Online privacy seems to be on the minds of many Americans these days, due to the immense growth in the use of various social media platforms.
These users are continuously being tracked, whether or not they set their personal profile to the "private setting".
Here's what happens: Internet surfers spend time looking at whatever pages they like, and private companies then track what they're looking at, then sell that information to other companies, who then turn it into governmental companies and/or law enforcement.
This tracking technology is becoming increasingly more sophisticated and is rapidly changing, which makes it virtually impossible for these Internet surfers to keep their surfing private.
There are multiple websites that offer help to these Internet users, to try to increase the privacy and lower this selling of information. They offer suggestions that can help one become more private or more aware of the tracking that they are being put into without permission. Some examples are maybe asking the government to make the users aware of what is being tracked, so they can then protect themselves, or even have these companies disclose how often they submit this information to the government. Either way, innocent Internet surfers should be made aware that they are being tracked, whether or not their information is actually being sold to the government.
I feel that many Americans would be shocked to know that so much of their information is being tracked and sold to the government or random law enforcements.
Though us Internet users are aware (hopefully) that everything we do on the Internet is open to be analyzed, it still probably isn't on their minds as they update their Facebooks, tweet, or find recipes on Pinterest. As one chooses to have their social media platforms to be private, that doesn't necessarily mean they are actually private to everyone, unless their allowed viewers. Here is the problem, American Internet users need to be educated on this issue, because I personally find it frightening that my Internet use can be tracked and sold to the government and law enforcement.
For anyone who also finds this frightening, use the link below to find examples of websites that can educate you on this topic and also give links to different webpages that can help you become more private.
http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/internet-privacy
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