Privacy, Online & Off

    The problems shown with so-called privacy from online services are scary. Knowing that sites like Face.com and facedeals.com have been bought by Facebook is even more frightening because Facebook uses them to collect data on its users in the name of business.

    Even though I only use Facebook for my sorority, any pictures the account posts that I "like," Facebook takes note of that so they can send advertisements to me that I will interact with or click on. This issue affects my family and me because whatever we post on social media stays there forever. We can't do anything about it because those media platforms now own all our pictures and posts.        

    The government should make stricter laws for social media privacy, but I know they won't unless they get caught in a scandal that requires them to make those laws. I say that because it had already happened when the government was caught violating people's privacy. 

    For example, in 2019, the FBI was caught violating thousands of Americans' privacy rights. A "secret court ruling found that the government's warrantless surveillance of emails routinely violated the Fourth Amendment," according to Elizabeth Goitein. 

    Goitein goes into great detail about the case, but the thing she wrote that stuck out to me the most was, "the government will no doubt try to sell this as an overnight success story. After all, the Department of Justice's audits had detected instances of FBI non-compliance with legal requirements, and the Department reported those instances to the FISA Court." 

    Her statement backs up my claim that the government will try and cover up that they do not want to give people their privacy and will only stop violating those rights when they get caught.