Your privacy is not the product
In a democratic nation, online privacy should and should be a basic human right. However, today, a large number of Internet service providers are playing with this basic human right on the surface to earn millions, if not billions, by trading your private data. You may be wondering why, what the heck should you spend the time protecting your online activity. And it is natural. To answer this particular question, here are some reasons you should know.
Your basic human right: Today, millions of people around the world do not distinguish privacy online from offline. However, you should always keep in mind that the current legal system of democratic nations such as the US, India, the UK, EU countries, Japan, South Korea and many countries strongly protects people’s right to privacy. .
The organization like UNHRC, ICCPR, a series of national and international treaties, and the written words on the constitution of several nations, enshrine “privacy” as a fundamental basic human right.
It was in 2015 when the United Nations Human Rights Council noted that enormous progress in communication technology has made it easier for corporations and the government to record an individual’s daily activity and can easily block freedom of expression. The authoritarian government can easily crack down on protests and can even limit the dissemination of information, while a corporation can sell the data to the malicious outside contractor for money. In short, online privacy makes you stronger than the government itself.
The absence of privacy online makes it unsafe: Whenever you are connected to the digital world, you leave a permanent and traceable trail of your private data. It is recognized as a “fingerprint”. What is this? Well, it’s your online bio! It can reveal your health information, shopping habits, sleep patterns, keystrokes, and much more. Scared yet? This large amount of personal data can be accessed by various third-party providers for specific purposes. You do not believe me? Open your preferred search engine and type in its name. I’m sure you will be surprised to see the result. This data can put your reputation and physical safety at risk. Remember the incident when Pokémon Go was released?
The risk to freedom of expression: Privacy is a fundamental ingredient of freedom of expression. Privacy control for a certain group is absolutely necessary. Privacy is important to the general public and it is crucial for people who are involved with journalism, activism and opposition politicians to avoid intimidation for their ideas. These people often become the central pillar of any democracy and I think you now understand the importance of privacy online.
It can affect your reputation: Most of us who use the Internet have at least one or two embarrassing stories that we would like to keep private. If we travel back to the 70s, people were good at keeping their privacy safe. However, at the digital edge, it is quite possible that your private things remain alive within your “fingerprint”. If we go back a few years ago, many of us heard about the “iCloud” fiasco! Remember those celebrity faces hiding from the camera (I mean the journalist’s camera, of course!)? That could be you!
In conclusion, I want to say that, for the sake of your own life, try to minimize your fingerprint. Stop loading every bit of your private information, try to live beyond tracking, and live freely. Your privacy is very important and you do not try to destroy it to get a lovely comment or like. And if you think this doesn’t matter to you because you have nothing to hide, then I would quote someone. Who is my hero and who inspires me the most? Edward Snowden. “Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying that you don’t care about freedom of expression because you have nothing to say.”
