Privacy Issues #7

     Ever since the creation of the world wide web, the world has been rapidly changing and expanding its knowledge for the good of mankind. All seemed great, but as time went on and the internet wasn't just a place to communicate, it was much more than that. Through the creation of social media, individuals have been 

susceptible for their personal information to be gathered and tracked. But who is tracking your information and how is it being used?

    When we all sign up for any social media or make an account on any website, each user is agreeing to that private companies terms and conditions. What this means is that companies hide their legal jargon in a long terms and conditions page where nobody is really going to look for it. In this page, information is included about what the company does with your information, protections agains lawsuits, and other protective terminology to keep their platform safe. Facebook is the most prominent player in user information as they have many different steps in using your data. The main example you see day to day are "cookies" which basically means Facebook saves who you search, who you interact with, and everything you do on their platform. They then use this information to market products and different users for you that the system thinks you might enjoy.

    Facebook and other social media platforms don't hide the fact that they do this, often times asking you if you would like your cookies to be saved. But the problem isn't what they say they are doing with our information, it's what they don't tell us that leaves a bad taste in our mouths. Facebook again getting themselves in some heat, were accused of allowing over 87 million users data to be shared with Cambridge Analytica
. 

    Unfortunately the government cannot do that much to put a stop to these actions. Since these companies are privately owned, they do not have to comply by privacy laws set by the constitution. Once you sign up on that "terms and conditions" page, you have basically signed your rights to privacy away. As for what we can do about this, we have no protection and feel forced to comply by their rules. If anything my recommendation would be tread lightly online and be mindful the types of keywords and tags you're using to that your feed is filled with things you actually like.