Portfolio Assignment #9

The documentary film “The Power of Privacy” was like an alarm, a wake up call that made me question what kind of information I have put out on my social media accounts, because I have more than one, and whether or not that could be used against me in any given moment. I already knew how easy is it for someone to hack another’s computer because it was done to me in a playful manner by my uncle. I’m not quite sure how he did it, but I remember that I wasn’t able to use my mouse because he kept trying to move it away from where I wanted to click. He was able to share his screen with mine and change my screensaver, back when I had a family computer and not a laptop. The world of hacking is fascinating when it is done to someone else, but once it is done to you then you begin to have a different view about it. Aleks Krotoski was brave enough to sacrifice her information in order to do this study and I commend her for that. What really freaked me out by the documentary was how easily it was for the hacker to turn on and use her laptop’s camera. I recommend everyone to cover theirs like I do mine because you never know who might be watching you from the other side.

My topic of online dating relates heavily on privacy. When you sign up for online dating, you are giving away your personal information such as your name, your age, your interests and hobbies, and other kinds of things that could help with peaking an interest into someone else who comes across that profile. There are privacy settings within these online dating applications and websites which consist of providing your location or whether or not you want to post your dating profile onto another social media platform so as to advertise your profile to others. The kinds of pictures you add to your profile is also a form of practicing privacy as you choose what you want others to see.