I think whether or not a person thinks they have nothing to hide or not, they should be concerned about online privacy. Nowadays, people don't even realize how much information they post about themselves online. On Facebook, for example, lots of people provide their full name, birthday, and the town they live in. They also post pictures of themselves and others. Saying "I have nothing to hide" may be true in some ways. For instance, a person who has committed a crime might think that they have something to hide. People who have done no such thing feel safe to post whatever they want because they don't fear getting in trouble for anything. But everyone has something to hide. No one wants everyone in the world to know every little detail about their lives. Sometimes providing just those few bits of information I mentioned above is enough for someone to get their hands on more of you personal information, stalk you, or to give your information to more third parties. We should all be concerned that by posting every little detail about our lives that it could fall into the hands of the wrong people. Not all of your 1,000 friends on Facebook are truly your close friends. You have no idea what some people are capable of.
As for myself, I am concerned about online privacy to a certain extent. I'm not really worried about posting my birthday, where I attend school, or pictures on Facebook. However, it does sometimes cross my mind that information I post could fall into the hands of people I don't trust. When Instagram added to their Terms and Conditions that they could use your photos and give them to third parties, concern did cross my mind. I don't want to look up one day and see a picture of myself that I took to share with my friends and family on a billboard or online somewhere where I did not give permission for it to be used. We are young; we like to think that everyone in the world is good and no one is out to get us. My mom always says that our generation is naive when it comes to the Internet, and I am learning that she might be right.
I agree completely with your opinion on privacy. I'm fairly open online and even have some of my settings on different sites set to public, because I do feel like I have nothing to hide. But sometimes its concerning to think that future employers could be looking at your profiles and judging you based on that. The person I am online with my close friends is obviously not the professional one I would want employers to see. I also was concerned when Instagram changed their policies. It made me think, are my pictures going to be showing up in magazines?? I dont think that's a huge possibility since I'm not a huge "Instagram-famous" user like some, but it definitely crossed my mind.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with privacy is we are used to sharing details with close friends, and it feels so easy while on social media. However as more of our data becomes public we realize that there is a terrifying amount of information about each and everyone of us. Our societal norms developed based on a minimal level amount of information about strangers, as the people we meet gain more access to everything we do or think or feel, it becomes ever more important to safeguard our information.
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