Privacy and Confidentiality - Exercise

Internet privacy issues have become increasingly complex as digital technologies evolve, creating a landscape where personal data is both a valuable asset and a potential liability. One major concern is the widespread collection, storage, and analysis of user data by corporations and governments, often without explicit consent or awareness. Social media platforms, search engines, and e-commerce sites track user behavior to tailor advertisements or improve services, but this can lead to profiling, identity theft, or unauthorized data sharing with third parties. Additionally, cyberattacks and data breaches expose sensitive information—such as financial details or medical records—highlighting the vulnerability of online systems. The lack of transparency in how data is used, coupled with inadequate security measures, fuels distrust among users who feel they’ve lost control over their personal information.
Privacy laws aim to address these issues, but their effectiveness varies globally due to differing priorities and enforcement mechanisms. In the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), enacted in 2018, sets a high standard by granting individuals rights to access, correct, or delete their data, while imposing strict penalties on companies that fail to comply. In contrast, the United States lacks a comprehensive federal privacy law, relying instead on a patchwork of sector-specific regulations like the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which gives residents some control over their data but doesn’t match GDPR’s scope. Elsewhere, countries like China blend privacy protections with state surveillance, prioritizing national security over individual rights. These disparities create a fragmented legal landscape, leaving gaps that tech giants exploit and complicating efforts to ensure consistent privacy standards worldwide.

This exercise is not scored.
It's an opportunity for you to check your understanding of the material covered in the preceding lesson. You will be presented with a task that you will submit. When you have completed the exercise, click the Submit button to continue.

• Instructions
  In this exercise, you will do some detective work and locate privacy information on the Web. Consider privacy issues that affect you and your business.
  
  1. Go to www.yahoo.com.
  2. Select the People Search link from the Yahoo home page.
  3. Enter your first and last names in the space provided under the Telephone Search. To narrow the search, you can enter a city and state. Did you find out any information about yourself? Try looking up some information on someone else.
  
  Go to the Internet Privacy Coalition to review current issues in privacy.

After completing your research for this exercise, post your thoughts about privacy issues on social media. Do you think there should be laws protecting individual privacy? If so, what rights do you think should be protected? If you don't think there should be laws, why not?