Due to the widespread use of information gathering devices, we can no longer be 100% sure that our lives remain confidential. The services on which we register often collect data without our knowledge. Periodically there are news about the mass plums of correspondences of Facebook users. All this should warn, because, in fact, whoever wants, can get access to your data. What will you feel if your family, health or finance data become public?
But, many of us still believe that privacy violation is not so significant. Below we have 10 reasons why you should secure your email and accounts in social networks, block access to camera and microphone in many applications.
1. Restriction
Information is power. The more information someone has about us, the more power they naturally have over us. Personal data can affect reputation (both social and business), can affect our decisions, change behavior, etc. That is, anyone who gets access to our data can get control over our lives. And as far as we know, people rarely use information about someone for good purposes. Therefore, you need to put much effort to limit the dissemination of personal data.
2. Respect for people
Confidentiality is, first of all, respect for the person. If someone wants to keep their correspondence in a secret, personal photos or videos, then, it is, at least, disrespectfully, without a good reason, to get into someone’s life.
3. Reputation management
Privacy allows you to manage your own reputation. After all, the way we were evaluated and perceived directly affects our ability to communicate with friends and family. And reputation depends on certain facts about the person, people often judge hastily. Therefore, if, suddenly, somewhere in the network, your intimate photos pop up, it can significantly spoil relations with family and colleagues. While privacy will help protect yourself from false judgments.
4. The maintenance of social boundaries
People build social boundaries. These boundaries are both physical and informational. We are all looking for a place of total privacy, a place where we are free from other people’s views and opinions, can fully relax, feel at ease. Most of us do not want everyone to know everything about them, and sometimes we, ourselves, do not want to know something unpleasant about other people. Confidentiality is the guarantor of social boundaries.
5. Trust
During personal or business correspondence, we count on the trust of the interlocutor.
Privacy violations are violations of that trust. In professional relations, with doctors, psychologists and lawyers, this trust is the key to maintaining sincerity. We trust people we communicate with, the companies we cooperate with. When trust is broken, it leads to the fact that we begin to communicate cautiously with people.
6. Control over your own life
Personal data affects our lives, it forms professional reputation, it is taken into account when making many decisions: from getting a loan to getting a job. Personal data affects everything, including the content we see on the Internet every day. And if we do not know how and who uses our personal data, we become simply helpless. After all, any information can significantly harm us.
7. Freedom of speech, freedom of thought
Privacy is the key to freedom of thought. Thanks to it, we can criticize events, people, learn something that is not to the liking of our family, friends or colleagues.
8. Social and political freedom
Confidentiality is a guarantee for free communication. Participation in any political associations. If we protect privacy of the ballot, why don’t we do it online? As a result, the pressure from others can affect your opinion about this or that political movement.
9. Opportunity to get a second chance
People change, even after serious misconduct, a person can always get a second chance. To straighten them out and become better. In this case, privacy allows you to reinvent yourself. But, by the way, not all crimes committed in the past can be hidden, only because it is necessary to encourage personal growth.
10. Don’t make excuses.
We can do things that may be misunderstood by others. We begin to think constantly that someone can find out something unpleasant about us, so we prepare an explanation of such actions, in advance. But, with the proper level of confidentiality will not have to justify for anything.
If you really think privacy and anonymity in the network is important for you, we recommend using reliable tools to keep the secret of correspondence. For example, the VEDA mail client.
This method of communication is not available for hacking or information leakage. The big advantage is its availability, for now, the mail can be used for free!
You can learn more about VEDA mail client and its technology, on the basis of which it is implemented.
Source
The material for this article was taken from the writings of Professor Daniel J. Solomova, who with the help of Teach Privacy develops computer trainings on privacy, data protection, and information security.
