Online Privacy: Protecting Your Personal Data and Security

Running head: ONLINE PRIVACY
ONLINE PRIVACY
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ONLINE PRIVACY1
Online privacy is security and privacy level of private data published through internet.
It is the term which refers to variety of techniques, technologies and factors that is used for
protecting private and sensitive data, preferences and communications. Online privacy
involves concerns from beginning of broad computer sharing. Online privacy can involve
Personally Identifying Information (PII) or non-PII data like the behaviour of site visitor on
websites. PII is information which could be used for identifying individuals (Davis & James,
2013). The primary concern of online privacy is protection of user data. There exists many
governmental organizations which protect the anonymity and privacy of an individual over
the internet. People can disclose their private data in several ways such as by giving bank or
debit card details to several websites or using social media. Online privacy creates serious
challenges to internet users (Bartsch & Dienlin, 2016). Organizations and internet require
new protocols or rules for protecting the privacy of an individual.
The collective definition which consists of individual privacy, communication privacy
and information privacy is termed as digital privacy. It is used for promoting advocacy in
behalf of consumer and individual privacy rights. The framework to protect private
information in context of online is provided by federal Privacy Act 1988. The law follows
principle-based approach which can be applied in different situations. The act provides
legislative structure to protect data by private Australian organizations. Privacy Act is a
framework which applies to use, collection, destruction and storage of private data.
Organizations following Privacy Act need to operate by following National Policy Principles
(NPPs). Personal information’s disclosure, use and collection are covered by the NPPs. Data
security, identifiers usage, data quality, sensitive data collection are also covered by NPPs
(Baruh, Secinti & Cemalcilar, 2017). Privacy codes must be developed by organizations for
the protection of sensitive information. The main principles related to protection of online
data can be stated as Collection of personal information of data subject is necessary for

ONLINE PRIVACY2
functions of organizations, if there is no need of personal information for further purpose, the
organization must destroy that information.
Digital materials possess quite smaller life span than traditional format. Formation of
each digital file consists of series of one and zero bits. These bits are required to be collected
without any damage or loss for ensuring the digital material’s survival. These exists several
threats which attempt to dispute these bits. Files can be corrupted by storing media for a long
time (Davis & James, 2013). Storage media could become out-of-date and would be
unsupportive to contemporary computers. The data bits might be abandoned, maliciously
destroyed, accidentally deleted or ignored. Files stored in shared network without owner or
cloud storage supplier of third-party might be exhausted. Maintaining bit preservation’s
systematic method is a fundamental need for ensuing long digital preservation.
Understanding of technology upon which digital materials depend allows taking of required
action for ensuring their preservation. Digital materials possess the potential in remaining
fluid within time, being damaged, easily altered or being edited (Bergström, 2015). Careful
consideration is required of digital material’s full lifecycle for having end user’s trust in
digital preservation.
Phishing scams and malware attacks are increasing as well as identity theft and data
breaches are now becoming ordinary. There are several ways in reputable websites which can
track, store and collect personal information. Personal data’s use, the manner of securing it
can cause risks to privacy. Suspicious emails are required to be ignored. The system’s
operating system, security software and browser are required to be up-to-date. The privacy
settings of services and websites needs to be updated regularly, especially in social media.
Since information is shared publicly by most websites, changing the browser settings will
ensure that personal data is displayed to fewer people (Jia et al, 2015). Ideally information
should be shared with only trusted people. Blocking browser’s third-party cookies is a good