Opinion: Serious about privacy?
Every week I grill the Base Creative team on issues affecting the online world. This week's hot topic: How seriously should users take privacy issues?
Facebook has been notorious in the past for changing its privacy policy with the onus being placed on users to reset their privacy settings. How seriously should users take privacy issues for such sites?
Very seriously, and in future, much moreso. Sites like this know so much about us. Revealing this information to the public or to advertisers is something users to make an educated decision about. It's one thing to get personalised and targeted advertising (showing me stuff I actually would buy) and another for that information to be used against me or to my detriment.
It's astonishing just how much information people will give out freely; but more surprising is that so many users are not concerned with what they are agreeing can be done with that information. If Facebook has shown us anything, it is that concerns over privacy seem often to be an afterthought for publishers and users alike.
Privacy is hugely important online but most people don't understand what happens to their data. By signing up to websites like Facebook you're normally giving away full unequivocal rights to data you input - for any purpose - it's all there in the small print!
People who generally care about their internet presence should defiantly make sure they keep on track with their privacy settings.
Like many things, more seriously than most people do. Finding out extensive details about peoples' lives is getting easier and easier – look at sites like pleaserobme.com for proof.