###### tags: `CDA`

## Privacy

### Privacy Footprint

*How concerned should we be about our privacy online? Is there anything we can do to protect it?*

Using the internet requires a degree of trust towards the service providers who furnish the many ways in which the internet meets our demands. However, exposing our needs and information on these digital platforms makes private data vulnerable to unethical exploitation by the service providers and their affiliates. There are several ways in which online platforms can obtain information about users down to the nail by using browser fingerprinting, flash cookies, and JavaScript, among others. These tools have allowed online service providers to profile users for accurate ad targeting and other reasons. Haridy’s article dismissed the myth that online service providers record users secretly, but he revealed a more disturbing truth, that applications regularly send screenshots of user devices to third parties. Online platforms have placed users at the mercy of the services they use - and the ethics of the people who hold their personal data determines if their privacy will be violated. In most cases, this data provides financial incentives that these providers cannot simply overlook, therefore, violating user privacy comes easily for them. Protecting yourself from such exploitation is tricky, but one can proactively choose to deny access to their private information by rejecting or disabling third-party cookies, employing Do Not Track tools (like ad blockers), using virtual private networks (VPNs) or simply being cautious of their online footprint. However, since tracking extends to people we know and their interests, protecting one’s privacy is almost impossible, and regulation must be done at the service provider level for preemptive data protection.

**My Identity:**

*Name Search*: I had trouble encountering any results for myself when searching my name. My name is associated with my grandfather's, my father's, and our family business' name so when I search sites, images, and videos associated with my name, only results for them appear. The only site I could find associated with my name is my LinkedIn page.



*Spokeo Search*: The free results on Spokeo show that I am located in Charlestown, Massachusetts which is inaccurate. The phone carrier, however, says that my provider is T-Mobile which is accurate. This could have been a coincidence, but to prove that the information they have on me is more true than false, I would have to pay a fee.


**Google Privacy:**

*Search Activity*: My google search activity shows my web and app activity and YouTube history. I have these settings on because I don't particularly mind google keeping track of what I search for. It makes it easy for me when I have to find information or locate any site I previously visited. My location history, however, has always been "paused" or off because I wouldn't want Google to know everywhere I've used my laptop.


*Google Ads Preferences*: This is the information on me that I have found most interesting. I hadn't realized google had all this information on me for personalized ads. A lot of the information is accurate which makes me wonder how they got that information. I wonder how exactly Google "guesses" certain information.


*Social Networks*: I don't use Twitter, Facebook, or Tik Tok which at least makes me less anxious about how much of my privacy is out there.