Privacy

Internet Privacy

    Internet privacy is definitely scary and concerning when you look into it, which is why I try not to read too much about it. I currently have SnapChat, Instagram, TikTok, and I have a Facebook account but I don’t use it very often. My whole family except my Dad use these apps and my Mom constantly sends me information that she sees on Facebook. For me personally, I try not to put too much information into my accounts. My SnapChat and Instagram have fake birthdays and my TikTok really doesn’t have much information either. I’ve always wanted to try the ancestry.com thing where you send them your DNA and they send you your nationalities and an ancestry pool. I would love to find out about past ancestors and where my family is from but giving up my DNA is scary especially after watching these videos. They can learn so much about me and possibly frame me for a crime I did not commit. Of course I’ve only seen that happen in movies and shows, but it still scares me. Call me paranoid but I would rather be safe than sorry.     

I think the government should try to limit how much information we put into social media. When making a new account, they ask you for your birthday, email address, phone number, gender, hometown, workplace, and your name. I think they should only ask your name because you can always make up a fake one. I also think it’s concerning that Facebook owns so many different variations of social media so they are constantly collecting data on people like the kind of posts they like and share with others. Using emails is also scary which is why I never send sensitive or personal information to people through messages on the phone. I always try to talk in person with people instead of through the phone. Have you ever tried to google yourself? I used to do it in middle school and found pictures of myself and my family pop up on Google. It scared my mom, so she called Google and figured out how to get the pictures down. Still, sometimes I will google my Instagram account and pictures will still come up even though my account is private.  We need to stop relying on the internet to send and receive information, especially sensitive and personal information. I think everyone should use fake information when it comes to making new accounts and have a fake email for spam and services you do not want to be bothered by.