Collection of data first
There are many reasons to be excited and not worried about the collection of user data from websites and mobile applications. Since the beginning of 2017, there has been an increase in the number of websites participating in the collection of user data, this is called metadata. Metadata is extra information about data collected via website or application visits, it is a description of data allowing businesses and developers to better understand, use and develop their customer experience. Without the collection of data of website or application visits, businesses and developers would be without feedback about the characteristics of their customers limiting the amount of improvements possible for the service they
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Some may argue that metadata collection may become uncontrollable although, the collection of personal data can easily be monitored to prevent misuse. Internet providers and the government can easily monitor and prevent businesses and developers from collecting irrelevant personal data. In fact government agencies in Australia are already accessing metadata according to Sydney Morning Herald “Agencies accessed metadata 330,640 times in 2012-13 - an 11 per cent increase in a year and a jump of 31 per cent over two years” (Grubb & Massola, 2014).
Product relevant personal data should definitely be allowed for collection via businesses as product relevant personal data provides business with vital information about their online customer bases and current products. For example, a clothing store that collects relevant personal data may be collecting the age and gender of their website visitors. If the data collected from the clothing store showed an increase in 30 to 40-year-old female visitors the data could influence the businesses decisions, resulting in the business stocking more of female clothing for 30 to 40 year old females. Through information like this businesses and developers can develop a long-term and short-term vison easily using metadata
Jim Harper, the Webmaster of WashingtonWatch, feels, “People should get smart and learn how to control personal information.” However, at this time, the only way to thoroughly control your personal information is to avoid the internet altogether. Once a web purchase is completed or a post is liked, that data moves beyond the reach of that individual. An identity is created, but the one it identifies has no authority in the matter. The data brokers have carte blanche to handle or pass along information as they please. Truth and privacy become casualties when the only concern is how to make a profit, and there's always a profit to be made. As Alexis Madrigal noted, “Every move you make on the internet is worth some tiny amount to someone.” Individuals should have control over their internet identity after their hands leave the keyboard. The damage done, whether purposeful or unintended, is too great of a risk to let continue. In the meantime, Jim Harper's limited solution should not be ignored. Each individual must be attentive to what data they make available. For now, it is the only power we
As Justin Brookman says, “‘Without a framework in place to assure everyday consumers of the ability to limit the collection and retention of the minutiae of their lives by unknown third parties, any sense of a realm of personal privacy may completely evaporate’” (Tapscott 119). There should always be some sense of mystery in the world. Third party sources often find a way of getting information that Internet users did not give them express permission to. The flow of information goes further than most people realize, which is where the dangerous invasion of privacy comes in. A sharing is caring mentality is all good and fun until a third party uses it against you. We should beware the extent to which our information can spread without our
To begin, Jaron Lanier, author of the article, “How Should We Think about Privacy?” and computer scientist at Microsoft Research, states that people should be able to have complete control over their personal information by monetizing it. This would lead up to being able to make profits out of his/hers private data by selling it. If the government or a corporation wants to own someones contact information, they would have to buy it off of the people at whatever price he/she puts on it because monetizing would allow one to have full power over their own privacy. This is
The focus of our intelligence agencies to gather as much data as possible is completely wrong and has had lethal consequences, from 9/11 to 7/7 to Paris, Brussels and Nice. You don’t need all the data about everybody in the world to discover and react to threats. If you do try to gather such vast volumes of data, you flood your analysts, decision makers and police with garbage. They need the right data and they need it in time. The only way to get there is by upfront filtering for targets, which can be done through metadata – information about the sender, recipient and receiver of an email or phone call. That, in turn, has a nice side-effect: it gives privacy to more than 99% of people who are not known targets or demonstrating behaviour that
Over the past few years, the development of the Internet and the intrusive surveillance capabilities of these technologies have caused privacy to become a major political and social issue for millions of Americans who go online. Companies employ a variety of tools to gather marketable information on American citizens. Most of the use of this information is for personalized advertisement and to create databases of target audiences. While these activities may appear to be nothing more than annoyances for a majority of Americans, there is the hidden danger of the loss of privacy.
Metadata is used by the government to know all your secrets like emails, mobile phone, Facebook, and web browsers. Metadata is a software the government uses to identify what you are doing. I don’t think it is such a bad idea for the government to track your every moment. It’s not like they are following you around on foot and spying on you. It is just a control software they use to identify certain security features people use every
Government surveillance in the past was not a big threat due to the limitations on technology; however, in the current day, it has become an immense power for the government. Taylor, author of a book on Electronic Surveillance supports, "A generation ago, when records were tucked away on paper in manila folders, there was some assurance that such information wouldn 't be spread everywhere. Now, however, our life stories are available at the push of a button" (Taylor 111). With more and more Americans logging into social media cites and using text-messaging devices, the more providers of metadata the government has. In her journal “The Virtuous Spy: Privacy as an Ethical Limit”, Anita L. Allen, an expert on privacy law, writes, “Contemporary technologies of data collection make secret, privacy invading surveillance easy and nearly irresistible. For every technology of confidential personal communication…there are one or more counter-technologies of eavesdropping” (Allen 1). Being in the middle of the Digital Age, we have to be much more careful of the kinds of information we put in our digital devices.
