William Carolan
March 12, 2013
English: 838
The Internet & Privacy
More then half the world population uses the Internet. Believe it or not the US is in third place for most Internet users, followed by Europe then Asia. So that tells you something; a lot of people go on the Internet, thus they would have access to information sometimes information that’s not supposed to be viewed by the public eye but only you. Privacy is now one of the biggest out lashes about the Internet is privacy, is our information safe when we upload personal info to the Internet. As in are corporations or governments and maybe citizens, are invading our privacy rights for purposes such as advertising, or tracking. A common complaint is our Internet privacy being invaded for reasons, such as giving personal information to various types of corporations for reasons such as advertising purposes. I think that we should inform ourselves that the Internet is public property and it’s up to us make the rules, tell ourselves the risks, and that our actions may have consequences. The Internet has been considered a helpful tool for reasons such as reasons for research and communication. Are Internet websites such as Facebook, My Space and Amazon invading our privacy rights? Personally I find this perspective of the Internet being too invasive is rather dubious. The Internet may not be as private as before, but I believe its better like that, because it’s keeping us safe from criminal activity, such as terrorist attacks.
Is the Internet a safe place. I believe it can and cannot be; I think it’s the internets user’s responsibility to make it safe. The choices you make on the Internet can have either a positive or negative effect. I believe the Internet is something that should be handled with care. I believe that if you are concerned about your privacy on the Internet; then you shouldn’t upload such personal information on the Internet. If you upload too much information that you don’t want publicized for people to see, then I believe you are violating your own privacy if you are submitting too much information. A common complaint is our Internet privacy being invaded for reasons, such as giving personal information to various types of corporations for reasons such as advertising purposes. Or are they being spied on by the government or by their employers. This is the first problem with privacy, according to David Plotz of Privacy is Overrated “People care a great deal about their own, but not all about anyone else’s”(60). In this statement he refers that people worry too much about themselves and that they don’t want people to know what they look up or their personal information. However you may want to look up information on say a babysitter. You may want to know if he has a truly clean background, and does not have a history of maybe child abuse or other history of troubles, or if an employer has a history of violence. Less security is making Americans safe from lets say terrorism or criminality; in fact here is a good example Facebook helped the FBI in 2010 catch a suspect who was apparently scheming to do an act of terrorism, Facebook reported that a man named Antonio Martinez had posted publicly about his hatred of Americans and his desire to kill them. The FBI tracked him down and arrested him. I read this on the article named All Facebook: Terrorist caught through Facebook, written by Jackie Cohen. I believe if they used techniques to catch criminals like this before 9/11 they may have stopped all of the terrorists before they embarked on those terrible attacks. People in the US should understand that some people should have there privacy rights broken, because they may be up to no good, or they may be plotting to do something chaotic. In other words if you don’t want to be researched, don’t give a reason to be researched.
According to David Plottz in Privacy is Overrated “hysteria is growing that companies are shadowing us constantly”(61). What he means by this is that people are worried about companies following us online and that our information is being tracked by business’s such as Target, Amazon, and other corporations for entrepreneurial purposes. That they may be following us consistently this in some ways is true. The way it works though if they see that you may have visited there website a few times or have bought merchandise at there online or outlet stores. They will notice that you are rather infatuated with their merchandise than they may send notifications to shoppers online to suggest products that may be relevant to products such as video games, films, music or clothes they may have bought recently. Advertising methods would be that they would use our personal info that we would put on their store sites such as our address, or email information and maybe our shopping history. This may seem a little intrusive, however most companies wouldn’t be too compulsive because they should know that being to compulsive would annoy their customers. That would be bad for businesses, according to David Plottz in Privacy is Overrated “ignorant company are ignorant companies”(61). What he is implying is that the corporations who are too intrusive aren’t going to be successful businesses, the good companies aren’t too intrusive or annoying because they’re smart. A good thing about store notifications and emails from retail stores is that it would be a little easier for people because it may make shopping faster. And it may be helpful for people to find something they may like easily. Also prices of things may be reduced online; than what the price at stationary stores may be. Another thing beneficial about stores sending people notifications is that it may be cheaper than catalogs.
