One Stop Shop for Discounted Privacy
On Wednesday March 22nd, Dr. Gates came to give us a lecture on internet privacy. It was really interesting the way in which he showed us that internet privacy extends to more than just what we do on social media. One of the examples that he gave was that companies could know what you are buying every time you scan your rewards card. On top of that he suggested that they could be selling that information to third parties who would use that information to advertise to you in better ways. All of this can seem to be scary, but there are so also some benefits to all of this. Instead of just being harassed by random advertisements you can now have advertisements that are tailored to your interest. When you buy things on amazon they suggest things that you may be interested in by what other people have also bought who have the same interest as you. I feel like this is something that I would like, but only if it stops there at what i purchase. I know companies already do this, but i would have a problem with comapnies selling my search histroy and social media interactions. I feel once you get to that level it gets to personal and is a invasion of privacy. The things that people search could be part of their inner thoughts. If companies had access to that, as well as your social interactions they basically know everything about you. They would have total control of everysingle person who uses the internet. They could black mail them for embarassing information or even frame people for crimes if they are political oponets, but that is a topic for a different blog post. In conclusion I think that there are benefits and downsides to this invasion of privacy.