There are a lot of major problems with protecting personal privacy on the internet. There are many major risks. One of these risks is what is known as cookies. Cookies are only a risk when used the wrong way. Cookies contain information about what’s been on your computer and can be accessed through techniques known to hackers. Another risk is that by using an ISP (internet service provider) all of the information that you send on the internet can be observed. ISP’s do not collect all information because it would be illegal, but they do collect some information passed through there system in order to be able to provide the internet connection. ISP’s also provide law enforcement information if requested. I think this is even a privacy violation by our government because they should not be able to access all your information without warrant. There are also many other risk with internet privacy.
There are many reasons for concern as well. If personal privacy can be violated easily on the web it puts people in danger for a number of reasons. People can access your personal information about where you live, your social security number, credit card, and bank information. With just these few pieces of information you can be robbed of all your money. You can have your credit cards maxed out and your credit destroyed. If your address is accessed by someone with a grudge you could be assaulted or even killed depending on how crazy people want to get. To me privacy in connection with the web is personal information that if made public could result in some sort of harm to you. Privacy violation can harm you physically, financially, or emotionally such as in the case of harassment. Wikipedia defines internet privacy as consisting of privacy over the media of the internet or the ability to control what information one reveals about oneself over the Internet, and to control who can access that information.
I do many online transactions and privacy used to always be an issue on my mind. I buy school books, cloths, shoes, I even bough a motorcycle online so I have had a few online transactions. I used to pay the company direct which you give your account number and then send it over the net to the business. Turns out this can be very risky depending on who you are dealing with. I ordered a part for a motorcycle online about 2 or 3 years ago. I thins I found the product through EBay, but it linked you to the company website where you could pay for items. The item I was trying to buy was a new set of flush blinkers for the back of the bike. They where like 100 dollars plus shipping. The parts where in Europe, but I ordered them, and didn’t think anything of it. A couple of days later I get a call from my credit card company asking if I was making some sort of heft (like 2000) purchase out of the country. I told them no so the transaction was denied, and turned out there was a couple more charges on the card that the card company protected me against. How exactly whoever had my card number got it I do not know, but I learned not to do business out of country with unfamiliar sources on this one, and I also became skeptical of transactions over the web. I did not pursue anything on this because I did not really lose any money per say, so I am not sure what the solution could have been. What I did resolve to was using a banking purchase option that is supposed to protect personally information. It is called bank pay (BOA) at my bank, I do not know the ins and outs of it, but instead of the money that you spend coming directly out of your account, it comes from the bank, which is suppose to protect your banking information. I have been using this system for about a year and have not had any problems.
They sell a million products now days for internet security and safety, but do they really work? The way that I see it as long as technology continues to advance so will the advancements in technologies to intrude on people’s privacy. For this reason I think that transacting business or just being someone on the web will always lead to at least some sort of a privacy threat.
Sources:
Internet privacy. Retrieved 9/27/2007 from Clearinghouse
Website: http://www.privacyrights.org/
Internet Privacy. (2007). Retrieved September 27, 2007 from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Cite&page=Internet_privacy&id=159183503
Internet Privacy Risk. Retrieved September 27, 2007 from Revolution software protection. Website: http://www.proxyway.com/www/internet-privacy.html
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3 comments:
I'm one of the person who trying to avoid online transactions. Once, I wanted to buy a well know brand jacket online in cheaper price than retail ones through a private blog, but what I got was a worn second-hand jacket. Even more, there was no statement about a delievery charge on the website, but I ended up paying $10 delivery fee. Anyhow, my credit card was charged the amount of the jacket, and I could not get what I wanted. Since then, I have tried to avoid untrustworthy online transactions.
I don't do too much online shopping but sometimes it is convenient. I’m glad your credit card company caught it though.
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