Blog Post #7

    As time has gone on and technology has evolved, our privacy has continued to be violated all while our governments have done the bare minimum to protect us. Between the cell phone companies themselves along with social media companies, these major companies are tracking, collecting, and selling our information for their own game. Christopher Soghoian talks about this in his Ted Talk where he mentions that it isn't just Apple and the service companies violating our privacy rights, but companies like Meta, Tik Tok and X collecting and selling our data. 

    These issues affect everyone who uses this technology, which is pretty much all people in modern society. A specific example that frightens me is the fact that my 8-year-old brother has had an iPad for a few years now and they are already tracking his information. The fact that they are tracking and using his information for their own purposes, is very dangerous and in my opinion, should be unlawful. I also feel like people are very unaware that these companies are tracking their data. This is dangerous because they think their phone is safe when in reality, anything they type or say is tracked. Another thing that is kind of scary is that when people find out their data is being tracked, some of them don't really care too much. An example of this is my Mom, who doesn't understand the significance of these companies using her data for their own benefit.

    I think one thing we can do to protect ourselves from having our privacy continuously violated is to read the terms and agreements that these companies make you sign to use their products. They purposely make these terms ridiculously long, which in my opinion should be illegal. I think our government needs to do more to keep these companies in check when it comes to obtaining, using, and selling our information. Data is incredibly powerful and these companies are gaining access to it pretty much for free.