iSpy Chapters 1 & 2: The Loss of Privacy

As we become more and more dependent on technology and digital networks, we are quickly losing control of our personal privacy. These networks are able to track the websites that we visit and able to record the products that we purchase. Using this information, they are able to suggest advertisements that may be pertinent to us and suggest other products that we may want to by. A great example of this is when you are looking at an item on amazon.com and there is the bar halfway down the page that says "Customers who bought this item also bought...". Companies are working as hard as possible in order to facilitate additional sales and they have found a way to do these through tracking our trends on the internet and our purchases.

All of this informational recording is something that is generally overlooked by most consumers. We often disregard the advertising on the side bar of our webpages and disregard suggestions to buy other products. In essence, we don't realize how we are being tracked. After taking a step back and looking at all of this, I was perplexed by one question that arises from points discussed in the text and preconceptions that I have always had: Are these companies just doing their jobs or are they completely invading our privacy?

I truly have no answer to that question because I see it from both angles. These companies are doing their jobs after all because they are figuring out what we the consumers want and desire and trying to make it easier for us to access said goods. There are no online regulations that prevent them from doing what they are doing. At the same time this is a complete invasion of our privacy. When the internet came out, it was said that it was beneficial to users who wanted to be able to shop in the privacy of their own homes. This is hardly the case because you really aren't getting any privacy at all. The information is received and spit back out by the sites that you are visiting and purchasing from. Any sense of privacy thus is completely dissolved.

I obviously don't have the answer to this question but would love to hear everyone else's opinion as it comes to this question because this is undoubtedly a debate that will continue to rage on as we become more and more plugged in.