Not including alphabetic characters in a Social Security Number field is an example of _____.
Pro argues this is significant in a bad way as it gives companies a large amount of power. I’m not seeing it, perhaps pro could explain why a corporation having my information gives those companies power that results in a net negative. Furthermore, pro concedes that currently companies get this information when people post personal data on networking sites. Thus, people are already equipped with a way to reasonably prevent businesses from getting their data. Of course that is by not posting their information online. No one is forced to put such information on the internet. This solution turns out to be more effective than what pro is suggesting. Ultimately it is up to people as individuals to protect their own information. We do not need a nanny state to do something for us reasonably easy to do.
However, the customers are the weaker side when they compete with the corporations. People have to spend so much time on privacy policies provided by the corporations, which most of the time do not match with the actual practice. Even more important is that the customers are not fully aware the action and the danger of data collection. Many people believe that the data collection would do no harm to them, and adversely it could become a mutual benefit as the corporations provide better service. However, it is not that simple. All of customers’ information is linked to people’s privacy. This collection could generate far-reaching effects, especially related to our lifestyles or sensitive medical histories. Samuel Greengard, the author of “Advertising Gets Personal”, writes about how data collection influences our lives. For example, the prospected employer may refuse to hire a person according to their medical record or personal lifestyle. It may lead to the exposition of all of the privacy (Greengard
How far is too far when it comes to privacy? In a rapidly developing digital age, the boundaries are constantly expanding as new technology emerges. Data mining is not going away, so the debate on privacy becomes increasingly relevant. The line between what is ethical and unethical quickly become blurred, and certain entities are bound to take advantage of that gray area. Corporations claim they are collecting private data for marketing research to serve more relevant advertising and increase profits. Despite the marketing benefits of digital data collection, it is unethical for corporations to collect private digital data without taking proper measures to protect privacy.
Mark Zuckerberg claimed that privacy is no longer a “social norm” (theguardian.com). In the case of Edward Snowden’s revelations, what constitutes privacy is still a fervent debate. Privacy is not binary, being either private or public, but exists in an intermediate state. Privacy is not secrecy, or keeping information strictly to yourself, but awareness of who access to it, who can use it, and who can disclose it (Richards 410). With big data, potentially identifiable metadata is perceived as a loss of privacy. Privacy is more than mere protection against the collection of data, but control over the flow of information. Data brokers and companies signify an asymmetrical control (cbsnews.com). Today’s privacy laws incorporate the “Fair Information Principles”, where consumers regain control over their personal information (Richards 412). Companies employ “privacy self-management” with privacy notices and the choice to opt out of agreements before disclosing personal information (Solove 1880). Few read the entire “terms and conditions” before giving consent and fewer follow its modifications. This creates a “consent dilemma”, describing consumer difficulty in weighing cost to benefits of service (Solove 1881). It would take users hundreds of hours per year to accomplish this task (Richards 413). Privacy oversight cannot be regulated solely by government, but must be implemented by the companies to
Personal data is quickly becoming a commodity in today's high technology world. This information is used by banks, investment and brokerage companies, credit card merchants, government agencies (local, state and federal), and consumer product-based companies. Most people probably don't realize the amount of information that's shared between companies, or how often it's done. Many companies sell and share customer data to help sell products and find out what new products they should produce. Other uses include gathering information about inventory levels to help better determine what types of products are bought at which store, when and how often. This can be used for inventory and production, to make sure that the store (or
In general, there are several methods for data collection and the different data collection methods provided its own advantages and disadvantages (Sekaran 2003, p. 223). For carrying out the data collection, the appropriate methods should be applied. In the research, the data collection could be done through the interview, for example, face-to-face and telephone interview. To collect the data by using interview technique, the questionnaire is commonly employed as the instrument for gathering data, the questionnaire could be able to distribute by mail or electronic mail. In addition, the data collection could be conducted by observation of individuals with or without audio or video recording. Before choosing the methods for data collection the expertise of the researcher, the degree of accuracy required, time and resources must be taken into consideration. Thus,
Personal information can consist of anything from a home address, telephone number, social security number, income, credit card history, etc, any piece of information that can be tied to a distinct individual. Once personal