Privacy

 A few weeks ago, after visiting my doctor's office I decided to go on my phone and research the medicine that I was prescribed, most importantly read about any side effects and the duration of the treatment. Later that afternoon I was giving a presentation in class and when I opened youtube to play a video I had to watch a 15second ad about the medication that I was taking in front of my whole class and instructor. The ad described my symptoms, why I needed that medication, my allergies and side effects. 

At that moment I was wondering how can it be that none of these people have the right to know about my personal health nor the medications I’m on but youtube can play a 15second ad and give the classroom a lot of detail on my physical health. 

That is sadly an issue that we all have to deal with today, “privacy” or more importantly the level of privacy one has when using the internet is becoming more and more of a debate topic. 
The harsh truth is that every single individual using social media has agreed to these terms and provides companies with data everyday. In today’s world, almost every electronic device humans touch records their behavior. This behavior is recorded in the form of data which is then sold to marketing companies. Overall this doesn’t sound like a bad idea, studying people and finding out what they like so later on they can get ads for products they potentially need or want. 
But this becomes an issue in my situation for example, when my whole classroom gets information about my personal health without my consent, or what if another student was doing research on extremist groups? The ads on his computer will give people an imagined student that is false. Overall it is a vicious circle that can ruin lives and put people in danger. 

So what do we do about it? Well, here are some tips from staysafeonline.org to control your online privacy as best as you can: 

1- Try to share a very limited amount of personal information online and try to avoid websites and apps that require a lot ( phone number, address…) 

2- Use private mode or incognito mode: this makes sure that  none browsing history, temporary internet files, or cookies are saved 

3- Read before you click: most privacy terms are not read by the users plus a lot of hackers use emails and text to hack which is why it is important to read and understand what you’re clicking “YES” to. 

https://www.privacymonitor.com/articles/privacy-guide/