In the real world, privacy would be as simple as locking the door when you use the bathroom or even drawing the curtains before bed. But, in digital space, the concept is hardly understood.
What Needs to be Hidden?
Starting from your personally identifiable information, also known as PII, which includes your name, age, bank account number, medical records, social security number, etc. The list of things to keep private is quite long.
It can be as non-essential as the websites you visited, the searches you’ve done, the articles you’ve read or the things you’ve bought online.
Why is it important to hide this information?
Everything you do on the net leaves a digital footprint – you may look up your medical records, arrange vacations, make purchases, communicate with family or friends, just about anything imaginable.
Everything that appears seemingly unimportant to you is of great significance to data collection companies. These companies collect information from the net about who you are and what it is that you are doing.
Data is of great value, that is to say, everything is collected and analyzed, stolen and sold.
Hence, we find that a lot of companies are collecting data on you.
Is it Legal to Collect on the Net about an Individual?
It is very much legal to collect information on an individual on the net. As a matter of fact, there is a high price to be paid for the complete data set of an individual.
This information is very often collected and sold without the individual’s knowledge or permission.
What can be done with my data?
The companies that collect data on you are known as data brokers. Data brokers collect and maintain data on millions of people.
By analyzing the data, data brokers can identify patterns in people. These patterns can then be used to make fairly accurate predictions about their spending behavior.
This data is analyzed and sold to other companies for many reasons such as direct marketing, credit risk assessment, or even targeted advertising.
What can be done to protect your privacy?
There are a few steps an individual can take to limit the access of these data brokers and cybercriminals.
Secure your Password
Make sure that your password is at least eight characters long. Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.
Also, make sure never to save all your passwords on the device. It may be convenient and save time to do so. But, it also makes the job easier for data brokers to get all your passwords from the device.
Get reliable security for all your devices
It is important to protect the computer from malware. And, it is essential to protect your computer software. There are many reputable companies in the market that provide stellar software security programs.
It would be futile to say that you can keep all the threats on the internet landscape away from your devices. But, being aware and vigilant does help. Start with PrivacySpark, a comprehensive website which gives you in-depth guidance on how to protect your privacy.
