What Is Online Privacy? 什么是网络隐私？

Online privacy， also known as internet privacy or digital privacy， refers to how much of your personal， financial and browsing information remains private when you’re online.

This has become a growing worry， with browsing history and personal data all potentially at risk when online.

Many people underestimate the importance of online privacy， but they should be aware of how much information they’re sharing—not just on social networks， but just by browsing itself.

Why online privacy is so important

It’s important to remember that nothing is free： whether it be downloading apps， using a company’s “free” email service （such as Gmail） or social networks like Facebook. Even visiting a website means you’re sharing data about yourself. And， as some people in your life know you better than others， online privacy exists on a spectrum1： some online entities gather and store more information about you than other platforms.

Online privacy is important for numerous reasons. You don’t want to share details of your personal life with strangers and it’s hard to be sure what personal information is gathered and by whom： information collected by one company might be shared with another.

You might be uncomfortable with bespoke2， targeted ads that remember your internet search history.

Even more problematic is information sold from one company to another， or data gathered and shared without your consent. Ultimately， this is identity theft.

Public concern over internet privacy

In a recent poll of American internet users， 81% said they believe they have no control over data collected by private companies. Worse—the number climbs to 84% when asked if they could control the government’s collection of their data.

GDPR

In the EU， concerns like these were addressed with GDPR （General Data Protection Regulation）. This set of laws， passed in 2016 and implemented in 2018， was intended to protect the privacy and data of every EU citizen.

There are 99 articles in GDPR. These include：

· the right to know what data a company holds about you

· an opportunity to refuse a company access to browsing history and cookies when you visit their site

· clear responsibility for companies to gain consent for customer information

· stricter regulations regarding contacting customers and sharing contact details with third parties

The right to be forgotten

“The right to be forgotten” is a relatively new phrase， but it grows in rele-vance every time someone visits a site. Some tech companies have customer information dating back years， logging every site they visited， their preferences， shopping habits， political views and more.

The right to be forgotten is the right to ask those companies to delete and surrender3 this information.

This can extend to online chatter and third-party discussions： there have been cases where people have fought to have their names and images removed from “revenge porn4” （and search engine results for same）. Some have requested past personal stories （involving petty crime or embarrassing viral stories） be taken off the internet.

This is an ongoing debate. On one side5， the right to be forgotten arguably protects those who want privacy and not be reminded of previous mistakes. Those opposed （who， incidentally include some tech giants） argue that it amounts to6 censorship7and could lead to the rewriting of history.

What is information privacy？

This is sometimes referred to as data privacy or online privacy.

Information privacy is an element of online security that looks at the following issues：

· data acquired

· how data is collected or stored

· whether or not data is shared with a third party

· regulatory restrictions， such as GDPR

Many companies such as Google， Amazon and Facebook have profited handsomely in the “data economy”， —accumulating user data to maximise either product or ad sales. Good practice regarding information privacy means keeping customer information secure， not sharing it with third parties without consent or using data maliciously or negligently.

Personal privacy vs sensitive information

When it comes to internet privacy， there is personal and sensitive information. They are defined the following ways：

Personal information—identifiers8， such as name， IP address， address， etc.

Sensitive information—very private data like medical records， but also information that you might not be ready to share publicly， such as your sexual orientation or political views.

How does privacy differ from information security？

Online privacy and security often overlap， as one sometimes affects the other. They can be differentiated this way.

Privacy—you want the company you deal with （say， a bank or a social network） to keep your data and information itself， not share it publicly or with third parties. In this instance， privacy is breached but security is maintained.

Security—this is the next step. If the data shared includes （for instance） financial information or your home address， then both privacy and security is compromised.