To trust or not to trust: that is a question

Have you ever received any e-mails, phone calls or letters from unfamiliar companies that are trying to advertise their products? If so, it’s probably because your personal information has been divulged without any notice. Nowadays the problem of online privacy is discussed by more and more people because the development of social media has made it easier for companies or groups with any purposes to access the personal information of an individual. If we can trust the social network any more has become a controversial issue, and now the government are taking some measures to deal with the problem.

 Recently a “ConsumerPrivacy Bill of Rights” relating to online data has been released by the Obama Administration after Google was found tracking users data via iPhones. A lot of Apps such as Maps require users’ location, which is able to update the information of where they are as long as their phones are connected to WIFI. Also the users can’t avoid the third-parties getting the information of their interests and preferences if they click the “like” buttons on Facebook pages frequently. In order to control the use of consumers’ online data and build the trust between consumers and the businesses, the proposal includes mainly 6 areas of online data management, which are Transparency, Respect for Context, Security, Access and Accuracy, Focused Collection and Accountability. The consumers have the right to decide who can have their privacy data and access their personal information. The companies are also responsible for the security of the privacy data of the users, so that they can be well trusted.

As far as I am concerned, it is understandable that sometimes the companies and websites do need the users’ personal data in order to provide better information and service for them. For example, when the personal information such as the age, gender and color preference are provided to the online shopping website, you will probably find the cloth you want more quickly and easily. However, it will become really annoying if the websites are collecting privacy data for a third-party without informing the users. Once you click the “like” button on the Facebook, it is likely that your e-mail address will be collected by the advertisers and numerous advertising mails, sometimes even inquiry calls, will disrupt you frequently. Also the number of internet frauds is increasing these years because the personal information is easily accessed via Facebook and the online shopping websites. As we can see, how to build trust with the consumers is what the companies need to think about seriously.

Personally, I support the government’s step in on the issue of controlling the users’ data being tracked by websites such as Google. The proposal released recently makes the privacy policies clearer to the public and the privacy information of the users will be more controlled. On the other hand, the websites that have agreed to submit to Do Not Track technology will become more trustworthy among consumers so that more people will browse the website with less worry. So it is both good for the users and the websites.

The “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” has won a lot of supports among netizens, and I believe there will be more measures on protecting the privacy data in the future to make the social network a better and safer place. Even though there are still some problems unsolved because the management of online data is always complicated and can’t become perfect in one day, but hopefully we can look at the bright side and then build more trust with the social network when the laws are gradually completed. Do you think you will feel more secure when browsing the websites in the future? Let the time tell us.