Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Term Project

Theme: New Media- Purposeful Loss of Privacy.

My term project covered the overgrowing concern of all New Media users today. As information is easily accessible by anyone, from anywhere, at anytime, consumers privacy is vulnerable to exploitation. Companies today record, store, and use this private consumer data at will. These private data includes- Name, Phone number, address, email address, social security number, and credit card numbers etc. Only 27% of internet users do not provide any sort of private information online. Rest either are not aware or don't take any step to protect themselves from frauds and thefts online.

Though government has shown concern and taken steps to projects consumers online privacy, such as the The online privacy act of 2002. There has been no steps taken to restrict the companies from obtaining such vital information. The lesser the constraints on them, the more information is easily obtained. What then can a consumers do to protect themselves? Be aware of your actions online. Read the Privacy statements of portal sites before you place an order online. Put your social networking profiles private. The more aware an consumer is about the consequences of online theft, frauds and crime, the better course of action will be taken. Consumers to start protecting themselves from such frauds, at least till the government places the power of authority in the hands of consumers to be in charge on the information about themselves.