Final post!

The main issues regarding privacy this day in age is the issue of the user of the technology. In the article, The web is built on a lack of privacy “If asked, most people will say that they're concerned about protecting their privacy and their personal information, but their behaviour generally suggests otherwise. For starters, many people post all kinds of information about themselves on social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, apparently oblivious to the fact that those goofy drunken party pics are not going to be so amusing to a potential employer who comes across them in a Google search.” People are becoming foolish with their choices of how much information they are placing on the internet. The mass of online users often accuse corporations for selling their information. One of the main issues with technology this day in age is the ignorance of the person using it.
As David Neal puts it “Clearly, many firms have a rather lackadaisical attitude to the way they handle their clients’ personal data. Unfortunately, this problem is being compounded by ignorance on the part of customers. Many internet users and clients of firms that employ IT systems do not even consider what is involved in the protection of their personal data. They simply surrender it and hope for the best.” This is the surrendering we are seeing, with privacy right now. People, both in the corporations and individual users do not care enough about their privacy until it is too late.
Much in the same way that Dr. Victor Frankinstein gave no thought to the consequences of creating life, the same amount of thought was given to giving the life internet. But we cannot just accuse the creators of the internet for all of our cyberspace issues. We must also look at the people who use the internet on a daily basis. The internet stays alive because it feeds on the time that people use on it. Users of the internet are what continually spur it on, giving it another day of life, if people stopped using the internet it would then fail to be in existence. The users of the internet need to think about the consequences of using it. Metaphorically speaking, the internet is a plant, you can keep the plant alive by watering it on a regular basis and keeping the room a certain temperature. But what if you poison the water you feed your plant with? What if you decide not to water it? It gets sick, or it dies. Same instance with the internet, people need to give thought into what they do on the internet, people need to be more cautious about their usage of the internet because what the internet is today, is not what it will be tomorrow. The internet like a child will grow and change into whatever it is socialized to be.
In closing, our main issues regarding privacy in our 21st century are as follows, apathy leads to the creation of a monster. That is to say, the creation of websites, the creation of corporations, and the creation of even a personal webpage leads to disaster sooner or later because there is simply not enough thought, care or reason given to what our values are, what the consequences could be, and how we will deal with the issues before they arrive. We deal with the internet and privacy in a reactive, not proactive way. We are watching the newest version of Frankinstein unfold before our eyes. Will we teach this monster what love and care are? Will we take time to make sure it is socially accepted before we leave it to fend for itself? Only time will tell.