You Say You Never Put Your Personal Information Online…
We all know someone who doesn’t have Internet access and who doesn’t want it. And when they hear about someone having their identity stolen or a company being hacked and millions of users’ personal information is stolen, they’ll look at you and say… “See? This is why I’ll never use a computer.”
Well, they may not think they have any personal information on the Web, but if they drive a car, own a house, pay taxes, register to vote, collect Social Security, own and use a credit card, or have ever been in a hospital their personal information is on the Web. They are naive to think because they don’t use a PC and are not on the Internet that they have no personal information online. Unless you live in a 3rd-world country you have a lot of personal information online whether or not you have a PC and Internet access.
Technology may well result in the end of society as we have known it. Right now we’re overwhelmed by technology advancing faster than most of us can wrap our heads around. Real AI (Artificial Intelligence) is less than a decade away and a pretty bright guy thinks that AI will bring an end to our civilization. His name is Stephen Hawking.
When it comes to keeping your personal information off the Internet these days, good luck. Tossing your computer in the ocean isn’t going to do it. Disconnecting from the Internet isn’t going to do it. Installing toolbars or apps which promise to protect your personal information, isn’t going to do it.There’s a 99.999% chance, whether or not you’ve ever spent a second on the Internet that a great deal of information about you is on the Internet and there is no way to get it all off and no way to prevent people from acessing it. And remember this: Any Information post on Web is indelible; nothing can ever wash it away.
It makes you think, doesn’t it?
I have to laugh when people state that online banking is dangerous, they get in their car, drive to park near their bank, (being lucky in this area)go inside, most times stand in a queue, perform their transaction which the clerk puts in the computer, all their information is then sent over the Internet to the bank’s server.
There is no need for me to write a list of every institute who’s transactions travel via the Internet for customers who ‘never put private and personal information on the Internet’, but they stand in a queue with their passbooks, credit cards, rates notices, licences etc; in their hands which is visible to people who are beside them.
Today there is no where to hide. Your information is forwarded to many different companies, government, banks, hospitals and etc.