According to David Plottz in Privacy is Overrated “a recent study found that restricting marketing data would raise catalog clothing prices up 11 percent, costing shoppers $1 billion a year”(61). What he means is that it would cost more for the customer if distribution of marketing data not allowed. For example if you like a corporation for some of they’re clothes, a store like Victoria Secret, instead of paying a subscription fee for there catalogs of new arrivals or a huge array of items that you don’t care about, you could ask them too send you just notifications of items that may be of you’re interest. People are also worried that there personal information may not be secure on an online store such as Amazon, or eBay. Before putting credit card information on any website look at the URL at the top of the page check at the beginning of the website domain name. If it starts with a https:// then it is safe to put, you will also see a locked padlock on the end of the URL then it is a secure website. If you are doing a transaction with someone online on a site such as Amazon/eBay and you are suspicious or cautious about a seller. That he may not give you something that you are hoping for, you can do a background check on the seller to see if they have a clean history. For example they don’t have a history of selling fraudulent items and are a good candidate to do a transaction with. However, if you are still unsatisfied with the results and you are still suspicious of the seller you shouldn’t do a deal with them, trust your instincts.
So you see, the Internet is keeping us safe and makes our lives more convenient, people should note to themselves though. That the Internet isn’t a place to store your most personal secrets, it can if people want it to be but know the consequences. The Internet is public property with an unlimited supply of information that almost anyone has access to. So note that the Internet can be safe, it’s up to the user to make it safe. Note that your decisions online can have an either positive or negative impact. So is the Internet too invasive of information? I think not. I believe a little less privacy is better because it’s keeping us safe and it’s making our lives easier and more convenient. People should understand that they don’t have to put anything on the Internet but they do it for store sites to make it easier to shop. Most people are willing to upload personal information for helpful utilities such as email, or social networking sites. Why? Because they make peoples lives easier. However you should use the Internet with caution don’t share too much, because I believe you’re breaking your own privacy rights when you post too much information.
March 12, 2013
English: 838
The Internet & Privacy
More then half the world population uses the Internet. Believe it or not the US is in third place for most Internet users, followed by Europe then Asia. So that tells you something; a lot of people go on the Internet, thus they would have access to information sometimes information that’s not supposed to be viewed by the public eye but only you. Privacy is now one of the biggest out lashes about the Internet is privacy, is our information safe when we upload personal info to the Internet. As in are corporations or governments and maybe citizens, are invading our privacy rights for purposes such as advertising, or tracking. A common complaint is our Internet privacy being invaded for reasons, such as giving personal information to various types of corporations for reasons such as advertising purposes. I think that we should inform ourselves that the Internet is public property and it’s up to us make the rules, tell ourselves the risks, and that our actions may have consequences. The Internet has been considered a helpful tool for reasons such as reasons for research and communication. Are Internet websites such as Facebook, My Space and Amazon invading our privacy rights? Personally I find this perspective of the Internet being too invasive is rather dubious. The Internet may not be as private as before, but I believe its better like that, because it’s keeping us safe from criminal activity, such as terrorist attacks.
Is the Internet a safe place. I believe it can and cannot be; I think it’s the internets user’s responsibility to make it safe. The choices you make on the Internet can have either a positive or negative effect. I believe the Internet is something that should be handled with care. I believe that if you are concerned about your privacy on the Internet; then you shouldn’t upload such personal information on the Internet. If you upload too much information that you don’t want publicized for people to see, then I believe you are violating your own privacy if you are submitting too much information. A common complaint is our Internet privacy being invaded for reasons, such as giving personal information to various types of corporations for reasons such as advertising purposes. Or are they being spied on by the government or by their employers. This is the first problem with privacy, according to David Plotz of Privacy is Overrated “People care a great deal about their own, but not all about anyone else’s”(60). In this statement he refers that people worry too much about themselves and that they don’t want people to know what they look up or their personal information. However you may want to look up information on say a babysitter. You may want to know if he has a truly clean background, and does not have a history of maybe child abuse or other history of troubles, or if an employer has a history of violence. Less security is making Americans safe from lets say terrorism or criminality; in fact here is a good example Facebook helped the FBI in 2010 catch a suspect who was apparently scheming to do an act of terrorism, Facebook reported that a man named Antonio Martinez had posted publicly about his hatred of Americans and his desire to kill them. The FBI tracked him down and arrested him. I read this on the article named All Facebook: Terrorist caught through Facebook, written by Jackie Cohen. I believe if they used techniques to catch criminals like this before 9/11 they may have stopped all of the terrorists before they embarked on those terrible attacks. People in the US should understand that some people should have there privacy rights broken, because they may be up to no good, or they may be plotting to do something chaotic. In other words if you don’t want to be researched, don’t give a reason to be researched.
