Am I aware of my privacy? Nowadays, this little word is not clandestine, now and then people, organizations and even the government uses it. But what knowledge do you have of it? It is merely a question that can be googled and explained in a simplistic way, but have you ever really understood it?
My simple myth is- companies collect so much information, like your basic details, food preferences, travel penchant, political inclination even your daily mood through various mediums. Then why do they collect it? And, even if they collect it then why privacy is important?
First things first, what is privacy?
When someone trespasses and utilizes your data or information for their own usage without informing you. Or misusing someone’s information without acknowledging it, is defined as Privacy. Giving you an example, suppose you visit a mall and suddenly a staff from the mall offers you a deal, i.e., like the mall’s Facebook Page and you will get an offer. Next, you did, now someone from the mall’s staff analyzes your Facebook data and tries to offer or display ads
of products that are of your interest. Now, without your notice, your information has been utilized. So, the information you share publically can be misused for any purpose, whether you like it or not.
So, be aware of what you share publicly or within a closed circle because these days data breach is very common. There is a huge count of data breaches in which our data has been leaked and sold on the dark web.
Now, what next?
What should be done so that anyone can be aware of their privacy?
Read about recent data breaches and explore what data has been exposed and compromised. What type of information is vulnerable, if it is exposed to the outside world? What has been done as a countermeasure? What are the government rules and regulations aligned with such a category of the breach? The utmost important action one can take is to try limiting information sharing with such organizations, even data collected on the mobile application can cause a problem.
Facets of privacy
This is about the categorization of privacy: (a) Physical privacy- it simply means the ability of any person to maintain their own personal physical space, which is not exposed and the person is comfortable. (b) Surveillance- when you are under observation (c) Information Privacy- this is about how your personal information will be handled.
Building blocks of Privacy
So, what are those building blocks of privacy? To understand this, one can refer to any organization’s privacy policy page. Basically, the privacy policy of any organization talks about how they would be protecting the organization itself and its customers. This is an authorized official document that assures the best usage of information available within the organization’s perimeter. Also, privacy policy differs from organization to organization in which data or content processed throughout the organization business channels may vary. Reading such documents can help a lot in understanding pieces of privacy.
