How Companies Exploit Privacy Options
At the RSA Security Europe Conference, individual privacy was brought to the forefront of people’s discussions. It was argued that communication and society has changed forever and that will have a negative impact on personal privacy. In the decades before, conversations were generally done face to face or over the phone. Yet nowadays, lots of communication is carried out via email and/or websites. This creates a saved hard record of all correspondence.
Getting rid of an email does not necessarily delete it. The recipient or sender still has a copy of the email on their email account. Furthermore, large data centres make it easier than ever to record online conversation. It was argued that cheaper technology costs and increasing memory hard drives mean that saving and collecting data is now more accomplishable than it was some years ago.
You may be wondering why it would matter, but personal data is the same as money. Having access to loads of personal data will mean companies will make more money. Everyday, this is often seen whilst signing up for something new, with those ‘please cross here if you do not wish to receive any correspondence from our company’; this happens offline as well. However, how many users read the privacy policies and terms of agreement for the software we use or the sites which we use? It may end up being surprising to examine some of them and know precisely what the website can do with the data.
Facebook has routinely been derided for its complicated privacy policy and not being transparent. It is totally possible for you to read almost all the info on someone’s profile if they haven’t enabled selected privacy options. While the safety conscience among us all will ensure to set the privacy options accordingly, a lot of people usually do not know they’re exposing themselves to prospective online crime and identity theft. It’s not just sufficient to claim that it is their own problem if their level of privacy is compromised. Moreover, companies should never wish to deceive consumers for the purpose of less difficult data collection.
Google has also recently been under plenty of political and social complaints for its unauthorized collection of personal wi-fi data while collecting data as part of its StreetView services. Google basically listened in on people’s wi-fi connections and saved personal data. Google’s blas response upset plenty of people and many national governments got drawn into the debate challenging the legality of Google’s actions.
The more information an organization has on you, the more they can charge companies in order to target users. If an organization knows that you are female, aged between 30-40 and have four children, then advertisers will be willing to pay more since they are able to target their advertisements more efficiently. If an advertisement is targeted at the correct user then the sellers will get more results. Marketers are willing to pay more since then they could target with toy advertisements, home improvement advertisements, kitchen advertisements and so on, compared to advertisements for weight lifting or extreme sports (although these are gross stereotypes).
Therefore, it is key to ensure you have read the terms of agreement accurately and know your rights. Whenever you sign up for anything you are signing a contract. It would be horrible to think one hasty registration for a site could result in a negative outcome a few years down the line. Always read the small print, it might sound hackneyed but it might just save you from sticky outcomes. Similarly, you should also always have safe Internet safety practices. Owning a good password is an excellent step but you could also try a password organizer which will improve your safety! You can retail store passwords to a site and keep them secure and safe.
If you eat a lot while surfing the internet, you may experience this. Sometimes it’s so bad that it feels like murder!