Blog Post #4 ~ Privacy, Online & Offline

Privacy, Online & Offline

The talk of privacy is widespread and frequent, as it should be, because privacy is essential not just for yourself but for everyone else. Nowadays, people are everywhere online, on social media, looking up something, shopping, anything. Have you ever noticed when you search something up, you see advisement or something related about it showing up on a website? That is because these things are being tracked, and "cookies" on websites can also do that. Data is collected through these websites and distributed to others.  

Privacy for me about these issues is concerning, but this is why I don't really post much on social media.  Yeah, it's cool to post something in a while so all your friends or family can see what you're up to, but there's a point where there's too much. I do use it, though, for my hobbies and interests, like YouTube, Discord, and Instagram for friends and others, but for the most part, I just lurk around when it's other social media platforms.

Speaking of Twitter and privacy, there was a point and still going on that the government wants access to "keys" to Twitter, aka personal information from users. Now, I understand why the government wants personal information from a huge social media platform to stop and track certain people, but what about people who aren't doing anything and being good citizens? One to note is they can get information when you're not online by having secret cameras to track people's private lives and everything you're doing. It kind of sucks how bad the government and departments can abuse the power of privacy.

What the government should be doing is helping and regulating these data breaches and helping people who have been accused wrongly under suspicion for just living normal daily lives. This why so many people take privacy into their own hand and try to protect themselves by using VPNs, clearing their data, or using an extension to protect themself. These methods can stop and reduce traffic and crap from being thrown out there so easily.