Proposed Title:
As the web technologies advance are we giving away too much information about personal lives? Should we be taking steps to enable anonymous browsing of the Internet?
Outline:
The area that I am most interested in and wish to explore revolves around the many issues and debates with regards to anonymous browsing and digital privacy on the web. Some of the issues that I would like to research further include; Have we become ignorant to the fact that nearly every step we take on the web can be logged, traced, stored and used to “help improve” our web experience?
A major debate online questions Google Inc’s Privacy Policies and their attitude to data privacy. With the slogan “Don’t Be Evil” how can we be sure that this is not a tactical ploy to reel us in and to make us feel safe?
By looking at current debates in this topic area I plan to investigate the motives of capturing and mining data on the web and the effects of these actions. Are these motives for the good of the public or just a sneaky way to increasing profitability, hits and above all gaining even more market share? Or, are their methods for the good of the user’s web experience?
By conducting this investigation I want to understand why and how these companies gather, utilise and process our data. Determining whether or not the power and information that these businesses hold on us as individuals is being used to benefit the end user or benefit the companies themselves. From the second we log on to their websites they are aware of a multitude of information, ranging from what operating system we are running to personal information such as our location. For example Google offer a range of services and by signing up to just a few of their services they will know where you live, your age, and even your bank account details. As Google now own some of our largest online and offline services and products are they really looking after our data or are they using it to take over the web? At present our personal data is in safe hands, or so we would like to think. However, what impact could it have on our lives if companies such as Google change their tactics, policies, or owners?
