Research Paper: Data Privacy
| Menu | Introduction | Current Use | Security of Technology | Ethical and Legal Issues | Social Implications | Future Use | Conclusion |
Introduction
The purpose for this research paper is to acknowledge that the new information technology is threatening the extraction of children’s data through the use of internet. Data Privacy is a very sensitive topic for many people because it is connected to their lives through the internet. It may be a concern of parents due to the violation of the privacy of their children. There are a lot of sensitive materials that are not protected due to the vulnerability of using the internet. With this problem, there will be a lot of parents outraged by this topic. At the end of this essay, we will be able to discuss the Benefits, Security Technology, Ethical and Legal Issues, and Future Use of data privacy.
Current Use
Lack of privacy on the internet is becoming widespread. Many of those are celebrities, politicians and now even children are affected by the current technology problem. For example, many hackers can easily track down a naked photo of a celebrity just by using Brute – Force Attack. Lack of privacy can be seen everywhere. Most people use mobile phones and they barely have privacy disclosures especially among children. Most of the times, such applications on phones do not give out warnings about gathering information from children. Some of the ways that the Federal Trade Commission is fixing the problems is by mandating the “Children’s Online Privacy Act” (COPPA). It limits the collection of such information from children and has to be consented by an adult or guardian. (Majin 2012) Some websites ask whether the user is under 13 or above due to the law COPPA. It restricts the children under 13 to use adult websites with sensitive images. Also, when minors want to buy things online they must ask their parents or guardian to approve the permission. This is due to the fact that they are not old enough to buy and have credit cards online to use to buy the things they want. It might attract online hackers and other malicious things to take out the credit card information and use it to bad intentions.
Security of Technology
Based on the research so far, there is a breach among the security of technology online. With the use of federal grants, there are many people that will be affected by it. Parents will be more alert and aware of how their children access the internet. Children, especially teenagers might upgrade to new security features that will make it harder for others to track down their internet usage. Many parents are worried about how to protect their children online. At such a young age, children do not have any ideas about the dangers that lurks online. So parents are there to educate them early on. It is safer if parents are monitoring the children while on the internet. However, once they get to a certain age the children would want to use the internet alone. (Stuart 2014) Most parents will install virus softwares to help counteract those threats online also to help the computer run smoothly. However, with the cost of each virus software can be costly. But it helps a lot to protect the sensitive information that is saved on the computer. The more we teach our children and others about the dangers of data collection online, the more we are aware of how the government and others use the sensitive information that they collect online. We can get to protect and save our information from the use of other people, whether it will be of good use or not. Our personal data is very important and we should consider using the best protection that we can have online. Especially to the future generations that will be dependent on online communications and other internet uses. We cannot stress enough how important it is to be able to safely use the internet while at the same time enjoying ourselves without being too panicky about our safety.
It is not ethical to have children’s private data to be exposed through the use of new technology development even if there is a greater chance of using it to good use. The ethical aspect would violate the privacy of children. There is a law that prohibits other marketing from accessing the children’s internet called the “Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act” also called COPPA (Bureau). The legal part of this issue is how the government will be able to take the data information of the children without violating their rights. It takes away their freedom of privacy. All people have the right for privacy and no one can just take it away without reasonable searches or without proper documentation. Things have to go the legal way or it will not be acceptable.
The social implications can be damaging for children especially if the information gets released to the public. No matter what the information is for example health records, school records and others it is wrong to collect others information especially children’s data without their knowledge. With the use of modern technology today, many children use smartphones that can automatically connect them to any social networks. This increases the likelihood of their information being used unknowingly through different networks.
So far, according to the website of Breibart (Berry) the information will be used to gather health information of the children. It may sound that the government might put it to good use; however, we have no evidence in the meantime that it will be used only on health matter. Data are very sensitive information regarding the healthcare system. The government has no guarantee that it would really help in future research studies for example about how to cure cancer or reduce the risks of chronic conditions. The future use of data collection can be argued on both different sides. It is up to us to give the benefit of the doubt about where it will be headed. We just need to know that our information are being guarded safely without the interruption of the government collecting data. The children will have the most impact once the information is released to the public without their knowledge. The health records can be accessed, private information for example the social security number or even where they live can also be seen by others. We just do not know how much information will be gathered if we do not protect our online activities. We should always learn from others’ mistakes. A great example would be the cloud system that was hacked and the person responsible for the hacking leaked nude photos of celebrities. It was not just a random target. The hacker knows the vulnerabilities of the cloud system and it was able to penetrate through the security and hacked into it. It was not just photos, but also sensitive information was also in the system. Just imagine one day that you have the things available to you and then the next day everything is gone. That is one of the ways that hackers can destroy lives. Instead of being dependent on social media or any online websites we should also think about the consequences that might happen in the future. We should always be careful about the things we share online so that we can still enjoy ourselves using the internet.
All in all, the new technology development will be an issue regarding the privacy of the children. Many parents will be outraged to find that their children’s data are being collected without the parents’ or the children’s consent. In the future, there will be social implications to children regarding the collection of data. Due to the fact that the future uses of technology changes rapidly. People will always be dependent on technology but it is up to us to protect ourselves from harm.