Internet privacy is the right to control and protect personal information, online activities, and communications. It involves limiting tracking, surveillance, and unauthorized access by corporations, governments, ISPs, advertisers, and cybercriminals through encryption tools, anonymity tools, secure browsing practices, and ethically designed digital platforms.
Every web search, purchase, social media post, and mobile app download leaves a digital footprint that can paint a detailed picture of an individual’s relationships, daily habits, and political leanings. Companies use these vast troves of data to target individuals with personalized advertising and recommendations. Governments conduct mass surveillance, collecting user information through telecom providers and tech giants, while hackers search for unprotected accounts, devices, and apps to breach and exploit.
A lack of internet privacy protection puts consumers at risk of malicious data breaches and hacking attacks, but it also presents significant challenges for businesses. Employees’ private information is often found online and may be used by cybercriminals for phishing, identity theft, ransomware, and other malicious purposes. A lack of internet privacy protection can also lead to employees using business IT systems for non-work-related activities, which can compromise the security of company data.
A combination of vigilant personal practices, robust legislative frameworks, and ethically designed digital platforms is necessary to safeguard your internet privacy. To start, minimize the amount of personally identifying information you share on social media and other platforms by using pseudo- or irreversibly anonymized data (PII). This includes using nicknames or shortened versions of your real name when creating profiles and using only a first name for work-related posts.
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