Before watching these videos about internet privacy issues, I was one of the people who used the Internet for everything. I was the type of person who had put their email in whenever the little screen popped up that says enter email for coupons and or to win a prize. After watching these videos, I’ve learned that is NOT what I should be doing. In fact, I'm giving all my private information away and anyone could take my identity and I wouldn't even notice. I have started to remember all the different times that I've had people pop onto my Facebook feed requesting to be friends that I thought I was already friends with like my grandma or some other close family friends and I realized it wasn't that it was not them, instead it was other people trying to pretend to be them. If I add them as friends, they then get access to all the things I am comfortable sharing with friends, but I would not share with strangers.
When we are little, we are taught about the idea of “stranger danger”, but it is just as important of a concept when dealing with the internet. The idea of someone trying to take my identity or having access to my private moments is terrifying to me and watching these videos has taught me a very important lesson that I need to be more secure with what information I give out and to whom. I wish there was more that the government was doing to stop identity theft and websites from being able to gather and sell your information. It was also scary to learn that in many cases, it is the government itself collecting the information. The idea that the government is tracking the movements of people going about their day without any reason to think they are doing anything illegal is very scary.
I hope that one day laws are put in place to prevent companies and governments from collecting this type of information and selling or sharing it without a very valid reason or the consent of the person from whom it is collected. Until then I'll be taking the necessary steps to wipe as much as I can of myself from the Internet and will be limiting what is given out about my personal life and personal information online
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