What is Privacy?

                                            Image from VectorStock

 I read three articles about privacy. I value my privacy like any other person. I don’t use my legal name on social media accounts (other than LinkedIn), and I don’t post images of my face. My parents and friends do not tag me in images on their accounts. I clear my cookies on my work and personal devices. But I wonder if what I do is enough or too late to protect what I have, especially with more and more businesses and law enforcement using facial recognition software and AI to track everyone’s movements, spending habits, and other collectible data.

Prominent Tech analysts state that using Adblockers and VPNs helps protect your privacy. VPNs cost money when tons of people are already living paycheck to paycheck. Data privacy is low on the list. One could use a free VPN, but there is the risk of selling your data to others. Google, a company and search engine that a majority of individuals use, is the processing of making access to an adblocker on their applications obsolete by June of this year. 

 

The article from the New York Times I read for this assignment suggests using a different email for each account you make. That is too much work and effort for something I must remember, such as the email and password, years later. The same article states that we should not use Facebook. Facebook is one of the few sites where I can contact family and friends because they live across the globe without having to pay exorbitant calling or texting fees.  The article also suggests using Apple products if you value your privacy. This brand loyalty is ill-advised. As of last year, Apple was fined 8.5 million dollars for illegally collecting iPhone users ’ data for Ads.  

 

What about the students and workers who are not allowed to download or use extensions on the devices given to them? Isn’t their privacy just as important? Are they supposed to thinklessly think that their corporations and schools are updating privacy protections? What about public computers in libraries? It takes time to download VPNs and Adblockers, and when you are only given an hour to use the computer, it is easier to start on whatever you are working on than concern yourself about protecting your privacy.

 

The 2019 privacy tips state that you should change your social media privacy settings. That is easier said than done when companies make it difficult to find them or they are worded with so much legalese that the typical user doesn’t understand it. There is also the issue of companies making the selling of your data something to be opted out of after the fact when you didn’t know that was a thing happening when you created the account in the first place.

 

Even if you take all the safety measures for privacy on your devices, how do you know that devices from others aren’t stealing your data or that “Smart” devices like fridges, microwaves, and dishwashers whose settings are located on an app where you must remember a username and password are doing so too?

 

“10 Tips to Protect Your Online Data Privacy in 2019.” GeeksforGeeks, 15 Oct. 2019, www.geeksforgeeks.org/10-tips-to-protect-your-online-data-privacy-in-2019/. Accessed 27 Mar. 2024.

 

Manoush Zomorodi. “Do You Know How Much Private Information You Give Away Every Day?” Time, Time, 29 Mar. 2017, time.com/4673602/terms-service-privacy-security/.

Pogue, David. “10 Tips to Avoid Leaving Tracks around the Internet.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/smarter-living/10-tips-internet-privacy-crowdwise.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-digital-privacy&region=BELOW_MAIN_CONTENT&context=storylines-guide.