Concluding Blog

To wrap things up on this blog, I have a whole new perspective towards online privacy.  Our lives online really are becoming more like an open book that everyone can read.  The web is becoming more people-centric, and the more information that people share online, the more connected everyone will be.   No one is private online.  We can increase our privacy online by making sure a site is safe before sharing information,  watching our online accounts, protecting our wireless connections, using a privacy orientated email service, using a virtual private network to hide our IP addess, and using “Peerblock” to prevent known risks from seeing your computer.  Although there are laws and regulations in Canada to protect our online safety, a lot of it comes down to your own measures and responsibilities online.  We must be very aware and cautious of the information we are sharing online as we do not know who is viewing that information.  I also feel that the government should take a further look into such Bills, as Bill C-12 to help protect us online.  Bill C-12 was proposed to amend PIPEDA, and strengthen the policies associated with PIPEDA.  This will help protect and empower consumers, and clarify and streamline rules for businesses.  It would also make data breach notifications mandatory.  This would increase transparency, and increase online privacy.  I think this Bill would be very important, as social media companies withhold so much of our personal identifiable information.  So to conclude, always be aware and cautious.  Online privacy may be considered dead already, but we must do anything we can to protect ourselves online.