CI 2312 Week 5
One of the things I found interesting in this reading of Policy Brief: Privacy (2015) was the article’s reference to the condition people are in when they agree to some policies. In fact, few people actually read the terms and conditions because they are long and difficult to understand. Most of the time, people use the Internet for convenience or to save their personal information through the Internet, so the complex terms and conditions do not allow people to focus. However, this leads to many people not correctly understanding what they agree to, leading to their information being leaked or causing some unavoidable harm. I strongly agree with the article because most of the time, it is impossible to read the terms and conditions, resulting in my information being compromised often in this era of big data. For example, some websites will observe your usage habits so they can recommend more ads to you. There are also sites that will steal your phone number and make constant harassing calls. I think we still need to discuss how to balance the content of terms and people’s understanding in the future.
While reading the Medium Terms of Service, I noticed that it mentions, “In countries where exclusions or limitations of liability are allowed, Medium and Medium Parties won’t be liable for (some of the reasons). (Medium, 2020)” I’ve read similar things in many places, but I’m still curious about how these disclaimers apply in reality. As an international student, I often need to browse websites from different countries and leave my information on these sites. Since I am from China, a place where the Internet is very strictly regulated, I can’t even use Google search, and we have to use VPN to access most foreign websites. I am curious how people should use these terms and disclaimers to analyze when people violate VPNs rules.
One incredible piece of news I found involving personal privacy is that China seems to be creating a database to rank people by surveillance (Ma, 2018). These rankings are related to people’s social credit and can greatly affect people’s lives. For example, people with lower rankings will have their internet speed limited, or their children will not be able to get into better schools. What I find surprising is that these terrible consequences not only need to be borne by those with low rankings but even their children.
Reference:
Ma, A. (2018, October 29). China has started ranking citizens with a creepy ‘social credit’ system — here’s what you can do wrong, and the embarrassing, demeaning ways they can punish you. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-punishments-and-rewards-explained-2018-4
