I love this picture so much because we really do not think about how much Facebook knows about the average person. We joke about Big Brother knowing everything about us, yet we put our location on Facebook, what we ate. Do you really think that Facebook somehow just doesn't care and won't track anything you write??
So this week is a super fun topic that nobody has been worried about before at all... INTERNET PRIVACY!!! HAHA well that was all sarcasm if you didn't catch that. Our privacy on the internet has been the hottest topic in media for a while now, and growing more popular every day. Most people hear internet privacy and immediately think about the person next to you looking over your shoulder. Well that is not even a flake of snow on the iceberg. This whole privacy thing is that fact tht every single thing you do online, on your computer or phone, is being tracked. I am writing this blog right now, anybody can view it, including CIA, all government agencies, and my neighbor. People who put everything on Facebook have got to stop.
So I am sure if you shop online, or visit the internet and browse around frequently, you see little ads next to your Facebook page and on the margins of other sites, and you think to yourself, "Oh, my gosh, how the hell did this tax website know that I love boots?" Well, the answer is simple; you are being tracked For my it is always children boutique sites. Your cursor pretty much is a GPS around the internet, and you are leading 'big brother' straight to your door with a bag of your deepest darkest secrets. In class we talked about how if you are having an affair, you better not post anything while you are gone because FB knows where your phone is because the app stays on, and your locations and messages can and will be held up in court. Also in class, we watched a video where some hacker guys had two computer screens up, on one they were on a typical dating website, on the other was a map of all the other businesses and websites that are pulling your information from that dating site. So think about it, what all is that page asking about you?...EVERYTHING!! They ask your name, birthday, country, city, hobbies, religion, work place, if you have kids, where you went to school, lived previously, etc. This is enough for anybody to steal your identity. Scary thought huh.... One time I went on a dating site, filled in all of the information and only thinking "Well only the men interested will see this info, it is not a big deal to post." WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!!
*Want to know the real kicker:::: they are not breaking any laws at all.*
True! There are no laws stating that these trackers can not sell or trade your information. The information is mostly used to dictate which ads to pop on while you are browsing, but still, but everything they want is in the palms of their hands. One of these tracking places, and data collecting places is called Acxium. They hold one of the largest collections of data in the entire world. Scary thought of what could happen if THEY got hacked, huh!? But on PCWorld.com they make the statement that is government passed a law making tracking our internet usage illegal, would it make the net a safer place and they said maybe, because 99% of users would not notice any change at all.
I have never really been worried about what I put on the internet, other than paying for goods with a credit card online. I fell confident that nothing negative will happen to me. This may sound crazy to you but I do not post my location on FB, (even though it is freely visible on the app). I will start to not post about being on vacation until I get home due to the rise in the chances of a break in while being gone. So I think overall, that it is not something that we need to stress over, but rather be cautious about what we post and to not use Facebook, YouTube, Twitter as diaries and geocashing clues :)
So this week is a super fun topic that nobody has been worried about before at all... INTERNET PRIVACY!!! HAHA well that was all sarcasm if you didn't catch that. Our privacy on the internet has been the hottest topic in media for a while now, and growing more popular every day. Most people hear internet privacy and immediately think about the person next to you looking over your shoulder. Well that is not even a flake of snow on the iceberg. This whole privacy thing is that fact tht every single thing you do online, on your computer or phone, is being tracked. I am writing this blog right now, anybody can view it, including CIA, all government agencies, and my neighbor. People who put everything on Facebook have got to stop.
So I am sure if you shop online, or visit the internet and browse around frequently, you see little ads next to your Facebook page and on the margins of other sites, and you think to yourself, "Oh, my gosh, how the hell did this tax website know that I love boots?" Well, the answer is simple; you are being tracked For my it is always children boutique sites. Your cursor pretty much is a GPS around the internet, and you are leading 'big brother' straight to your door with a bag of your deepest darkest secrets. In class we talked about how if you are having an affair, you better not post anything while you are gone because FB knows where your phone is because the app stays on, and your locations and messages can and will be held up in court. Also in class, we watched a video where some hacker guys had two computer screens up, on one they were on a typical dating website, on the other was a map of all the other businesses and websites that are pulling your information from that dating site. So think about it, what all is that page asking about you?...EVERYTHING!! They ask your name, birthday, country, city, hobbies, religion, work place, if you have kids, where you went to school, lived previously, etc. This is enough for anybody to steal your identity. Scary thought huh.... One time I went on a dating site, filled in all of the information and only thinking "Well only the men interested will see this info, it is not a big deal to post." WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!!
*Want to know the real kicker:::: they are not breaking any laws at all.*
True! There are no laws stating that these trackers can not sell or trade your information. The information is mostly used to dictate which ads to pop on while you are browsing, but still, but everything they want is in the palms of their hands. One of these tracking places, and data collecting places is called Acxium. They hold one of the largest collections of data in the entire world. Scary thought of what could happen if THEY got hacked, huh!? But on PCWorld.com they make the statement that is government passed a law making tracking our internet usage illegal, would it make the net a safer place and they said maybe, because 99% of users would not notice any change at all.
I have never really been worried about what I put on the internet, other than paying for goods with a credit card online. I fell confident that nothing negative will happen to me. This may sound crazy to you but I do not post my location on FB, (even though it is freely visible on the app). I will start to not post about being on vacation until I get home due to the rise in the chances of a break in while being gone. So I think overall, that it is not something that we need to stress over, but rather be cautious about what we post and to not use Facebook, YouTube, Twitter as diaries and geocashing clues :)
I found this meme totally hilarious because the people around you are NOT the ones to be worried about...yet you are going to look like a complete fool anyways! hahah