Why is your online privacy important?

We all crave privacy; it’s our innate nature. Human beings want privacy in their lives. Even people who say otherwise go home and close their bedroom doors while changing clothes, bathroom doors while bathing, build high compounds around their homes, keep passwords for their email account, etc. The list is endless.

We humans are extremely creative and change behavior according to our surroundings. When we’re alone and are sure that nobody is looking at us, we tend to go all nuts and be creative. The majority of the world’s most creative work was created when the artist was alone Even people who do public speaking prepare their speeches and probable questions beforehand so that they can answer sensibly. Privacy is what makes us human. It is one of our ingrained traits.

The Internet came into our lives a few decades back, but, it has taken us by surprise. From handling our bank accounts to setting us up with a date, the internet is everywhere. It is a strong tool that changes lives drastically but also it is a powerful tool which when not used with caution can cause us harm. Internet privacy is just an extension of our regular life’s privacy in the digital domain. 

Search engines know more about us than we know about ourselves. For example, if you google winter coats and then read an article on how a certain TV show is getting an Emmy award, chances are extremely high that when you open Facebook, you will get ads of winterwear and articles related to the same show or maybe other shows who got similar awards. 

 “The right to be forgotten” has been gaining more and more traction as companies have begun exploiting the data they store about customer preferences and habits. Consumers need their privacy and therefore are fighting for the right to be able to ask companies to permanently delete any information regarding them and their online habits/preferences.

Various websites and online services track our activities and collect data to provide us with more relevant information that we may find interesting, thus driving up the traffic on their websites.