There was a time not so long ago,when people were very protective of their online identities and rarely ever volunteered information about themselves,family or their personal life so easily.
Governments had a hard time getting information from the populace that they had to resort to underhanded means of invading the homes and offices of those considered suspect and planting listening and spy cam devices in their respective places without their knowledge.
Even when the information was gathered, it was not so comprehensive as the information that really mattered was locked away in the brain vault,that is until the advent of social media platforms which i believe started off with the real intention of connecting people,places and cultures by encouraging its users to share personal informations about themselves
But eventually ended up as a novel way for governments around the world to gather intelligence in more detail and also as a new form of currency for startup companies and multinational corporations to trade in.
Information like real names,frequented places,daily habits,status updates and buying history became commodities to trade in .All these data are collated and sold to multibillion dollar corporations and government parastatals to influence the users with subliminal messages in the form of advertisement that somehow appeals to individual interests and ideals leading to the sale and exchange of goods,services and information which they profit immensely from.
Guess what i am saying is we should be cautious of the data trail we leave behind online as they can be easily stolen and used against us by blackhat hackers,corporations and sad to say even our own governments.
We should jealously guard personal informations about our loved ones and selves from the unreal world of cyberspace because of the many unsavory characters that inhabit it.
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This is such an important point. I remember back in the 90s my Mom always warned me not to let people online know anything about me. Nowadays she's on Facebook all the time posting pictures! It's amazing how things have changed.
Thank you so much for reading @ darthcorrie . Had the same advice from my parents,they like your Mum have joined the social media bandwagon.
I guess they want to informed on the happenings of the world so they are willin to abandon their previous philosophy plus most of physical relationships has become virtualized.
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"All these data are collated and sold to multibillion dollar corporations and government parastatals to influence the users with subliminal messages in the form of advertisement that somehow appeals to individual interests and ideals leading to the sale and exchange of goods,services and information which they profit immensely from."
Wow, you are so right, i keep wondering how the internet connect everything together.
From my point of view we have been an experimental subject all this while. Now we need to be mindful of the things we post online for our safety.
My point exactly @onedalfulgift.We are mindlessly giving way too much information about ourself.