With the rapid growth and advance of new media, there are new problems and threats to privacy and confidentiality. According to the article, "The Wild West of Privacy" by Joe Nocera, there is a privacy crisis looming in the United States. Big Internet companies such as Facebook, Google, Yahoo, etc. are collecting data about us, their users and then sell the data to other companies who would like to learn about our health habits, food preferences, etc. There is a market for consumer studies and with the tools created by big data brokers, it is now easier for them than ever to monitor us.
In addition to these sites tracking our every move, there is a serious privacy concern when taking into consideration social media sites such as Facebook or Youtube. Their privacy settings are continuously changing, and sometimes users are not aware of the news changes and the information that was once private is now public. Despite the privacy settings, some people are just unaware altogether of how to manage their privacy settings on social media sites and end up having personal pictures shared or used on fake accounts.Speaking of identity thief, there have been many cases of information being stolen from online purchases and breached email accounts. Hence, there are a lot of issues concerning privacy and confidentiality regarding new media and is still a looming threat today.
I believe users of social media today are aware of the trade off when using that certain platform. People tend to never read the terms & conditions when agreeing to something, which puts at fault when social media sites license our information to other companies. It wouldn't be surprising if we gave permission to extort our information without even knowing it. I, for one, wouldn't know because I don't read the terms and conditions. I do notice that when I use Facebook, the ads are catered to my preferences such as previous searches I made and sites I went on.
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