The Main Internet Privacy Concerns of the Future

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Social media privacy has been discussed extensively over the past few years because of the numerous loopholes that leave members unprotected. Many technology experts worry that the future will bring new and more difficult to handle online privacy issues.

The popularity of mobile devices is growing all the time, which may affect mobile internet privacy in new ways. Smartphones and tablets enable users to access all of their social networks through a single profile and to perform multiple operations using open wireless networks and connections that have questionable security.

Mobile internet usage can compromise social media privacy seriously. Accessing numerous websites from the same account can easily lead to identity theft or unauthorized access to at least some kinds of important personal information.

As many companies are offering free services online, the level of customer privacy is also decreasing. Search engines, online stores and social networks will all have to discover the balance between using customer data for their needs and providing clients with a respectful, high-level service.

Social media privacy will continue growing as a concern because of this provision of free services, as well as the inclusion of numerous third-party applications in the social networking package.

Personalization and geotagging are two other concerns that will keep on growing in importance.

Many websites collect personal information from visitors and members, in order to provide customized content that corresponds to the user’s requirements. Google has also jumped on the bandwagon, making search engine results more personalized and dependent on user input than ever before.

Though such options provide convenience, people start wondering how much of their personal information is reaching third parties and how it is being put to use. The concerns are legitimate and online companies are yet to provide detailed answers about the manner in which they are maintaining user privacy.

Geotagging is a hot trend that is related both to smartphone usage and social media privacy.

Geotagging enables applications to identify the location of the user’s smartphone on the basis of GPS coordinates. This information is once again used to provide geographically relevant content. Many photo applications come with geotagging that automatically adds coordinates to every picture that is being taken.

It turns out that websites and third parties are getting information not only about the preferences of users but they also have a very accurate idea about the location of each person.

Finding the balance is going to remain a challenge. Social networks provide a lot of convenience but the security risks are growing all the time. Finding the right kind of privacy app is one viable solution but being aware of privacy policies and how information is being used will deliver much better results in the long-term.