Privacy--An Endangered Species
Social Networks are leaking your private information to tracking sites, according to a WebProNews column by Mike Sachoff (see link at bottom). Are you assuming you have privacy when you visit a website you wouldn't want strangers to know about? You may well be wrong. But keep reading to learn some things you can do to help yourself.
Privacy, while not specifically guaranteed in many nation's constitutions, has been regarded as a fundamental right in a democratic government. But technology is quickly taking the right to privacy away.
I remember when it took a professional skip tracer days or even weeks to track a person down who can now be found online by an amateur in 15 minutes. I also remember when a professional webpage designer told me she learned how to access people's marital status and mortgage records online. That frightened me. But those were the long-ago days, back in the late 1990s. People weren't thinking about how much of their personal information could be gained online, and there was little security.
Now that online security has greatly advanced, so has the ease with which you can access anyone's personal information. That even includes someone's credit card information or passwords.
It's a cliche' to say we're living in the age where "Big Brother is watching you." But it's not just the government big brother who's watching you, it's big brother business, and little brother your next door neighbor, and even the guy you knew 10 years ago who now lives 3,000 miles away. He might be checking to see where you go online, or watching you through someone else's hidden camera. Walk a block downtown, and you could be recorded dozens of times. Visit a website you wouldn't want your boss or spouse or sother to know about (even one that hints at your differing political views), and they may well know.
Of course it works both ways. For a small fee, you can now sit in your living room and learn a great deal about that guy who lives 3,000 miles away, and your boss and your sother. Today, you can easily collect personal information that used to be difficult for even law enforcement to gather.
And that's the reason privacy is disappearing. People have a drive for their privacy. But those same people love gossiping about, and snooping on, others. Their drive is to spy on their neighbors, and the drive of business is to make money by any (hopefully legal) means. So technology was developed to let them do that.
Like it or not, and I don't, but technology has made privacy an endangered species.
What can you do to keep your privacy from dying altogether? First, don't sign up for social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or MySpace. Of course, many people will want to do that in spite of the risks.
Second, use your browser's function to delete cookies, those little bits of information stored on your computer when you visit most sites. You can set most browsers so this happens automatically when you log off. To be even safer, clear cookies immediately before going to a social network, log off from the network, then clear cookies again before going anywhere else.
Third, use reliable anti-spyware to help prevent tracking your personal information (that won't necessarily help with social networks, but it can help stop some anonymous party from tracking your Internet use).
Fourth, don't ever post anything online you don't want the world to see.
See Sachoff's column at http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/08/24/social-networks-leaking-users-data-to-tracking-sites#comment-92857
Image as found at https://projectbee.s3.amazonaws.com/img/Privacy.jpg No threat to any copyright it might have is intended.
Comments
Privacy is going the way of the eight track. It will be extinct in 10 years. People will be watching you on the toilet, and the government will be watching you discipline your children. Use a word they don't like in front of your kids? Agents will be there.
Posted by: Tom R. Trucker | September 2, 2009 05:55 AM
I hope privacy doesn't disappear. A lot of people won't appreciate it until it's gone. Please appreciate it now and maybe we can keep it.
Posted by: Marie Gilbert | September 3, 2009 01:49 AM
Privacy has never existed. No matter where you are or what you do, God is watching. If you aren't doing anything you want to hide from God, then you have nothing to worry about.
Posted by: Christian Andy | September 3, 2009 08:32 AM
God may be watching, but He doesn't usually steal your passwords, or fire you because you belong to a different political party, or ask for a divorce. Or am I wrong?
Posted by: Rev. Bootie | September 3, 2009 05:06 PM
This is scary. If this keep's up people will know I play Dungeon and Dragons, GURPS, and Designer(German)Games. I also watch old Kung Fu Movies and Anime. See I'm hiding nothing from God or You.
Posted by: Vernon Avaritt | September 3, 2009 09:09 PM
So now are we having peek-a-boo potties? We're both nudists but that's our choice to be seen. It's not our choice if somebody's spying on us!
Posted by: Princess Unicornia and Fairy Princess Yoshikyoko | September 4, 2009 04:47 AM
I'm watching You.
Posted by: Big Brother | September 6, 2009 01:23 PM
I'm watching You Too.
Posted by: Big Sister | September 6, 2009 01:45 PM
If you don't have anything to hide, why would you care about losing privacy? The only people who need it are those who are hiding something.
Posted by: Quinton | September 8, 2009 11:43 AM
EVERYBODY is hiding something and its none of our buisness
Posted by: Vernon Avaritt | September 10, 2009 01:22 PM
I'm not hiding anything. I admit I'm a wolfman. Really of course everybody has something they want to keep hidden. The government has no business spying on me unless they have a legitimate reason.
Posted by: Eric the Wolfman | September 12, 2009 05:54 AM
Teens who post naked pics of themselves online should read this. Their boss will see it 10 years later. And like it.
Posted by: Will Randolf | September 14, 2009 06:08 PM
You should mention "security cams" people install in their homes to spy on their kids, their home, and their babysitter while they're at the office. These broadcast a signal that's very easy to pick up. Install one of these in your home and anybody with a bit of cheap technology can be watching the inside of your home, the babysitter, you and your kids at any time. They can even be turned on remotely. And if you have a webcam on your computer at home, it can be turned on remotely and someone can be watching you then too.
Posted by: Camera Bob | September 20, 2009 05:08 PM
No.
Posted by: Hal Gooble. | October 19, 2009 05:03 PM
Be careful (and wise!) when paying for public records - some records (such as marital records) are not freely available (not that ive found) - but some records - such as military records - are available completely free! Some companies charge for military records - so be sure to check that the records you want are not available for free before you pay for them.
Posted by: Xanadu | December 5, 2009 08:57 PM
Awesome. Do you know what the worst part about the internet is? how annoying it is to try and find a reliable source of info. I've tried god knows how many different sites looking for this, and spent so long trying to find it. Coupled with the fact that half the websites just copy>paste eachothers posts, it's just.... not possible sometimes. Sigh.. anyway, now that I've finally found a good site, I guess I can stop whining.. so, sorry about that. And thankyou!
Posted by: Magaret Henry | September 14, 2010 01:19 PM