Digital Era and Its Effect on Privacy - Essay Example

Digital Era Effects on Privacy al Affiliation: Thesis: Digital era has an effect on privacy With the increasing levels of globalization resulting from liberalization of markets, efficient flow of information, and interconnectivity of economies, the level of integration in the world has increased tremendously. Over the past five decades, the communication sector has been revolutionalized (Akrivopoulou & Psygkas, 2011). This results from the entry of the internet which has enabled people to communicate effectively irrespective of their geographical location. Moreover, easy access to communication gadgets such as laptops, tablets, Smartphones, etc. have made it easy for people to share ideas through the online platform. This has been taken a notch higher by the entry of the social media into the market. The media has mainly targeted the young generation which is eager to learn new things and interact with other people across the world. However, privacy is one of the major concerns that are associated with this digital era. Government has a role to protect the privacy of internet users. Initially, people’s information was clearly protected by various government agencies. Even the administration had to obtain a court order in order to infringe on people’s privacy. However, with the entry of the internet, the information concerning a person is not safe anymore. Hacking has become very common in the world. It has been complicated further because the hackers are mainly located in different countries. Therefore, it becomes very hard for the government to infringe on the sovereignty of another country with an excuse of arresting a hacker. For instance, many of the hacking incidents that are affecting the US citizens emanates from Russia and North Korea (Akrivopoulou & Psygkas, 2011). These are countries that are not in good terms with the US. As a result, the security agencies such as National Security Agency are left with no option than to watch even as the privacy of its citizens is infringed. Internet providers have a stake in privacy of the users. Internet providers have not put up security measures to protect people’s information when they are using the platform. Over the years, people are turning from traditional methods of transacting business to online business. Companies such as eBay have gained ground since the entry of the internet. However, the number of cases of identity theft that is being associated with these firms has increased tremendously. For instance, Google has been accused of sharing personal information with security firms without the consent of the person (Akrivopoulou & Garipidis, 2012). In addition, different cases involving retrieval of information from the email has surfaced over the years. This indicates that the privacy of the people when using the internet is compromised. Moreover, the internet providers have failed to assure people their security when they are using the online platform to either communicate or transact businesses (Akrivopoulou & Psygkas, 2011). Digital era has been influenced mostly by the social media. Social media companies have not invested heavily in protecting private information by its users. With the number of people especially the young generation who are turning to social media either for communication or information searching increasing each day, the firms that provide these services are being overwhelmed due to their scarce resources. The security measures such as use of passwords have become less effective in protecting the people from other online users who might have malicious ideas (Akrivopoulou & Garipidis, 2012). Many people have suffered the identity theft whereby, their information on the social media is stolen and used to conduct a cyber crime. This leaves the person vulnerable to prosecution to crime that he never committed. The situation has been aggravated by lack of commitment by the government to put up extra security mechanisms to protect the interests of the people (Gritzalis, 2006). Cyber-stalkers have been a major threat to people while they are using the internet. Frequent innovation in the digital sector is making it hard for the privacy of the internet users to be guaranteed. In the past years, cases of cyber-stalking have increased tremendously. Different software and applications are being released in the market each day. Cyber-stalkers have manipulated some of these innovations in order to hide their identity. They are therefore able to stalk people through the online platform without their identity being revealed. Many of the victims of cyber-stalking have ended up being affected negatively by this vice (Akrivopoulou & Garipidis, 2012). This is through suffering from stress-related diseases or even in extreme conditions; they have ended up committing suicide. This is an indication that more stern measures need to be taken in order to protect the privacy of the people when they are using the internet. The changing aspect of the digital sector is making it hard to offer the necessary protection. The dynamic nature of the digital sector has created hurdles in establishing the necessary legal structures to protect the privacy of the people. Unlike other sectors of the economy which takes time to change, digital and technological sectors are changing each day. As a result, many governments across the world are finding it hard to develop stern laws that will compel the internet providers and companies that regulate the social media to ensure that they establish mechanisms to protect the people when using their platforms (Akrivopoulou & Garipidis, 2012). Moreover, the security apparatus are finding it hard to cope with technological changes some of which require huge investments in order to match those of the hackers. Therefore, the digital era has exposed people to intimidation by cyber criminals. In addition, people are no longer in control of their information. Instead, they are currently living on the mercies of the cyber-stalkers and criminals who can attack at any time. Digital age has shifted individual privacy to the third people. Initially, people were custodians of their privacy. The constitution guaranteed people their right to privacy. Though social media privacy policy settings specify which data will be collected about an individual user, mostly, some part of this policy is vague and confusing to the end users. Some privacy policy standards adopted by social media contradict the stipulated privacy rights of the end users, for example, Facebook collects information about its end users from other external sources like the newspaper, regardless of the individual use of the website (Akrivopoulou & Garipidis, 2012). The gathered information from these external sources is used to supplement the end users profiles unless the individual users specify in their settings that they don’t want that to be done. To this extent, Facebook usually compromises the privacy of many end users who are mainly unaware of such settings (Gritzalis, 2006). Many people have found themselves in the losing end after their accounts have been compromised. This has a major psychological impact on the people. Social media companies have not invested in privacy. Despite the fact that social media clearly indicate what type of information they will be including in their whole process of updating individual users profiles with information they seek from the external sources, their privacy policy and adherence fall short in various areas. First, they fail to explain to the individuals the use to which the extracted data will be put into. This means that they can avail any individual data to various sources like marketing partners. With the increasing levels of competition in the market, individual or company’s information has fallen in the hands of the competitors. This has disadvantaged the owner of the information in the market (Akrivopoulou & Garipidis, 2012). This is a major drawback towards the progress being made by the digital sector in the market. Social media has developed close relationship with various corporations, thus they take advantage of the individual users and share their information to these closes associates without their approval. This clearly implies that there is virtually no control on what face social media can expose to the advertisers. The law regulating the disclosure allows social media to disclose any individual user personal data to the advertisers. This allows the advertisers to create cookies that are not governed by any privacy policy regulating the use of social media. Though there is a stipulated procedure for an individual social media user to request these companies not to share his or her information with other third parties, definitely there is no transparency in such procedures as individual users lack evidence on whether their request will be honored or not (Gritzalis, 2006). Therefore, the digital era has created uneven competition among the people and organization. In many cases, the private information concerning the behaviors of top-level managers of rival companies have been put into public limelight by the competitors in order to tarnish the reputation of the company. This contravenes the individual rights to privacy. Digital era has made it possible for the “big brother” to gather information and intrude on personal life (Akrivopoulou & Garipidis, 2012). Through a breach of protocol, it is now possible to use various digital devices to get private information concerning the behavior and life of a person. Government agencies are also using this era to infringe on people right to privacy. This has made it hard for the people to live their lives fully because they feel insecure that someone might be watching them. As a result, the social life of the people has been affected immensely. In conclusion, digital era has brought with it immense benefits especially in the communication sector. People are now able to share ideas and cultural aspects. However, the era is characterized by violation of privacy rights. People cannot control their private information anymore. This has given the hackers and government agencies an upper hand. This has been contributed by poor security structures by the internet providers and social media companies. This is having a major impact on the psychological and social wellbeing of the people in the world. References Akrivopoulou, C., & Garipidis, N. (2012). Human rights and risks in the digital era: Globalization and the effects of information technologies. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Akrivopoulou, C., & Psygkas, A. (2011). Personal data privacy and protection in a surveillance era: Technologies and practices. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Gritzalis, S. (2006). Privacy and anonymity in the digital era. Bradford, England: Emerald. Read More