Post #7: Internet Privacy

Internet Privacy

By Davis Trax

We live in a world where technology dominates our existence. We can't go anywhere or do anything without involving technology in the process, and while there are many powerful and useful tools we can gain from using technology, one of the biggest issues we face is that our gadgets aren't secure or protected from being wiretapped by hackers or the government. I recently watched some TED talks and learned some really important things about internet privacy and how we can take control of our data.

Out of the three videos we watched in class, the first one was my favorite, because I took the most from it. The main message of the first video was about society being more careful of the information they put online because all of our internet history and our social media platforms are like electronic tattoos. I definitely take pride in what I put on my social media stories and posts because I know that my data can be taken. I have always told my family that date encryption is super important. I always tried my best to protect my data by limiting what I put on social media and deleting my history, but some of my favorite YouTubers - Danny Gonzalez, Drew Gooden, Kurtis Conner, Daniel Thrasher, Cody Ko - have had videos sponsored by VPN providers and that encouraged me to download one and after sharing more information on data encryption with my dad, we both use VPNs to secure our data.

I did take a lot from the first video, but that doesn't mean I didn't have takeaways from the other two videos. The third video was very similar to the first video. The man spoke about how we can encrypt our own communication on our phones by using are FaceTime and Messages feature because Apple encrypted them so that they could not be easily wiretapped and we can keep messages to ourselves.

I think it is increasingly important that we find more ways to encrypt our data and we continue to use the methods we have now.