Unethical human activities is primarily responsible for a lack of privacy and safety on the internet

 

Unethical human activities have been responsible for the lack of privacy and safety for people invariably, however with the development of digital technologies, the personal and professional ethics of users on the internet have been blurred and therefore open for exploitation. With the accessibility of so much information about others on the internet, as well as the increasing reliance on the internet to network, share, and access resources, the privacy, and safety on the internet have continually been questioned due to unethical human activities.

In this post, we will explore unethical human activities and how they are responsible for the lack of privacy and safety on the internet.

Unethical human behavior through stealing idea’s from others, either in the form of images, videos, music or art shows a lack of integrity of others and occurs more often on the internet because of the easy access of such a vast worth of content. However, when unethical human behavior is used to exploit the personal information of others it can be detrimental to the privacy of those people.

Unethical human behavior to exploit privacy does not just come from the individuals. It is most often present in the practices of companies, social media platforms, and businesses that rely on the gathering of information about their customers or consumers to broaden and expand their marketing and in turn their profitability.

However, when the gathering of that information directly impacts people’s privacy it will inevitably draw into question people and the company’s ethical or in the case of privacy, unethical behavior.

Studies have shown (Brown & Muchira, 2004) that there is an increase in concerns by users, from social media platforms or search engines where it is required to provide private information in order to have use of that platform. The concern is due to the use of secondary data use or sharing. Have you ever searched an item on Google and then found an advertisement for that particular item on another website? This is secondary data sharing and can be an unethical use of your personal information on the internet and a breach of your privacy.

The Cambridge dictionary has defined unethical as “not morally acceptable”. Now it has been concluded that morals are subjective, meaning they differ from person to person depending on their views, however, it is the view of the writer that using someone’s personal information on the internet without that person’s knowledge or consent is unethical and a breach of privacy.

Unethical human activities can also have a huge impact on the safety of internet users. To be a responsible and ethical digital citizen, especially in today’s ever-growing digital world, it is important for all internet users to be aware of and practice online safety.

For everyday internet users, that would be mindful of the content you post on social media platforms, what information you share with others and how you share other people’s information. Remembering that everything you post on the internet can be used by others and seen by others and that sharing something on the internet is permanent and almost impossible to erase, so being responsible and ethical is extremely important.

For example, fitness instructors or healthy lifestyle “influencers” can post on social media tips and tricks to help you keep fit or to lose weight. However, if those tips and tricks aren’t backed by research, there can be a risk to the safety of the reader’s health and is unethical human behavior.

This is also evident in internet users intently selling faulty products online for a profit. Not only is this unethical behavior misleading, but can directly impact the safety of the consumer, especially if the faulty product is a skincare product or sold as something that can be consumed, for example, “healthy” vitamins or medication.

Safety for young internet users has also been a concern recently in regards to unethical activities. This is most evident in the increased use of social media platforms and their individual safety settings. It has been found that young internet users “may be unaware of the widespread impact that social media behavior can have in real life” (Mishra, et al., 2015: Monash University, 2011). Sharing a personal location on social networking sites “can compromise personal safety and increase the risk of unwanted contact from stalkers or criminals” (Henley, 2013; Madden et al., 2013). Although the sharing of that personal location is a choice by the internet user, it is the exploitation of that specific shared information from others that is unethical human activity and directly impacts your personal internet safety.

Another concern for young internet users and their exploitation is the rise in the social media platform Tiktok. Although Tiktok advises on their website that they have privacy settings or “Family Pairing”, which is where a parent can link their child’s account to their own for parental monitoring, Tiktok does not have any age verification tool embedded in their platform. This means that if a child creates an account without a parent knowing, they will have full access to the social media platform which exposes them to unethical human behavior through other adult users and subsequently put their safety at risk.

Through discussing unethical human behavior on the internet it is clear that it is primarily responsible for the lack of privacy and safety on the internet.

This is shown by the exploration by not only individual internet users but also companies and social media platforms and their exploitation of your personal information, content that you share, items that you search for, and how they use that data through unethical human behavior.

This unethical human behavior can however be helped through education and awareness about what it means to be a positive digital citizen. By being a respectful and responsible internet user, and aware that you must act with knowledge of privacy and safety rights, unethical human behavior on the internet can improve.

By Zhena Lawther

 

References

Brown, M., & Muchira, R. (2004). Investigating the relationship between   Internet privacy concerns and online purchase behavior. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 5(1), 62-70.

Dinev, T., & Hart, P. (2004). Internet privacy concerns and their antecedents – measurement validity and a regression model. Behaviour & Information Technology, 23(6), 413–422. https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290410001715723

Farrukh, A., Sadwick, R., & Villasenor, J. (2014). Youth internet safety: Risks, responses, and research recommendations. The Brookings Institution. Washington, DC.

Henley, J. (2013). Are teenagers really careless about online privacy? The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/21/teenagers-careless-about- online-privacy

Madden, M., Lenhart, A., Cortesi, S., Gasser, U., Duggan, M., Smith, A., & Beaton, M. (2013). Teens, social media, and privacy. Retrieved from https://www.pewinternet.org/2013/05/21/ teens-social-media-and-privacy/

Mark, L. K., & Nguyen, T. T. T. (2017). An Invitation to Internet Safety and Ethics: School and Family Collaboration. Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice, 23, 62-75.

Mishra, S., Mishra, A., & Rawat, R. (2015). A study of impact of social media on college students. CLEAR International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management, 6(12), 27–34.

Monash University. (2011, March 22). Teenagers, parents and teachers unaware of social networking risks. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/ 110321134455.htm

Paat, Y. F., & Markham, C. (2020). Digital crime, trauma, and abuse: Internet safety and cyber risks for adolescents and emerging adults in the 21st century. Social Work in Mental Health, 19(1), 18–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332985.2020.1845281

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Winter, S. J., Stylianou, A. C., & Giacalone, R. A. (2004). Individual Differences in the Acceptability of Unethical Information Technology Practices: The Case of Machiavellianism and Ethical Ideology. Journal of Business Ethics, 54(3), 275–296. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-004-1772-6

Young, A. L., & Quan-Haase, A. (2013). PRIVACY PROTECTION STRATEGIES ON FACEBOOK. Information, Communication & Society, 16(4), 479–500. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2013.777757

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