According to David Plottz in Privacy is Overrated “hysteria is growing that companies are shadowing us constantly”(61). What he means by this is that people are worried about companies following us online and that our information is being tracked by business’s such as Target, Amazon, and other corporations for entrepreneurial purposes. That they may be following us consistently this in some ways is true. The way it works though if they see that you may have visited there website a few times or have bought merchandise at there online or outlet stores. They will notice that you are rather infatuated with their merchandise than they may send notifications to shoppers online to suggest products that may be relevant to products such as video games, films, music or clothes they may have bought recently. Advertising methods would be that they would use our personal info that we would put on their store sites such as our address, or email information and maybe our shopping history. This may seem a little intrusive, however most companies wouldn’t be too compulsive because they should know that being to compulsive would annoy their customers. That would be bad for businesses, according to David Plottz in Privacy is Overrated “ignorant company are ignorant companies”(61). What he is implying is that the corporations who are too intrusive aren’t going to be successful businesses, the good companies aren’t too intrusive or annoying because they’re smart. A good thing about store notifications and emails from retail stores is that it would be a little easier for people because it may make shopping faster. And it may be helpful for people to find something they may like easily. Also prices of things may be reduced online; than what the price at stationary stores may be. Another thing beneficial about stores sending people notifications is that it may be cheaper than catalogs.
According to David Plottz in Privacy is Overrated “a recent study found that restricting marketing data would raise catalog clothing prices up 11 percent, costing shoppers $1 billion a year”(61). What he means is that it would cost more for the customer if distribution of marketing data not allowed. For example if you like a corporation for some of they’re clothes, a store like Victoria Secret, instead of paying a subscription fee for there catalogs of new arrivals or a huge array of items that you don’t care about, you could ask them too send you just notifications of items that may be of you’re interest. People are also worried that there personal information may not be secure on an online store such as Amazon, or eBay. Before putting credit card information on any website look at the URL at the top of the page check at the beginning of the website domain name. If it starts with a https:// then it is safe to put, you will also see a locked padlock on the end of the URL then it is a secure website. If you are doing a transaction with someone online on a site such as Amazon/eBay and you are suspicious or cautious about a seller. That he may not give you something that you are hoping for, you can do a background check on the seller to see if they have a clean history. For example they don’t have a history of selling fraudulent items and are a good candidate to do a transaction with. However, if you are still unsatisfied with the results and you are still suspicious of the seller you shouldn’t do a deal with them, trust your instincts.
So you see, the Internet is keeping us safe and makes our lives more convenient, people should note to themselves though. That the Internet isn’t a place to store your most personal secrets, it can if people want it to be but know the consequences. The Internet is public property with an unlimited supply of information that almost anyone has access to. So note that the Internet can be safe, it’s up to the user to make it safe. Note that your decisions online can have an either positive or negative impact. So is the Internet too invasive of information? I think not. I believe a little less privacy is better because it’s keeping us safe and it’s making our lives easier and more convenient. People should understand that they don’t have to put anything on the Internet but they do it for store sites to make it easier to shop. Most people are willing to upload personal information for helpful utilities such as email, or social networking sites. Why? Because they make peoples lives easier. However you should use the Internet with caution don’t share too much, because I believe you’re breaking your own privacy rights when you post too much information.