Visual Privacy (Article Sample)

Understanding Visual Content Privacy Leaks and its Dangers Introduction In the age of technology, we all have been exchanging conversations and pieces of information through social media networks as it is the most convenient media. Technological advancement in communication has allowed us to reach people, even from another side of the world, within seconds. Unlike the old days when telegrams would take weeks before arriving at the receiver, technologies made transactions faster and accessible to everyone. Today, even calls have allowed us to see the people to whom we are talking. Also, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram enable us to post real-time pictures, videos, and statuses of ourselves or other people. It means that I can post photos, videos, or any content on my social media accounts immediately after taking them. That is how quickly technology has become over the past years. However, progress and convenience come with consequences of which we are all potential victims. Because of the easier access that the digital era has given us, malicious intents and actions have also become more convenient and modern. One of the possible internet frauds that anyone can fall victim to is privacy leaks in social media. Privacy leak is the publicity, accidental or not, of personal information or identity through visual content that is released online. Accidental exposition of information may be posting your credit bill for the vanity without blurring or hiding your card number or other personal details (DeHart and Grant). People who are unaware of the sensitivity of their information would often commit this accident. Another form of leaked information is the hacking of social media accounts that contain private data like birth dates and addresses (Squicciarini, Caragea, and Balakavi). These instances of personal information leakage may cause so much trouble, which could cost anyone, not just money but also lives. Visual Privacy Content Leaks A study (DeHart and Grant) has categorized visual contents that often leak online. Leak contents would most likely carry pieces of information that belong to any of the three categories. The first category is the location. Today, social media platforms, as well as other technological devices, have a feature that enables a person to tag, pin, and show their current location. Most of them would also list the history of your whereabouts. Publicizing your location could hint at the places you frequent and expose information about you (DeHart and Grant). People may identify which bank you go to, which mall, or in which area you live. By exposing your whereabouts, you may attract ill-intent people who target people on the spot. Identity is the second category that classifies leaks about private pieces of information as well as personal identification. This category includes names, birthdates, addresses, signatures, and even fingerprints. Leaking personal identification details may lead to more serious issues like identity theft, and deception of other people (DeHart and Grant). Scammers may use your identity to take advantage of other people's money, and property, leaving you with a responsibility you did not do. Exposition of such details may come from accidentally posting documents and identification cards that hold confidential numbers. Some may even hack through your social media accounts to obtain the necessary information for their illegal activities. Lastly, there are also reports on leaks about assets. It means that people's private properties and financial statuses get exposed to the public or advantageous people (DeHart and Grant). If the information on assets and properties leaks to the public or criminals, it would require quick legal actions to avoid losing all the assets. People would be most careful about documents that carry information about their properties. That is why it is somehow impossible for them to expose it themselves. What could have happened in this kind of leak is that the culprit has found a way to stay close, or at least keep close contact with the person. That is why we must choose the people we keep close to us. Security, Privacy, and Algorithms Scams and fraud have become digital operations because most people are users of technology and virtual media. People's diversion to online transactions and interactions has given way for illegal activities to use the platforms to their advantage. Because we all have been switching to doing most of our errands online, ill-intent people have also found a more convenient way of doing their practices. Just like personal transactions, we also entrust our private pieces of information to the virtual world. It means that our names, birth dates, and even signatures may be floating somewhere in the virtual world (Squicciarini, Caragea, and Balakavi). Though, they go securely and privately directed to the platform with which we transact. As we input our details on online forms or log in to a social media site, we expose our details to virtual space. Of course, we trust that the platform, for instance, a government site or Instagram, secures whatever we give them. Depending on their privacy policy and terms of the agreement, we rely that they keep our details to their sites only. Most of the time, those websites and social media platforms guarantee their privacy policies to be strict and favorable to users. That is, their user security is reliable; they let users know about their rights over personal details and have policies for leaks and disinformation (Squicciarini, Caragea, and Balakavi). On the part of online platforms like websites, social media platforms, search engines, and the like, they guarantee security. However, most of the time, especially on social media sites, we publicly post and share anything. For instance, on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, we freely share statuses, photos, videos, schedules, events, and even personal thoughts. Especially with the algorithm that these sites have, we attract what we mostly share. Online algorithms would always take note of what we talk about in our posts, shares, or even in a conversation. It takes a few mentions of a brand name in our conversations for an ad to pop up in our timeline (Squicciarini, Caragea, and Balakavi). That is how fast algorithms can read the contents of our social media accounts. The Danger of Public Posts When it comes to the security of private information given to social media sites, we can rely on all we want on these platforms to protect our details. Anyway, they are reliable in case there is a leakage in their sites (Squicciarini, Caragea, and Balakavi). However, visual privacy leakage can happen in many ways. Sometimes, we could accidentally give away what should be private and confidential. One way to leak your details is by posting online anything that contains personal identification. In some cases, it happens accidentally to people. That is, they forget or do not notice that there is sensitive information in their posts. Before they know it, the public has already viewed what they have posted. It can happen when we enthusiastically post pictures or videos that contain receipts, bills, cards, or any document that may bear personal or sensitive information (DeHart and Grant). Although these documents may not be the point of the post or the media, they can still reveal confidential information. What scammers or frauds would do is zoom in to those media and figure out numbers or letters on your documents. For instance, your video accidentally and briefly shows your credit card number. Even in a few seconds or frames, expert people may find a way to know what those numbers are. Another way to reveal details that are subject to illegal activities is the mention or exposition of location. It may be trivial, but your whereabouts may play a role in targeting you for unlawful actions. Examples of this exposition are when you post vacation plans, workplace areas, and even private addresses (DeHart and Grant). In most social media sites, there is an option to pin your location, and it will show in your post. Honestly, people would sometimes utilize that option for purposes like an out-of-the-country tour or classy experiences. Somehow, publicizing your location would help in case anything happens and you do not have anyone with you (Vgena, et al.). People would easily find your address. However, the danger lies when frauds spot the opportunity to take advantage of the exposed information. For instance, stalkers may go to your workplace uninvited or unannounced. Robbers or snatchers may wait for you when you visit a bank or do other errands that involve money and transactions. A mere mention and exposition of our details could endanger not just our lives but also other people's. We are not sure if these people are after us or maybe using our information to track another person. It may be too much to assume things to the extent of endangering other people's lives. However, while worrying about these incidents seems trivial, it is necessary. We do not want to avoid it when it is already in our faces. Thinking ahead and reevaluating our social media activities may help us avoid dangers and accidents. Who Are Most Vulnerable? As much as we want to avoid privacy and information leaks, it is unavoidable for two reasons: some people would still find a way to take advantage of the exposed information while some could not help but reveal their details. Especially on social media, you would spot a lot of people not minding whether their post contents are sensitive or too much for the public. Sometimes, the only things they would look after are their looks and how other people would react to them. It is not blaming people for not being careful of their social media activities. It is because there is a reason for most of these people who unintentionally give away their data to the public. As we all know, we are in the a...