Privacy

Privacy

In today’s society, Privacy is something that we struggle to keep every day. Living in a world that revolves around cell phones, the internet, and social-networking websites like Facebook and MySpace, how can we keep ourselves private anymore? We barely can and it is not easy. Our privacy doesn’t solely consist of what the internet allows to trespass upon our personal information; privacy has many different meanings. Privacy is a large concern between teenagers and their parents. Privacy is the mutual trust we share with the government in relation to our confidential information. Privacy is the confidence we put into our banks, financial institutes, and medical facilities to secure our personal records. Privacy is an extremely important and controversial issue in the world today.
The main privacy concern of today is the bridge between computers and the internet. The internet creates a gap in one’s ability to conceal personal information. With the internet being so easily accessible, people are capable of viewing enormous amounts of private material such as legal documents, phone numbers/addresses, personal photos, etc. This is why information, gossip, and rumors can be spread so quickly; this applies to many outlets of life. For example, day after day thousands of individuals face identity thief due to the distribution of their personal information through the internet. So much of what we do today is web-based. Whether it’s applying for jobs, paying bills, or online shopping, we are transmitting so much information to many different sources without even realizing whether these sources are safe or not. As for social-networking sites, mainly Facebook, we are open to exposing to our families, friends, and sometimes even strangers the interests and happenings of our lives. Sharing statuses and photos keep people up to date on what is going on a daily basis. It may sound harmless, however in some cases it is not. For example, posting a status about the dates...