Today we will be talking a bit about what you can and cannot do online and what protections you have. The first amendment does protect online speech, but this is the same as traditional speech; making threats and using speech to incite violence is not permitted. The problem with the internet is that people can do many different things under fake accounts and behind the ‘protection’ of their screen. The internet is barely regulated as is, so the idea of regulating online speech may seem like a reasonable goal. There is much more that would need to be done to make regulations work.
Online privacy regulations have become more necessary as companies have continued to see the financial benefits of data mining their consumers to outside groups. If this behavior is allowed and continues unregulated, people will begin to trust their devices and online usage less and less. The most concerning aspect of this is how most data mining occurs at night while consumers are asleep. Why are these apps and groups looking through information that we store on our devices to sell to companies? It comes down to money. Unfortunately, every person creates an online profile from the things that they look up to the purchases they make, which generates business for groups who use this information.
In other countries, there are much stricter laws when it comes to online privacy. The European Union has the GDPR, which outlines its online privacy laws. One distinct difference between the US and the EU is that the EU keeps its policies between shifts of power and those in government, versus the United States changes online police laws between each administration. The EU also allows citizens to delete their data and considers this private. In contrast, the US gives citizens little ownership for their data and enables private companies to track and monetize it. The EU also creates most of its online privacy laws to protect citizens and their online activities.
It would be helpful if the US had more online privacy protections; however, many people do not understand the full extent of data mining and online data collections. The one good thing for this particular issue is that many organizations provide the legal framework for online privacy and provide assistance when people feel that their rights have been violated. The immediate problem with creating new online privacy legislation is since the current legislation is not very strict, changing the way people and companies interact on the internet may be difficult and take a long time.
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