Many people want their Internet experience personalized, but
not to the point of compromising their privacy.
The article “Privacy-Enhanced Personalization” talks of others’ opinions
on just how far personalization can go until it gets to that point.
Different people have various privacy attitudes. Privacy
fundamentalists, according to the text, have big concerns about how their
data is used and try not to disclose much information (Kobasa, 26). Privacy
unconcerned people have mild anxiety on the matter whilst privacy pragmatists pretty much don’t care
(Kobasa, 27). I would consider myself a privacy pragmatist because I’m willing
to put certain information on the Internet, but I’m also hesitant to put
important information about myself out there, especially because my name is not
common and is easily searched.
When looking at the article, I was surprised to find that
“80% of Internet users are interested in personalization” (Kobasa, 27). I guess it honestly depends on what is being
personalized. I find it so annoying when
I search for a product on Amazon and for the next month I’m shown similar
products in every ad on Facebook or other websites. However, personalization does have its
benefits, especially on Netflix in my opinion, because it gives suggestions for
future programs that you might enjoy.
Another crucial point the article made was that people must
trust a Web site in order to disclose their personal information. Positive past experience is a good thing to
have as well as a good reputation because more people can get on board with
disclosing information if others recommend the site or say it’s safe (Kobasa,
29). Those might sway me into trusting a
website, but honestly I don’t have enough time to research that. The first thing I do is look at the design of
the Web site to see if I can trust it.
The article states that the design and operation of a website
can increase the users’ trust (Kobasa, 28).
We look to see if the website is professional in design, if there is
possible contact information, etc. Can
we really trust that site just because it looks professional? We have made professional looking sites in
class and anyone has the tools to make it look convincing enough for people to
trust. We all have searched for a movie online and looked through those
“sketchy” sites that you can download movies or videos from. We dig through the various sites until we find
one that, just by how it looks, we think won’t mess up our computer.
After reading this article, I’m going to be more careful on
the Internet because I don’t want to compromise my privacy.
I agree that we should be more careful online. It's scary that lmost anything about ourselves can be found out online! I used to think that by deleting the history on my computer would prevent me from any chance of being hacked but that isn't the case. I've heard of too many insances where someone's bank account information is stolen because of fishy online shopping websites. We wouldn't give our personal information to someone in person so why do we find it so easy to share online? I would also consider myself a privacy pragmatist but I think I am going to convert to a privacy fundamentalist!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post!
I think your concern about professional looking websites is a great point. It becomes easier and easier every day to create quality looking websites. What sites can we really trust? Is it worth the risk? Should they have the keys to my personal life? All questions I feel we as a society should start asking more often.
ReplyDeleteI agree that after reading this article I will be more careful with what I search or what I look at on the internet. It is scary to me when I see something that
ReplyDeleteI have looked at in the previous days, pop up on something else that I am looking at. It also becomes annoying when I see things like that.
I don't think that privacy on the web will exist after the year 2020, or even sooner at the rate in which technology is climbing. If someone wants your information they will get it, and there's not going to be anything stopping it. Once companies improve their security systems some kind of hacker will break them and the cycle continues. I'd just focus on making the information you put out about yourself good information versus bad information because then there's really no dirt anyone can have on you. Privacy is important, but the sad reality is that you can only do so much. If your privacy is compromised just learn how to deal with it, and hope that it doesn't happen again in the future.
ReplyDelete