Privacy, Online or Off

Privacy Issues

Ever since the explosion of the Internet and social media, businesses have started to keep track of our personal browsing data so that they can use it for their own personal gain. Anytime you remember talking about something or searching something up and then soon after see some form of advertisement about said thing, that is them using our data. Even the creators of Google who initially did not want to breach anyone's privacy eventually succumbed to using people's data in order to save their company. Companies like Google and Facebook have come under fire many times in recent years over possible misuses of data.

What Should the Government Do?

The government, if not already, should be keeping more tabs on the businesses that are using and selling our private data. The American government has been putting all the pressure on China over TikTok using our data and possibly spying on us. Most of their claims were based on China possibly trying to spread misinformation with TikTok and use our data against us. Personally, I have mixed feeling on whether or not we should ban TikTok, what I would like to see is the government going against businesses on our own turf that are misusing our data. My fear is that the government may possibly be working with these companies because they too want to use our data for their own personal gain.

What Can We Do?

One way that we can protect ourselves from invasions of our privacy is to educate ourselves in how our data is being used. Knowing how these companies take our data and sell it off to other companies can help us to understand ways of avoiding that from happening. When an application asks you if you want to get personalized advertisements, it is asking if you want to let it use your data to give you more of what you might like at the cost of your privacy. Limiting our social media use and in general technology use will allow us to control how much information these companies are getting from us. Limiting our technology use also might allow us to become more personable and interact with those we care about more face to face instead of texting each other in the same room.