The internet is an amazing place where individuals can share thoughts, ideas, memories and connect like never before. However, in a way we are all like kids in a candy store when it comes to online spaces. Online platforms provide us with a wealth of information and access to do almost everything and anything. To the extent that many of us get so immersed in its engaging and addictive nature that we become blind or unaware of the inner workings of these platforms. What is at stake is our privacy and information being spread around many times without our knowledge. These practices have been going on for years now, however, there is not enough conversation regarding our online interactions and just how involved technology has become in our lives. Everything that we interact with on the web whether it be clicking on a link, liking a video, or sharing a post are all contributions to data that take our information and use it for their benefit. The intricacies have gone beyond what we could have ever imagined, collecting information from our lives that, to be frank, we don’t even know about ourselves. A common example of this is the yearly Spotify Wrapped or Apple Music Replay, which is basically a culmination of music data that your preferred music platform has collected over the years. Information such as the top song you’ve listened to; the minutes you’ve listened to, and top genres are all collected. In the end, these are personal details that only the companies and platforms we interact with truly know.

Information Privacy

Suppose you trust someone with something valuable. Whether it be something minor like your favorite book or more serious like the keys to your house. You’d expect the individual to have decent respect for your things and keep them protected and safe. Now imagine that same individual, purposefully giving, let’s say, the keys to your house to a complete stranger… Number one, major red flag and number two change your locks immediately! However, when we think of privacy in the digital realm, these practices of information distribution are happening daily, without many of us knowing. Lindsey C. Kim discusses the essential elements of digital privacy in her article “Understanding and Maintaining Your Privacy When Writing with Digital Technologies.” She introduced me to the concept of networked activity which is anything you do while using a device or service connected to the internet. This means that when we interact with the online world, we are allowing the system to access our devices and circulate on the web. Where does it circulate? That depends on whether or not you want to allow for a personalized experience. Cookies, which are small text files that store information about your visit, and play a big part in this experience. Third-party cookies which are placed on a website other than the one you are visiting and have the ability to track a user’s activity to target them for personalized information. Oftentimes these accept or reject pop ups entice the user to click accept by associating the button with color green or making it bigger, while making the reject button smaller and the color red. These colors and sizes tell us that one option is better than the other utilizing visual rhetoric strategies, however that is just not true. Rejecting these cookies just results in a less personalized browsing experience such as not saving login information or saved changes to your shopping cart. In the grand scheme of things, these are trivial matters to more complicated scenarios such as identity theft (yikes).

Agency

In a generation where everyone is chronically online, fixated to their devices, and unaware of third-party technologies it is easy to easy to ignore reality and continue to interact online unaware of one’s Agency. Agency is the ability to create an impact through your actions. Understanding that you have control over privacy online and there are actions you can take to secure your information. The dreaded “Terms and Service Agreements” that many of us don’t even bother entertaining are purposefully designed to include complicated and confusing language that many of us do not understand. They purposefully do this to disinterest consumers from informing themselves on how their platforms will inevitably use your data and information. Fortunately, there are sites such as ToSDR, or “Terms of Service; Didn’t Read” which summarize and rate policies that break down these confusing articles to terms that average people can understand. In addition, most sites include their privacy policy, however in countries like the United States there are no national privacy laws (Klosowski ). This means that companies can collect your data and distribute it however they please along as they give you some sort of notice.

 Just like everything else in life having an online presence comes with following the rules and regulations while also looking out for yourself. Having a negative online presence can negatively affect your life. For example, when it comes to pursuing a career, an unprofessional or inappropriate online presence can deter employers from hiring you. In that same breath, it can lead to you getting laid off. By being aware and cognizant of your actions online, you can avoid potentially risking your career.