“I love being tracked online, followed, spied on, and my information automatically gathered!” said no one ever.
This is the naked truth… you are being watched every time you go online.
By who? By online companies and amateur hackers.
Naturally, interest and attention has been growing now that there are regular news breaks about major company data security breaches, including Facebook, one of the most used social platforms in the world.
The Cambridge Analytica Facebook scandal was one of the largest security breaches of 2018 and possibly the largest the general public has ever seen. The personally identifiable information of millions of Facebook users were collected.
“What’s the big deal?” you may ask, “I like my data being tracked! It means I get personalized ads.”
To answer your question, here’s Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse:
“How would you feel if you were in the mall and someone followed you around with a camera, noting every item you looked at,” Givens said. “I’m amazed that there’s this set of values out there in these companies that thinks it’s Okay to capture data about one’s meanderings on the Web and attempt to make money off them without consent.”
And it’s not just the big corporations either, amateur hackers regularly invade your online privacy for malicious purposes.
To just name a few, hackers can…
… download viruses onto your computer
… steal your passwords
… access your bank, credit card accounts, social security number
…. steal your identity
… hack your webcam and spy on you
Think you need to be a computer wiz to hack into other’s computers? Think again. Givens explains stealing digital information is much easier than tapping phone calls or grabbing letters from a mailbox.
