Importance Of Privacy In The Information Age

Privacy in the Information age

Regardless of the person, privacy is a right given to everyone, however, the moment that same person willingly releases their personal information onto the internet, that privacy is voluntarily lost. Just knowing someone’s phone number, one can find information on their whole life including, addresses, family linage, and job occupations. What most fail to understand is that, the creation and use of social media is used to gain personal information with ease. In today’s age, people tend to advertise their whole lives on the ‘about me’ section of the homepage. This is frightening because, “eighty one percent of the United States’ population,” are active users on social networking apps such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, which means that there is a hefty amount of personal data floating around on the World Wide Web(Statista).

The Merriam-Webster definition of privacy is, “the quality or state of being apart from company or observation,” or “freedom from unauthorized intrusion.” While most understand the concept of basic privacy, there are still many who do not. To avoid public disputes and possible lawsuits, laws were established so that the general public, businesses, and government have only a “limited” amount of access to a person’s privacy. This of course, did not stop information being collected and sold to those who look to gain individual profit. Privacy concerns are only increasing with the world’s evolving