New media has changed the way people can access and share information. Social Networking sites for example allow you to lookup your friends, while the internet and P2P file sharing make it simple to track down almost any file you desire. The ease of use involved in new media technologies makes it very convenient to find information, however if someone is not careful about the information they share their privacy can be put at risk.
Because of new media more information is available than ever before and it is hard to restrict who has access to the information. Through social networking sites users post information such as their date of birth, full name, occupation, and who their friends are. The problem with this is that almost anyone can look-up this information. Even though there are security and privacy settings in place for these websites there are ways people can get around these settings and view your information; other times users do not setup their privacy settings correctly or either forget to do it entirely. Companies may wish to view your profiles information before they hire you by using a contact that is your friend or a friend’s friend. The security measures cannot guarantee your confidential information will be protected once it is added to the website. Even basic Google cache searches can get around security that was recently added by a user.
While I did my research for P2P file sharing I found that users can leak their confidential information by simply not understanding how a P2P program uploads files. Many P2P file sharing programs default options are to share a designated folder such as “My Documents” unless the user specifically blocks the program from sharing. Many users are also unaware that if they choose to share their music folder that the program will upload any and all files found within that folder, not just music files. By leaving a personal documents or picture in a folder designated a public by the P2P program a person’s privacy will be put at risk. Through my research a study revealed that by simply using keywords like “passport”, “id”, “driver’s license”, “FAFSA” a search could turn up legitimate documents of persons who did not properly protect their files. Once these files make it on the internet or a P2P network it is very hard to remove them.
Ultimately the privacy is within the user. The best way to protect your privacy and confidentiality when using new media technologies is to make sure you fully understand how the technology works such as the P2P example, or to simply only post information that you would not mind being made publically available.
Yea privacy is a big concern and sometimes it hard to trust sites under the fear that they may leak or sell your personal information. The internet is great, but also dangerous as well.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that new media technologies are easy at using. Even though more and more complicated softwares and programs are created, people can easily adapt into using them. But at the same time of using these technologies, we have to becare who and what we are sharing online.
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