Here's the issue: people want things tailored to them, but don't want to give their information out to strangers on the internet. So what's being done is something called "privacy-enhanced personalization", which is trying to give people the personalization they want without having to know their social security numbers and where hidden moles are on their bodies. What's interesting though, is people don't know what they're clicking on, agreeing to, or submitting. People complain about their internet privacy, but clearly don't stop and think and/or read what they're actually doing. People tend to want things NOW and don't really think about what could happen later or who's reviewing all that information they sent out to order a new weave or whatever couldn't wait to properly check the site for authenticity and security. If someone's on a site they've never been on, looks rough, and hasn't heard anything good about it, they should look up reviews on Google or another search engine to see what comes up. Odds are if someone has been scammed. they're going to make a public fuss about it to see the scammers don't make more money, collect more illegal information, etc.
People want to know what websites are collecting about them and be able to view all of the information the sites are using to target products to them and see why their personalization is what it is from a particular site. This way, they can delete something they may not like anymore or add something the site doesn't know. Also, people are more eager to give away information when they remain unidentified. It makes sense. If you're on a ship crew and get stranded on an island with an insane guy in charge who is going to get you all killed or possibly kill everyone, odds are you aren't going to speak up to him and tell him he's crazy. Now, in a heads-down and eyes-closed vote where someone besides the insane guy counts the votes for knocking him out of power, you're more likely to raise your hand high because you feel more protected from the wrath of the insane guy.
I think it's a good idea to be able to enter unimportant personalization information anonymously or through a persona on a website because it makes you trust the site; they're obviously not out to steal your identity. They're just trying to personalize your experience with their site. Knowing what information is available for your profile is very important. If I search for a cat one time for one particular picture I saw for a second on Facebook, I sure don't want cats all over my computer for the next couple of months. I also don't want anyone assuming I love cats, because I most certainly do not. If i was looking for something particular, I would like to be able to tell sites to show me different possibilities for my interests. This basically shifts advertising power in the hands of the consumers, which is great for us, because we can see ads that pertain to what we like.
One of the problems are people don't read what they're doing. If everyone would just read the terms and agreements and be more cautious of what sites they send their information to, internet privacy wouldn't be as big of a concern for most people. But of course, most terms and conditions are super long and we all just hit "agree" to move on with our lives. So, my question is if there's a possibility the next thing you sign up for is taking your personal information, will you check the security and terms or "agree" to some short-term benefits?
Also, people clearly don't like to read. I'm surprised if anyone makes it to the end of this. So, why isn't there a law that makes security, terms and conditions, personal information gathering, and everything you NEED to know when agreeing to things short and to the point so people will take some of the responsibility of keeping their information private?
I agree that people should take more time to ready privacy terms. Almost everyone simply clicks agree and doesn't even look at the privacy terms. A website can post anything they want in fine print on a privacy statement. I wonder how many things I have let slip from not reading privacy terms.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that terms of use should be read more often, but there really needs to be a TL;DR version (too long didn't read) which sums it up so that you know exactly which pieces are important instead of having to read through 6 million pages of gibberish that is written in law language. If we learned anything from the regulations class; reading law is no fun. That and it shouldn't really matter what you're agreeing to because people will get your information if they want it. We can't deny people from checking up on us through the internet because people who are smart enough will always find away into even the most complex of security systems. Either we accept that notion, or we just completely throw the internet out the window and go back to whatever life was like before the internet's inception. It sucks to say that, but those seem to be the only couple of alternatives to this growing problem of people really giving a crap about their privacy these days even though ultimately if you have an electronic device with data stored on it people can access that if they have the drive to do so. Also the personalization thing in terms of ads where you talk about the cats is a pretty big issue because it pisses a lot of people off. Things should have to be searched a minimum number of times like 20 or something to show that you really like the thing instead of being sent advertisements for something that you only looked up once out of curiosity or helping to find someone a gift etc.
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