Blog: Privacy

In the age of new media, there is an overwhelming concern for privacy and confidentiality. Privacy and confidentiality can mean many things when it comes to technology. It can vary from something trivial like the password to your phone to having your information collected unknowingly by companies for advertisements. 

A person's phone is an extension of them self and contains a lot of personal information that should be private. That is why the passcode at the lock screen was created. To protect an individual's privacy from others. However, according to the article Survey Reveals Generation Gap in Attitudes About Security and Privacy, "Nearly half of Gen-Xers also fail to protect their smartphone with a PIN or passcode of some sort, while only 37 percent of Millennials are that cavalier". It seems that older generations are less worried than younger generations about privacy. A possible reason for that is the difference in the utilization of new media between the generations. Gen-Xers tend to use new media less than millennials because of the lack of understanding of how to use new technology. Millennials grew up when technology began to advance at an exponential rate, so they understand more about how technology works. In this newly digital age, they understand how to protect their privacy more than Gen-Xers. 

In a more macro sense, privacy and confidentiality can be violated when companies take information that is supposed to be private and send them to advertisers. While this is not an illegal practice because information online is made for the public, it is unethical and immoral because people trust in companies to keep their information private. When companies break that trust, they might end up losing consumers in the process. In the article The Wild West of Privacy, the author said, "people should have a right to control what information of theirs gets sold and what remains private." which is a great point because people unknowingly get their information sold to advertisers without their consent. Even when information is not getting sent, they are being stored which can be troubling when hackers are able to hack into the system and create a data breach. Once information reaches the internet, it is virtually impossible to erase the existence of the information from the internet. A solution for this situation is to create a more secure system that is impervious to hacking. Another solution that could put people's mind at ease is for companies to ask for consent before sending their information to advertisers. That way, people know what information they are sending and are at least aware of the situation. 

While there is no direct way to keep private online, it is important to understand and learn how to keep sensitive information private. Technology and new media will not stop advancing so it is on the users to adapt to the changes and understand how to keep sensitive information private.