Internet risks - the sharing issue

As our internet use becomes more and more a part of our daily lives, you would be quite ignorant if you think that your privacy is not running a greater and greater risk as time goes by. We like to use the internet, and we like to have it easy accessible at all times. With our smartphones, tablets and PCs, the world is only a tap or a click away from us. Everything is now available through an app or a website.

One of the things we seem to use the internet for more and more these days, and I can certainly relate to it, is shopping. Using the internet to shop makes it easier for us to compare models, price, etc. And with shopping comes, unfortunately, spending. We spend a vast amount of money through webshops every day. We often have accounts on numerous websites, where information about us is stored in our account settings. Some websites even remember your VISA-card number, and other personal data about you. All these data are, of course, protected by our advanced, or not so advanced personal passwords. So it´s all good. Well, of course not.

When using my PC it often asks me if it should remember this and that password for me, or remember the login settings for different websites. My PC is even communicating with my smartphone and tablet, so all the passwords it remembers is shared on all three devices instantly. And to be totally honest; I love it! Now I don't have to use a whole lot of time to remember all the different usernames and passwords I use. My PC even comes up with proposals for new passwords when I´m getting a new account somewhere. Very complicated password that I´d never remember, but I never have to, because the PC, my phone and my tablet remembers it for me. Nowadays I rarely log on to any website that i use often. My devices are doing it for me. It even remembers my VISA-card number! Brilliant! I only have to memorize the three digit CVC-code on the back of my card, and I can shop all i want, as easy as that!

And I could have gone on and on about this. Not only are our use of the internet more related to our daily lives, like shopping in this example, we are also starting to get very inpatient in a very dangerous manner.

Pete Pachal has some thoughts of Apples digital Keychain.

What if someone took my phone, tablet or PC? Logged into a shopping website where I've had my login details stored, and then emptied my bank account? Even though I have tools like Find my iPhone, Find my Mac, Find my this and Find my that it would have been quite easy to do something like this. This is what hacking and illegal usage of our user information all comes down to. What if someone stole my money? With our demands of a fast, easy and fun way to use the internet, my concerns goes to our privacy, and I'm not talking about party pictures posted on Facebook.

And even though you are watchful regarding your password and privacy, you could be hit by hackers through errors in the "internet system".  Heartbleed showed us that we can never be one hundred percent protected when sharing delicate information about ourselves on the internet.

But despite our knowledge about this we still share private information online. I´m wondering if we one day will look back and laugh at ourselves for sharing all this details. I sincerely hope not, but you'll never know.

Sharing - what, where and why?

Which problems are we getting ourselves and our kids into, when (over)sharing our lives on social media?

In a society where we increase to embrace social media in our everyday lives, new issues has risen when the "share"-button is only a few clicks and taps away.

I especially want to focus on parents sharing photos and information about their kids. In Norway, for instance, we have Privacy laws that forbids anyone to post pictures of you onto the internet without your approval. But what about our own kids?

Based on what we see on social media, blogs, etc, there are many different interpretations of what privacy is really about. Some parents, obviously think their children is a miniature extension of themselves, and therefore makes the decision based on; "If it´s ok with me, it´s ok with him/her".

But what happens when your cute little ones grows up, gets a Facebook account of their own and discover they've already have had a "Facebook career"? Everything we share, that contains information in one way or another, about ourselves or other people, do in some way or another affect our digital personality. I´m not necessarily saying this is a negative factor, but when what we share communicates in some way who we are. So the things we share of our children is a way of defining them to the ones who watches. Events in a toddlers life may seem innocent and cute at the time, but the case can be totally different a few years later when your classmates discovers your parents blog or social media account with events of your childhood displayed openly. Two articles written respectively by Margaret Hamilton and Eliana Dockterman are interesting voices on this issue.

Another issue that the link below also addresses is the social media phenomenons called "childism" where parents post pictures of their kids in vulnerable moments, with the text i.e. "The reason why i cry..." exploiting the trust children's have to their parents in order to abuse it for entertainment. Some parents think this is ok to do, since they as parents, knows whats best for their own child. But of course this comes out, to the vast majority, as child bullying. A article that addresses the childish-topic is found here.

The opinions of these issues are vast and varied, but this is an important debate to get aware and reflected about. So what, where and why do you share? Have anyone found the happy medium, or is it a more complexed matter?

Are we getting the whole picture?

When logging into Facebook, are we really getting the information we at first requested?

The worldwide social network started out as a smart communication tool for students, but has developed into a million dollar business putting commercial forces at the front row, and the users at the back.

Facebook has grown into, what we today think of as the mother of all social networks, and also the ones who sets new standards. But what has Facebook really grown into? Our goal (the users) is to connect and stay in touch with people by being friends and being members of groups of our interest. In addition we like to follow pages and sites that contains content that we care about, like sports, hobbies and other interests.

The thing is; Facebook isn't really showing us the whole picture. You should think that you would get news from all the people your friend with, and from all the pages you liked through you newsfeed? That, unfortunately, is not the case. But why, you ask? Well, there are a number of reasons for Facebook to just give you a limited view of what you really want - but it all comes down to one thing; cash is still king.

The likeness between who we are in real life, and what we seems to be like through our Facebook profile has grown closer to each other as time has passed by. As the development of Facebook has widened its request for details from our lives, our lives has become more accessible through Facebook. If your Facebook profile appears to be successful, then so is your actual life too! The more likes, the more friends, the more followers is indicating to the world around you that your life is pretty good! This is good news for Facebook, because this is what generates the huge income of the so-called social network.

Just recently Facebook updated their Facebook app, removing the possibility to easy access the latest news in your newsfeed. So instead of getting the latest updates and shared content, the feed will present you with the most popular content. In this article you can read further about it.

Through advanced algorithms Facebook denies us to see everything thats posted, even though its posted by our friends or by pages we like. The reason of this is to make us, the users, pay to promote our photos, updates and pages.

Derek Muller has been kind to break this down for us in these two videos;

The first about the newsfeed algorithm:

And the second one on how Facebook makes its profit

Mullers analysis has currently of the algorithm has currently 1,6 million views on YouTube, and has been recommended by news sites like Business Insider.

The Federalist has also looked into this in a way more mathematical way - absolutely worth reading if you're interested to go a bit deeper into the algorithm.

So - what are your thought of all this? Is it just something we should accept and move on, or is there alternatives. Because leaving Facebook, thats just too crazy, isn't it?