Read https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/53548-security-and-privacy-issues-on-internet-social-networks/fulltext (Links to an external site.)

Read the following introduction and answer the questions. Then reply to at least three (3) of your classmates’ answers with value-added replies (e.g., not just “I agree”):

Hello everyone, my name is Tessa Rankin, and throughout the course of this week on this discussion board we will be discussing privacy. Privacy is arguably one of the most talked about topics regarding new developments in technology in the modern day. Everybody values their privacy, yet people are not always entirely aware of how much information they are distributing about themselves on applications such as the Internet. The attached link is to a blog post by a man named Carlos Brewer who briefly discusses that the Internet is like a breeding ground for criminal activity via things like privacy stealing. And the most interesting part is that you don’t even have to be a criminal or some computer wiz to be able to find some basic information. To prove my point a bit, I looked into the author Carlos Brewer a bit to see what information I could dig up, and found plenty enough about his job, his education, his hometown and current registered home, his actual entire name, and also plenty more of his blog posts. For the sake of his privacy, I won’t be mentioning any of that here, but all I needed to learn all that was his name (and his picture on the blogpost also helped a lot). Brewer also mentions how much people post to social media, without realizing how much that can expose them. If somebody is determined to figure you out, say create a profile on you to be able to predict your decisions, your future holidays, your purchases, and even the outcome of your career, they absolutely can.

With that being said, this so-called invasion of our privacy has also customized the online world for us, in non-criminal ways as well. Take a look at one of your social media(s) for example, and realize just how personalized your feed is to your taste, especially home pages. Based on the people that you are friends with, the things you look up, and the posts and pictures you like, computers have been able to figure out what you enjoy to do or look at on social media (or just in general). Without that customization, people would probably use those applications much less. From a business perspective, privacy stealing is just a way to get more clients and customers rather than a way to stalk people, or threaten people, or steal from people. But from a user’s perspective, just the mere prospect that somebody could use your information to harm you is a bit terrifying.

The very first section to the code of ethics we read towards the beginning of this course states that we should “respect privacy and honor confidentiality,” and I would encourage everyone to read section 1.6 on Respecting Privacy (https://www.acm.org/code-of-ethics#h-1.6-respect-privacy (Links to an external site.).) Out of the three ethical theories we’ve discussed prior, Applied Ethics is seemingly the most prevalent one pertaining to how our private information is being accessed. This leads me into my first of my questions, those being:

• Should there be a more thorough ethical code for accessing people’s privacy? Is it already throughout enough? How would we be able to regulate it?
• How much have you put yourself out on social media? Does having your information out bother you personally? Do you know somebody (yourself included) that has been affected by privacy stealing?
• Would sanctions in place to maintain people’s privacy more seriously be beneficial to the majority? With a world heavily online now, would things like the economy be affected?
• Where do most scam callers source our phone numbers from and how on earth can we get them to stop calling us?
• Do we own our personal data? Can we call legal allegations against invasions of our privacy on these grounds?