Lack of Privacy Online

 Modern technology most definitely has its pros and cons. Many argue that “privacy is dead” due to the public nature of modern technology. In July 2019, Facebook faced allegations that Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy, had possession of the data of over 87 million Facebook users. Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook faced a $5 billion fine for this, causing it to be the largest fine due to a privacy breach in history. Facebook users were told many times that their data would only be shared with permission, but this scandal proved otherwise. This event took place originally in 2014, when a Facebook quiz aided users in finding out their “personality type”. This quiz collected the data of all who took the quiz, but also exposed public data of their friends. About 300,000 people took this quiz, leading 87 million left with minimal privacy within Facebook. Although this is unsettling, it gets worse. Some of this data was sold to Cambridge Analytica; they then used this data to profile voters in the United States. Fortunately, none of this data was used in the presidential election (or so they say).  Another similar, more recent event, is the Tik Tok app’s data collection in questioning. Back in July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo explained that the Trump administration was planning to limit access to the Chinese app Tik Tok. This precaution was deemed important to prevent Beijing from using this app to collect data from Americans. This app tracks location, IP address, and what type of device you are using. Optionally, the app can also see your age, phone number, and camera roll. I feel as though this is very limiting and unfair to many people, myself included. Often times many are unaware that this information is public, and I’m sure if they knew this was happening, they would be extremely upset. Overall, this lack of privacy due to technology and social media is definitely a negative for the average user. Although maybe you have better advertisements tailored to you, or a more fun social media experience, the trade offs do not seem worth it at all.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Double Indemnity Frame Analysis

Image
  This shot is a medium-long shot, including the characters Walter Neff, Keyes, and Mr. Jackson. Mr. Jackson is talking to Keyes and Walter is standing behind them with a distraught or perplexed look on his face. Walter’s arms are also crossed and his hand is over his mouth while he glances at Mr. Jackson, which leads viewers to believe he is made anxious or uncomfortable by the current topic of conversation. Viewer’s eyes are first led to Keyes due to the contrast of his vest and his shirt. Also, the white shadow on the upper third of the frame are leading lines which direct viewers attention to Keyes’ head. Keyes and Walter are located on the third lines of the frame, and Mr. Jackson is placed right in the middle of the frame. Keyes is closer to the camera making him look bigger, and Mr. Jackson doesn’t look very worried. Walter is the only one in the frame who looks nervous. Also, Keyes and Mr. Jackson both have white shirts, which may be used to symbolize their innocence. Walte...
Read more

Japanese Born American Journal #1

Image
When I looked at this page and read it, I was quick to think how strange this exchange of words was. Previously, the boy stated that he wanted to be a Transformer. It is typical for children to imagine and dream of being fictional characters, so this wasn’t unusual. He explained to the store owner what a Transformer was, and she responded with this. The first frame is a close-up of her face, and she makes a terrifying statement that would scar me if I heard this when I was younger. She explains that he can be anything he wants if he forfeits his soul. The last three words are bolted for emphasis and the close-up of her face may be to portray the importance of this statement. The following frame is the effect of her statement on the boy. As he is sitting down, he has a shocked, worried expression on his face while holding his Transformer. He is speechless and I assume doesn’t know what to think or how to respond to this crazy statement. The third frame is an overlay of him in the foregr...
Read more