Reading about Data Brokers really had me question if I have any privacy. I never thought about all the different ways these companies can get our information and sell it to marketers. Besides this being partially unethical, they often are sharing data that isn't even correct. "Consumers have no means of knowing that they have been placed into a particular category and thus often do not realize that they are offered substandard rates for loans or are being denied health insurance based on information that may be incorrect" (Fernback). We are put into these categories and are penalized for false information which doesn't make any sense. We have no option of privacy to delete certain information or choose what is being shared.
This article immediately made me think about Facebook and how they use all of your information and posts for advertising. One day I'm looking up microphones and within minutes ads are showing up on my Facebook. Do we have any privacy? With the digital age and internet, I believe we don't have much. My philosophy is that if you post it on the internet, it is not private in any way, shape, or form. The only way for it to be private is if it is within your home where nobody can see or hear it. If you are going on the internet making your profiles "private" and messaging people "private" information it really doesn't matter. Either way the information is out there and if Facebook doesn't have it, another company might.
Another incident the article reminded me of was the Target data breach. Target has a huge database of information from all of their customers and one of the worst possible scenarios happened, all the data was leaked. If someone was able to breach into a huge company like Target and get a massive amount of consumer information then we aren't very safe of having any privacy.
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