The Internet is a useful tool for you to get research done or just communicate with different people around the world. But there are also a lot of flaws the Internet has that can be life changing or even violate your privacy. Within a span of five minutes your identity could be taken away from you, by hackers taking your social security number, pin numbers, and they can also get a peek at your address. It is a scary feeling because this could alter your life to make you feel insecure or even paranoid.
Another civil issue that I will be diving into is the Spam mail that you receive in your online mailbox or even as pop-ups. “Spam is used to refer to a single or multiple pieces of mail that are perceived by the recipients to be unsolicited and unwanted.” (Free Speech Patriot Act) They way Spam work is that every time you go into a search engine or if your even playing around on your Internet, they get a list of place you like to go and view. This is a huge privacy issue because people don’t want to feel like there being watched every time they use the Internet. You want o feel safe and free when you searching for information or if your shopping online. Dealing with the identity theft and Spam issu
es, you have to be careful that you do not give the wrong person or website you personal information, because you can be violated with theft and your privacy can be shattered without you knowing.
Probably one of the harsher privacy issues is definitely identity fraud or theft. All of your personal facts and numbers can be brought up online. Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information such as your name, Social Security number, credit card number or other identifying information, without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes. This can leave you feeling untrustworthy with anything to do with the Internet. There are something’s you can do to limit the chance of your identity to be stolen. Do not enter personal information into any site that you are unfamiliar with. Make sure if you have to enter your pin number or social security that there is an anti-theft label on the site your on. Make sure you print that page off with you billing information to show proof of the theft label and so you can have a raw copy of your purchase. If you feel like your identify might have been stolen there are four major steps you can follow to keep your information safe and so it can be tracked down if someone indeed stole your identity.