Online Privacy Response

 BLOG #2  Write a regular post about issues raised in the videos you watched.

• How do these issues affect you? You friends and family?

• What should the government be doing about these issues?

• What can we do to protect ourselves from invasions of our privacy?
  

My generation was born with the internet. According to Morning Consult, 54% of Generation Z uses social media, let alone the internet, for 4 hours daily. The comparison of Orphious to social media was a good comparison. People make many mistakes in their life and should be forgiven for many of them. I have said many ignorant things that I regret in hindsight, but many of them were not on social media. It is important that people are held accountable and challenged for what they say, but everyone, I believe, has to have an opportunity to repent. It is not an easy process and should be more than just saying I'm sorry in some cases, but it is very important for society. I also thought there was a comparison that could be made to the addictive effects that social media has.  According to Jefferson Health, “Social media platforms drive surges of dopamine to the brain to keep consumers coming back over and over again." 

Social Media companies not only have little respect for privacy, but they entice the youth to release private data and use their time unproductively.  

In addition to this, companies can collude with the government to release personal information. The government can use information such as where you drive to find out what you do each day which can reveal information that is private. It can reveal if you go to church, are having an affair, or what shops you go to. Governments have regulated encryption technology so that they are able to access the communication of individuals. Such regulation leaves the door open for hackers to acquire the personal information of individuals. Governments have the ability to apprehend criminals more easily, while at the same time making it easier for crimes to occur. There is an old saying that one ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and I believe that to be true. Government access is not the solution. The government will have more spending put into putting out the fires that they are the arsonist of.  Revenge porn is also a new issue that has arisen. People can be abused by their former sexual partners and potentially have their careers ruined. It is a violation of someone's trust and privacy. The government should move to criminalize it and enact similar laws to Jamacia. 

There are a variety of different things that we can use to protect our privacy online such as limiting the amount of information we tell people online, not sending intimate pictures,  using a VPN, and make you are using apps that are encrypted. Researching which companies use your data is important.  It would also be a good idea to use programs that summarize the terms and conditions of websites. Nealy everyone simply skips through them which allows for their privacy to be violated. There is also difficult language to understand. Understanding the terms and conditions of different companies is important to know if they are really worth using. I have learned that while the individual can try to protect their data, regulation is needed to protect the privacy of individuals. 

Sources

https://www.jeffersonhealth.org/your-health/living-well/the-addictiveness-of-social-media-how-teens-gethooked#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSocial%20media%20platforms%20drive%20surges,when%20gambling%20or%20using%20drugs.%E2%80%9D

https://morningconsult.com/2022/12/12/gen-z-social-media-usage/#:~:text=Fifty%2Dfour%20percent%20of%20Gen,platform%20by%20a%20wide%20margin.