CAN I HAVE SOME PRIVACY PLEASE?

How does it make you feel knowing that there might be someone monitoring or even stalking you…

Privacy is something that every individual wants, but sometimes without knowing. It is something we can not have. Having an online presence isn’t always as safe as we think it is.

So what is ‘privacy‘…? There is no single or conclusive definition of privacy. It can mean different things to different people, and individuals will experience privacy in varied ways.

When signing up, purchasing items or marketing yourself online, your personal information is required to proceed. Meaning, when signing up for Facebook for example, your personal details are needed in order for you to join their page. Furthermore, when purchasing a product online, your card details and your home address is required. All this personal information is entering the Internet of Things. When using your personal information to sign up or purchase an item, do you think before you give out your details? If not… I believe you should.

Have you ever seen this before, when going on a website?

Cookies? What is it? If I had to be honest, I had no clue what cookies were until now. I’ve always encountered this banner saying “This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience.” I always pressed accept not knowing what it meant until now. They store files typically containing information about your visit to the web page, as well as any information you’ve volunteered, such as your name and interests.

So, what are the pros and cons? When shopping online most people tend to put items in their cart but do not purchase. Cookies save what you have purchases to the shopping cart making it easier for buyers by saving consumers time by finding items again. However, every pro has a con. Cookies can be used for tracking. They have personal information that is stored about you that you may not want them to have. This may feel as if your personal privacy is being invaded. Therefore, if you don’t want to have your own information private, disable cookies IMMEDIATELY!

Luckily, in Victoria, a right to privacy is included in the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006. There are a lot of people out there who don’t acknowledge that they are leaking their own personal information out there. Below I have provided a diagram, that illustrates the comfort levels of individuals when it comes to search engines and social media sites.

As you can see, those that are very comfortable having search engines and net working sites tracking YOU, is very minimal. Compared to that who are very uncomfortable are quite high. So, this leaves me to question you. Do you think websites should stop monitoring and tracking for our own personal privacy? Or should they continue to keep our information for our convenience when logging in or purchasing?