Blog #4- Online Privacy

     Although I have always been told that everything I do online stays there forever, these videos were still highly shocking. It was terrifying, to say the least. In recent years, everything in life has revolved around some use of the internet, from communicating with friends, to shopping, and even school work. After watching these videos, I realized we all need to be taking more caution and be better aware of the dangers of the internet.

    So how do these affect me, my friends, and my family? Although everyone in my life could possibly be at risk for heavy consequences related to their use of technology, I feel my friends and I are the most at risk. Like I said before, this generation in which we are growing up is surrounded by technology. As sad as it is to say out loud, the main way my friends and I communicate is via social media. We all use countless different sites and social media that all have different passcodes. Not only that, we all have had access to the internet at such a young age. Compared to older generations who lived most of their lives without technology. With this being said, I can recall my friends and me posting videos online of ourselves as young as 12 years old. After watching Your Online Life, Permanent As a Tattoo, it's scary for me to think those silly posts my friends and I made are without a doubt still somewhere in the online world. And even worse, for absolutely anyone to see at any time. 

    I think it goes without saying, that the government should be doing more to protect us online. Although it would be great if they could just end cyber hacking and such once and for all, I don't think that will be possible. However, taking more steps to make it harder can help. One thing they could be doing is heavier monitoring of sites that steal and sell personal information. And with that, a harsher punishment for those sites who get caught doing so. 

    Finally, how can we as individuals protect ourselves better online? No matter how safe you try to be, there is always a risk of invasion of your privacy. However, we can be smarter about what we post online, and try to limit it as much as possible. Always remember to never post personal information. Also, keep in mind what you post will never go away, so be sure that whatever you post or say online is something you will be okay with anyone seeing. Finally, create as secure of a passcode as possible. Try not to make it something easy like your birthday or even worse "12345". 

    Overall, we all need to be very aware of how serious the internet is, and probably everyone could be even more careful than they currently are. I think these videos scared me in a good way. I now feel so invaded and watched, making me want to be so careful about my internet use from now on.