Change is on The Horizon!
Ten years ago, there was very little fuss about one’s privacy on the internet. It just was not something anyone was very concerned about. Then as consumers entered the world of smartphones, laptops, and online commerce, all hell began to break loose. Yet, in all the confusion and violations of privacy one has to see that online privacy for consumers is a process just like it is everywhere and every time big changes occur in one’s life. Many have heard or repeated the old saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day!” without understanding exactly what that means. Just as online activity is ever changing, so are the rules for consumers’ privacy. Let us look at how things have changed in regards to one’s privacy online over the last two and a half years. In 2010, apps on iPhone’s and Androids sent large amounts of information such as location, age, gender, out to varying numbers of external agencies without any knowledge or consent. By 2011 ‘Supercookies’ were rampant and stealing computer users histories, even deleted histories, reconstructing them and sending them to outside agencies. Then finally, by 2012 not only were consumers up in arms at the amount of information being shared but also top government officials were standing up and saying enough is enough!
In 2010 The Wall Street Journal did an investigation into 101 iPhone and Android apps to see which ones were transmitting information about the user without their knowledge or consent (Thurman &Kane). Their research shows that over half of the apps tested gave out a consumer’s unique device ID, a.k.a. UDID, which is for all intensive purposes a phone’s fingerprint. Thurman and Kane also discuss how just under half of the 101 apps tested also gave out consumers location without their knowledge or consent. Most of the time this information is sent directly to advertising companies for the sole purpose of ad placements on websites. The information being gathered is used to place ads...