There are no social media platforms that do not require at least some form of your personal information when signing up, and anyone that has accessed any kind of social media would have left their digital footprint behind, whether they know it or not.
Some may argue that there are options that allow users to privatise personal information, or one can simply delete their social media accounts to remove any trace of themselves online. However, a study published in the Nature Human Behaviour Journal has shown that even deleting your Facebook account does not guarantee that your personal information will be removed, as you can still be profiled from your friends posts.
The hard truth is that personal privacy no longer exists online. Yes, companies do give you guarantees that your personal information will not be shared without your permission, but do you really think they can guarantee that?
Think back to the 2014 Sony Pictures Hack, or in more recent times the Facebook & Cambridge Analytica Scandal, where in both instances, millions of users had their personal information leaked and exploited. What’s to say this won’t happen again?
What does this mean moving forward?
We are experiencing an information “Big Bang”, where the amount of digital information in the world is doubled every two years, and unfortunately, government regulation can barely keep up with the pace of technology.
One silver lining is that countries are starting to prioritise cyber security and improve privacy protection, an example of which is the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)
Solving the problem of personal privacy goes beyond our ability to control the information we leave online. Consumers are already so preoccupied with their daily lives, and expecting them to stay updated on cybersecurity and how they can protect themselves is unreasonable. Personally, I feel that this is a problem that needs to be addressed by policy intervention and redefining what privacy is.
Do you think privacy still exists? When an organisation possesses valuable personal data that they can manipulate in unsavoury ways for their own advantage, will they still be concerned with ethics? Who can or will be there to stop them?
Looking forward to hearing what you guys think!
Digital Marketing with Glenn 
Interesting read. What is the difference then between security and privacy? Which is more important?
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Thank you for reading Yee Hao! I would say that privacy is being responsible for your personal information and how you’d want to control it. On the other hand, security serves the purpose of keeping the confidentiality of our privacy, for example downloading and antivirus to protect ourselves from malware. Personally, I think that both of them are equally important as they aren’t mutually exclusive.
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Hey Glenn,
I feel that privacy is a big issue right now and the digital footprint you leave behind is almost impossible to erase.
In order to prevent organizations from misusing the data they have, there must be privacy/security laws in place to protect every individuals personal information.
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Thank you for reading Hong Jun! Have to agree with you that there must be certain laws in place to safeguard our privacy!
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Hi mate,
Privacy has always been a very sensitive issue, but I feel no one really takes it seriously until they’re directly affected. For instance, when downloading apps on your phone, the app may request to have access to your contacts and personal information. In order to proceed, you have to allow them in. This may seem harmless, as it is just something you’ve done so many times, allowing other apps access as well, but you may not know what the company behind the app does with your data. It can be terrifying to have the thought that some random stranger halfway across the world knows of your address, name, NRIC/social security number, credit card details, etc. Yet since we are not directly affected, it does not bother us. Do you agree with consumers giving companies way too much leverage and ultimately succumbing to capitalism?
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Hey Fremont! Excellent point about consumers not taking it seriously until they’re actually affected. We have become so desensitised to giving out our personal information when installing apps since we want instant access, which causes us not to think twice about how our information can be manipulated. I definitely agree that consumers give companies a lot of their information, but unfortunately this can’t be helped given that we live in a time where most of our lifestyles centre around the use of technology and social media. This is why I feel that cybersecurity issues should be addressed by policy intervention.
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Hi Glenn, I personally agree that there will surely be some sort of digital footprint left behind by us users these days and it will not be that easy for organisations to stop farming personal data especially businesses in the sales industry whereby they can put such information to help boost their sales. So ultimately i feel that the best we can do is to try and be more sensitive about giving out our personal information when browsing the web and using social media.
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Thanks for reading Guan Wei! Good point about the sales industry, with the amount of consumer insights businesses can generate from our personal data, I don’t think there’s much that can hold them back from farming our data, even if it’s considered unethical. Thanks for your tip about restricting how much sensitive data we give out online!
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Hey Glenn,
Thanks for sharing your two cents about privacy! I was a victim of getting my credit card data shared through cookies so it is unlucky! Unfortunately, it’s an inevitable reality to face that we can only adapt and arm ourselves with the weapons and tools to face all of this. What are your thoughts on using VPN as a countermeasure? I heard that in China many use that to mask their digital footprint.
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Thanks for reading Jon & I’m truly sorry to hear about what happened with your credit card details! I think using VPN’s can be useful in safeguarding your privacy as it also allows you to mask your IP Address. Yes, I heard about that too, I think one of the reasons is also because a lot of websites are banned in China, so a VPN allows them to access restricted websites.
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Hi Glenn, thanks for sharing. I feel that complete privacy is hard to achieve these days, people would choose convenience over that unknowingly. Many website requires users to create an account before they can browse the content, and they also provide alternative options such as log in via Facebook or Google account. For convenient sake, most people will choose to log in with existing accounts. Therefore, 1 Facebook account could be used to log in several websites, and your profile would be linked and shared among all of them. Organisations would then be able to retrieve your personal information without you knowing, which is of course unethical, but nothing could be done.
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Thanks for reading Elton! Really really good point you’ve raised about 1 account used for several websites, which ends up causing everything to be linked.
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