Are we Really Free with the Current Internet Privacy Standards?
There are many issues in our world that trump Internet privacy, but this is one of the larger issues that have been in the news as of late. Carnegie Mellon University did a study using their PittPatt software, which recognizes faces, answer some of the questions about Internet privacy. The main question they looked at was whether or not Internet privacy even exists anymore.
Even though the study done at CMU was not able to say for sure that we don’t have any Internet privacy anymore, the results may still shock you. If you are a privacy advocate, this might be where you want to stop reading, or at least prepare yourself for finding out something you may not want to know and might shock you completely.
The study revealed many things and it certainly shows some of the flaws with our ever increasing online society. Below are some of the findings from the study done at CMU.
The Internet Privacy Study from CMU
One of the first things we had better mention is that the study done showed how someone could take a picture from publicly accessible data and quickly have private information about you. To put this a bit more clearly, someone could snap a picture of you with their cell phone or a camera and within minutes know your address, phone number, sexual orientation, and even your social security number.
When we first read this information we thought there would be more headlines out there, more groups fighting against this, and more people standing up to this potential privacy threat. However, there really is not much news about it at all simply because it is not all that new and many people have already figured this is inevitable anyway.
Since the study done at CMU used facial recognition software, it is safe to say nothing was used that is a new development. We have used this type of software for years upon years and it only increased after the 9/11 tragedy. If it had been a new type of software that made this an issue, it may have created more controversy and headlines.
Another reason for the lack of news is that many people believe that real Internet privacy does not exists anymore. Even though we see some of the social media sites in the news, from time to time, when something goes wrong and they create an issue, we still use them, and we still put up personal data about ourselves and the people we are around.
Not only is the fact that none of this new technology is new the reason for the headlines not existing, but with all the different movies and stories about a culture where privacy is no longer, we have been trained to think it will happen anyway. Many people believe Big Brother is moving in and has been for a very long time. Some people take this way too far, but who knows, maybe the government really is watching our every move.
Why the Lack of Internet Privacy is such an Issue
Usually when faced with an issue like this, it is important to get an answer as to what to do. However, in this case there really is no good advice on what should be done because nobody really knows. Even on this website, itself there is advice on how to make your information more visible by search engines and using SEO.
There are a few things you can do to limit the chances of someone getting your information that should have it, though. You can make sure you are not giving away your information just because, use secure connections at all times, and listen to your own common sense. This is about all you can do since there is a huge lack of Internet privacy in our world today.
Tags: internet privacy, Internet privacy issues, Internet privacy policy, Internet privacy study, lack of Internet privacy, no Internet privacy