I do believe that privacy is very important especially when it comes to online safety. It is quite unsettling to see that there are ways that people are able to gather personal information and use that data with unwholesome intentions. Thinking back to the phishing video I was awestruck by seeing how easy it was to gather information from a cell phone company. It then made me think about how their security standard is non-existent as they just basically hand over anyone’s information if the individual on the phone sounds convincing enough. Luckily the video was done in a controlled setting where there was no real danger of there being a potential victim of identity theft. 

I would say that I do try my best in protecting myself from potential threats or scams as technology has made it easier for strangers to break into others’ lives. I sometimes catch myself telling friends not to post every single detail of our plans when meeting to catch up. Especially since my friend group is made up of individuals who live on social media and post updates daily via Snapchat without monitoring their location status. One way I protect myself and them I tend to ask to be the camera girl and take pictures that do not show any distinctive landmarks or give off any additional information about our location.  Every time we post, these ill-intentioned individuals receive our personal information which they use to gain access to our accounts. Even though those private posts were meant for family and friends who live far away, but you still want to keep them updated on your life.

Finally, the thought of exam proctoring is extremely invasive. In a sense, you can see why it is done because a teacher wants to ensure there is no cheating, but having the background of your home out in the open does not sit right with me. Schools that use systems to monitor cheating while conducting tests show from the start that they do not have any trust in the students. To add fuel to the flame during the beginning of COVID-19 schools usually used zoom in order to hold classes, however, there were instances when these meetings were hacked by outsiders who were not a part of the class. Consequently, we don’t only lack security in our so-called secured network, we also lack trust in the administrations to which we entrusted our education.