As Tim Berners-Lee says believes the online world has gone astray. Too much power and too much personal data, he says, reside with the tech giants like Google and Facebook. They have become surveillance platforms and gatekeepers of innovation. (New York Time 2021)
The Internet industry is becoming more and more developed in the era of network informatization, Information has become an important strategic resource. Social networks have brought users a convenient new mode of social interaction. it has become an indispensable part of modern life and has changed the way of communication between people. However, social networks have also produced many problems. For example, excessive permissions, cyber violence, pornography, and personal privacy disclosure.
This paper will discuss the issue of personal privacy disclosure. Personal privacy disclosure is technical theft by some IT technicians using technical means and tools, which is different from general theft. Personal privacy on social software has gradually attracted attention because of the privacy disclosure. Personal big data can greatly promote social management, business applications, and personal services, and bring certain economic benefits to users (Yuncheng S, Bing G, Yan S, Xuliang D, Xiangqian D, Hong Z, Chuanwu Z, Yuming J 2022). Therefore, how to control network security and protect personal privacy has become a current research hotspot in the era of big data.
The contradiction between big data analysis and personal privacy
The source of big data is the data collected by individuals through their behavior and information on the Internet. Big data has a wide range of applications in our daily life. Enterprises rely on big data technology so much. As enterprises pay more attention to mining the information and the market demand increase, it will become a trend to obtain commercial benefits through users. the degree of privacy protection in the data analysis process is difficult to grasp because of imperfect legal protection. Nowadays, the security of big data and personal privacy mainly depends on the internal security system of each company, which leads to the contradiction between the use of data mining and privacy protection. In addition, big data is an easy target for cyberattacks. Facebook was exposed to a privacy disclosure incident in 2019. More than 50 million Facebook users were illegally used by Cambridge Analytica to send political ads in 2014. In summary, Big data needs to establish a supporting system, so that big data can help human life.
Perspectives in Media Theory
- Media richness theory
The richness of media determines the integrity of the personal information collection system. For example, if your purpose is to collect customer information and use the phone to communicate, you cannot tell exactly whether the customer is perfunctory. Face-to-face communication is more reliable than phone calls. it can gather more useful information. In my opinion, media richness has implications for personal privacy.
- Uses and Gratifications Theory
People use media to meet cognitive needs (acquire knowledge), emotional needs (emotional pleasure or aesthetic experience), personal integration needs (enhancing confidence or a secure identity), social integration needs (strengthening connections with family and friends), and stress relief needs (escape and distraction).
As mentioned above, people will leave personal information when using the Internet. For example, when registering on a website, they will inadvertently leave addresses, contact numbers, and email addresses. These are all things that we need to pay attention to.
Ways of Disclosure personal privacy in social networks
There are several ways to Disclosure personal privacy data on social networks
- User Disclosure
Due to the easily expose of personal information, hackers can use software to illegally steal users' privacy through location or photo sharing on social networks, which is risky. Furthermore, the password setting is simple. Most users usually use simple, regular number combinations, or use personal information related to themselves such as birthday and phone number to memorize it more easily. These passwords are weak and can easily be hacked.
- Website and software Disclosure
As the management system of the software platform is not specific enough, it is easy to disclosure the private information of registered users, including even larger companies. For example, Facebook had disclosure user information in 2010; the user database of the Xiaomi Forum was also disclosure in 2014.
- Third-party Disclosure
To attract more customers, the software constantly updates functions, but many settings are unreasonable. For example, WeChat, Weibo, and other software have associated settings. When a user logs in to the software, other software will also synchronize the account's dynamics and information. The above situation can easily lead to the disclosure of personal information.
Effective methods of privacy protection
- Self-protection
Users need to raise awareness of protection. Turn on the protective wall function when using a computer or mobile phone. Personal privacy cannot be provided to third parties. Learn to use data encryption techniques to transfer files involving personal information.
- Service provider protection
Enterprises need to develop and promote new technologies and improve information protection systems, such as defense wall technology, access control technology, and anti-theft technology. Use a variety of technical means to protect user privacy.
- Government protection
The country should increase investment in the research and development of big data security technology and encourage enterprises to participate in the research and development of information technology security by setting up special funds.
Privacy protection is a worldwide problem. Privacy security is continually facing this in a more severe form. Privacy and security issues in the era of big data are complex and uncertain. Except for the reason of technical privacy issues. the prevention of privacy and security become more complicated, result from factors such as users themselves, society, economy, and ethics. When facing such a complex and changeable problem, we must rely on the joint efforts of society. Comprehensive governance of privacy issues from different aspects and angles at different levels.
Reference:
New York Time(2021)He Created the Web. Now He’s Out to Remake the Digital World
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/10/technology/tim-berners-lee-privacy-internet.html?referringSource=articleShare
Yuncheng S, Bing G, Yan S, Xuliang D, Xiangqian D, Hong Z, Chuanwu Z, Yuming J (2022) “Personal big data pricing method based on differential privacy” Journal of Computers & Security. Volume 113, 102529.
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