After watching some of those TED talks, all I can say is...Wow. I never truly thought of what social media sites such as Facebook are really capable of when put in the bad hands.
I personally have never been really that bothered by what social media and other websites top behind the scenes, but this really does make me think about the lasting impression of what can happen when you put your private information into a website that can easily be tracked or hacked. I myself would have never posted some stuff on my instagram when I was younger if I knew what could potentially happen. One time I posted my (old) phone number as a way to let people know I got a new iPhone. Little did I know that encryption technology inside could have easily caused problems. I deleted the post only hours after posting it, and nothing bad ever happened but still. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have posted a couple things on my Intstagram. Especially after learning that it is owned by Facebook and learning more about their history with technology. Whatever you post can come back and haunt so it is important to be smart what you post or send to someone.
Now I am smarter about what I post, so I am less concerned about myself, but still worried about my family. Especially my grandparents who are so easily tempted to click the links of every email they receive.
When it comes to surveilling phone calls, text messages, and search histories, I do understand why big law companies track them. It's in order to find major criminals and terrorists and bring them tom justice. The amount of crime that happens on the World Wide Web now can cause a lot of damage and nobody can be too careful. I don't necessarily have a problem with this particular, what makes me concerned is that hardly anyone knows about this. Only major tech heavy or political heavy people are the ones that seem to really be caring and that is unfortunate. So many people are just blind to what is happening to them, and these trackers and technologies are to blame for this as well. Yes it is important to educate yourself about what you post and search on different we browsers, but I think that if these web browsers and internet companies are going to continue to track and put surveillance on people, they just need to come out and be up front about it. Don't briefly mention it in a 20 page Terms and Conditions contract. Just let the leaders of the company, well, have a little leadership and tell the truth. That way people can know the truth about the web.
Same with the government. If we are much more honest about what we are doing, there would be a lot more effort for people to be careful what they post and there wouldn't be as many conspiracy theories about what the internet is doing with malware. There would be those people outraged and would refuse to apply to this but at the very least it would give everyone the honest choice to do what they are comfortable with doing on the internet.
We must be careful what we post, as anyone could potentially see it. We should ask ourselves "Would this come back to haunt be in 5 weeks?" "Or months?" "Or years?" It really can be scary once you realize how much information social media and internet sites have on you. Stuff that they could use against you at any given chance. To feel like you are always being watched. I wish the government and these sites would at least be more honest, as now we live in a world where the internet is a necessity for day-to-day life. It can feel like FaceBook and other powerful sites will always know you more than you know yourself. However with that, there are still some things we can do to try to stay one step ahead from them
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