represented as important as shared information. Every person has the right to approach information and catch the chances no matter who you are, where you from and what you did.