Online Privacy
We are in what they call the digital age. We are in an age of time where we have made numerous technological strides that have advanced our society. Our everyday lives consist of the use of wireless phones, computers, cars, Bluetooth, and so much more for our convenience. However, these technological advancements came with a price, our privacy. Nowadays, it is more and more easy for our privacy to be at risk. Thanks to modern technology, the government knows way too much about what goes on in our lives. This isn't something that just affects me, it affects all of us.
Things we do in our everyday lives also makes us susceptible to having our privacy compromised. With things like mass location tracking technology we are basically just walking around with our information stapled to our clothes. Examples of mass location tracking technologies used include:
Automatic license plate readers which are attached to traffic lights, police cars, or even garbage trucks. They use their cameras to capture images of every passing car and check the license plates against lists of cars wanted for wrongdoing. The thing is this isn't just capturing criminals or suspected threats but your normal everyday citizens too. All these pictures put together can basically map out where you're been, where you live, and so much more personal information. Cell tower dumps which uses cell phone towers to tell who is using one or more cell towers and at what time for the purpose of location finding. I don't know about you but I feel kinda creeped out that someone can just find my location based off my phone and it's someone that I don't even know.
Stingray is yet another tracking technology that the police force use. It works by basically tricking your phone to connect to it under the impression it's a cell phone tower. From here, they can figure out who's phone it is, where you're calling from, and the precise location of every device within range. Cops like to use this to send tracking signals inside people's homes to know who is there. Now if that doesn't make you scared, I don't know what will.
The internet has definitely changed the way we do business, communicate, and they way we go about our lives. It's not just the police force that has access to our private information, it's the government too. The government has the ability to watch in on our texts, emails, phone calls, and more. It would be different if it was just one post, one email, one text, or one call because it wouldn't seem like that big of a deal but over the years all those things add up and can tell a lot about you. Part of the problem is how companies use the personal information you give them like your name, your birthday, where you live, etc. they end up taking all this information and selling it to 3rd parties for their own benefit. Our government needs to get a handle on this because nowadays, everything is online. They should be protecting our privacy. They could do this by adding stricter limits and policies that police how much information companies collect or what they can do with it. Maybe investing in better encryption technology could also be a possibility.
Ways to keep your privacy safe online:
WhatsApp- This is a free messaging app and voiceover-IP service that uses end-to-end encryption to make sure your messages, photos, videos, voice messages, documents, and calls don't fall into the wrong hands
Don't overshare on social media- Keep your social media accounts private so you're aware of who sees your posts and use caution when posting things like your birthday, location, and other personal details
Browse in private mode- Do your web browsing in private mode so others won't be able to trace your browsing history
Signal- Is another free app that uses end-to-end encryption to protect messages and calls from third parties
Avoid using public wifi- Public wifi networks allows for anyone to snoop on your information. Avoid transmitting passwords, logins, credit card information instead use a VPN to protect your data from prying eyes
Videos that show how our privacy is exposed in our everyday lives...
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