Digital privacy concerns
Digital privacy is one of those topics that makes people question how personal information is acquired, maintained, and utilized across online platforms. Anytime this subject is brought up, the common reaction to it is fear due to data breaches, identity theft incidents, surveillance measures, and the potential misuse of private data by companies and government bodies. One example of this fear started when Apple added the face ID feature to their phones to let users into their phones besides putting in a lengthy password. Ever since then, it’s become a feature on most devices, websites, and banks online which is concerning. With facial scanning already taking place, where is that data maintained? I believe that this concern should be looked at more or at least not just be something to fear but to conquer.
Every day, a random user online shares intimate details about their life as if it’s nothing. This trend tends to take place on apps such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc. but when I examine these types of posts, I always think about the digital privacy concerns attached to this. Are they aware that what they post will be on the internet forever? What will happen when they decide that they don’t want to be in the public eye anymore? Usually, when this happens, fans of that user (who used to overshare online) will bring back old photos and clips of them when they were active as a way to haunt them. Let’s say that person posted a picture of where they lived in the past. Now one of those “fans” or anyone online has that information in addition to the social media platform they chose to publish it on. Again, this user didn’t think about their digital privacy and how to conquer it, instead they were careless. Of course, this is just a hypothetical situation that can apply to any influencer online that has a large platform.
Circling back to how information is acquired, maintained, and utilized across online platforms. Outside of what the online platform can do, it’s often suggested that users should take part in multiple privacy techniques to secure their privacy online. Some techniques include backing up their data, using strong passwords and multi-factor authentications, protecting their devices when unattended, etc. which seem like solid ways to keep their privacy good but are these techniques promoted to distract the average user on how to accurately keep their information safe? I bring this up because sure these methods can work but what if a dangerous, well-qualified computer hacker decides to hack one of these online platforms one uses and breeze through all of the techniques that were put into place? Addressing digital privacy goes beyond merely employing basic safety measures, it also involves scrutinizing the online companies that impose these requirements on users, as this could help alleviate the situation.
Generally speaking, digital privacy concerns will continue to be a problem If users such as you and myself don’t take control of it. Staying skeptical about the internet’s data collection practices is one of the key ways to regain control of how your data is being shared online. Although we aren’t CEOs of most online platforms that require digital privacy, we can question their practices to (hopefully) change the current state of where digital privacy stands. As Chong Wang stated in his article talking about Managing privacy in the digital economy, “Digital privacy is a multifaceted concept. In social psychology, privacy is defined as the selective control of access to the self. From an economic perspective, privacy relates to the disutility from losing control of and the risk associated with releasing personal information.” We should not allow ourselves to lose any more power online, especially when it comes to privacy.
