online privacy

Online Privacy

Online privacy is a relatively new issue, and something that my parets’ generation did not have to worry about. I am totally in favor of greater restrictions of what companies can do with online data and how they can collect this data. I would definitely like to see this legislation in place and, perhaps more importantly, a mechanism to enforce the law (after all what good is a law that you can’t enforce).I am in favor of these notions for several reasons. 

First of all, privacy is an important aspect of life in America. Without clear boundaries, the internet could turn into a dangerous place with little or no privacy. Literally a free for all with sensitive credit card, social security, employment, etc. data few clicks away for anyone. Without laws policing cyberspace we could all be vicitims of identity theft at nearly any moment. The same way routes of commerce need to be protected from thieves so does the internet. If the internet became less trustworthy than it already is it could b a serious disruption to our way of life and hurt many e-commerce relate businesses. 

Just as we need to protect the internet from thieves and people without ethics, I think that controlling the data-mining practices of companies like Google and Facebook is important because these companies make tremendous profits without really adding anything of value to the economy. Facebook for example sells advertising and collects data based on its users but the users themselves aren’t really made aware of this nor are the compensated in any way. To me, this type of practice seems exploitive and should be at the very least strictly policed.

Earlier this year, companies such as Wikipedia, Google, and Mozilla either suspended or modified their operations for a single day on Jan 12 in order to protest the  Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act. These internet companies felt these pieces of legislation seriously impeded their businesses and took too much power away from them. Obviously, because these companies make their livings off the internet they do want to see it restricted any more than it already is. However, for the reasons I have outline above I would like to see the internet become a more regulated entity where people can exchange even sensitive information safely and be sure they are not becoming part of a data set that will then be sold without their consent.