NIT2201 - Online Privacy: An Analytical Essay - [University Name]

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of online privacy, focusing on the importance of digital privacy in the current digital landscape. It begins by defining digital privacy and highlighting its significance, particularly in Australia, where over 80% of people use loyalty cards, often unaware of how their data is collected and used. The essay then delves into the potential loss of online privacy and the associated threats, such as data collection, lack of security, loss of information, and individual tracking. It emphasizes the importance of protecting browsing sessions, using two-factor authentication, and creating strong passwords. The essay also addresses the vulnerability of government officials and the need for extra privacy measures. Furthermore, it explores case studies of privacy breaches involving Coles' Flybuys and Woolworths Rewards, and contrasts the Privacy Act 1988 with the GDPR. The essay concludes by summarizing the key points and reiterating the importance of digital privacy for individual users in the online environment.

Running head: ONLINE PRIVACY
Online Privacy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction:
In Australia more than 80 percent of peoples are having the loyalty card but most of them
unaware about the fact which type of data and how much amount of data is collected by each of
these cards and how these data are actually used. In this aspect this actually creates a privacy
related issue for the card holders. Privacy is actually considered as ability of the individuals that
they can seclude themselves and their information from being publicly available (Benn, 2017). In
this case it is a digital privacy related issue. The digital privacy is something which can be
considered as protection of the information of the individuals which are mainly used by them
during internet browsing on personal device (Gelman et al., 2018).
Thus, this essay will be discussing on the factors related with the online privacy of the
individuals. This essay will first discuss regarding digital privacy. In the next section of this
essay loss of the online privacy and threats regarding this issue will be discussed briefly. In the
further section of this report important case studies regarding online privacy will be discussed.
Background of the Digital Privacy:
Privacy is very much important for all the individuals as peoples always have some
confidential information of them which they might not want to be exposed in front of public.
Thus, privacy plays an important role for the peoples. In this aspect the digital privacy is also
important as the digital privacy hides important digital information of the individuals which can
be exposed to the public through online environment. The digital type of privacy includes digital
identity of the users or any type of digital confidential digital information (Athey, Catalini &
Tucker, 2017). In Australia, the digital privacy is very much important factor. To protect the
privacy of the individuals Australia has introduced The Privacy Act 1988. This privacy act

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protects and promotes privacy of the individuals in Australia and this act also regulates how the
organization and government agencies of Australia will be handling the personal information.
The privacy act of Australia includes total 13 of principles which is also applicable for some of
the private sector organizations and for the government agencies (Witzleb, 2018). In a collective
form this are generally referred as APP entities. This act is also responsible for regulating the
some of the consumer components which includes tax file numbers, credit reporting system and
health and medical related research.
Loss of Online Privacy and Threats regarding it:
Protecting the online privacy of the users is very much important so that proper safety of
the individuals can be ensured as breaches in the online privacy can lead to some major threats.
While considering the digital materials there are different kinds of privacy related issues which
can occur in this case. In the digital aspects there are total seven type of privacy which can occur
with the digital materials (Fuller, 2019). The first concern which raised in this case is the privacy
of the person associated with the digital materials. In this aspect the other regions where privacy
related concerns can occur are the behaviour and action related privacy, data and image privacy,
communication privacy, association privacy, location and space related privacy and the last one
is the feeling and thoughts related privacy. Thus all of these privacy related concern can occur
when dealing with any type of digital materials.
If the online privacy of individuals is not protected properly then there can be various
types of threats which can occur. One of the important threat which can occur due to the online
privacy related issue is the data collection. If the privacy of the individuals is not ensured then
confidential data of the users can easily collected by the internet providers which the user might
be using in the online environment (Baruh, Secinti & Cemalcilar, 2017). With that there are

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others of threats which can occur due to the online privacy breach. These threats are the lack of
security, loss of information and tracking of the individuals. Thus, it is very much important
ensure the digital privacy of the individuals. There are some effective ways which can be used
for ensuring the digital privacy. In this aspect one of the important procedure for ensuring the
digital privacy is protecting the web browsing session (Ahmed et al., 2017). It is important to
protect the browsing data so that digital privacy of the users can be ensured. Also, using the two
factor authentication is one of the best way to ensure the digital privacy of the users. Also, it is
important to always use a strong password for any type of login credentials so that privacy of the
users can be ensured in the online environment.
In the current context users are very much active in the social media platforms which
includes Google, Facebook and iCloud. In this type of platforms is it important for the users that
they always remains safe. To ensure that the users are always protected it is important for the
users that they always use unique passwords for each of the social media platforms (Cooke,
2015). User often closes their social media browsing session without logging out from it. Thus it
crucial that user always log out from their account before leaving it. In many cases social media
users is becomes the victim of clickbait, which is a plan for stealing the personal information
from the social media users. Thus, it is important for the users that they always avoid these type
of clickbaits.
Privacy is important for everyone but while the users are in the online environment, it is
not necessary that each and every individuals requires a same level of privacy. There many
individuals who requires some extra level of privacy while in the online environment
(Nissenbaum, 2018). Government officials are such of the individuals who requires some extra
privacy in many of the cases. These Government officials can be more vulnerable and for this it

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is important to provide some extra privacy. They might be transferring some crucial data
regarding the nation through an online environment and in this cases they might be target of
potential attackers. Thus it is important to provide extra privacy to them.
Case Studies on Online Privacy:
Two important cases in Australia regarding online privacy breach are the Coles’ flybuys
and Woolworths Rewards. Both of them faced privacy related notices due their launched
program. Both of the organization launched their loyalty card and used this card to collect
shopping related data from the users. The main problem in this case was that all the collected by
them were going to the overseas countries which is a serious privacy related issue. In this aspect
both of the organizations were sending those data overseas for their personal benefit (Corones &
Davis, 2017). In this way both of them violated the online privacy of their customers. This
program has already made damage to the online privacy of the customers but it is important to
ensure that it does not repeat again. Thus, some important opinion is shared in the following
section so that this type of cases can be prevented.
Related to this cases many of the organization run same type of loyalty program for their
customers which collects data from their users. As this type of programs are increasing chances
of online privacy breach is also increasing. Thus it is important that legislator pass some new law
which will be limiting some areas of these programs so that privacy of the users can be ensured.
Passing some new laws is not the ultimate solution for the online privacy related issues.
Individual users are also responsible for protecting their own privacy (Stuckey & Ellis, 2019).
Most of the peoples are still unaware about the fact that how their information is collected from
them, how it is accessed from them and how it is used in the online environment. As users are

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completely unaware about these facts they are bit casual regarding this which lead to the privacy
related issues. Thus awareness must be created among the individuals regarding their own data
privacy.
In the current context the online privacy in Australia is regulated by the Privacy Act 1988
and in Europe it is regulated by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Comparing the
Privacy Act 1988 with the GDPR there are various kinds of differences. First of all GDPR is
more updated compared with the Privacy Act 1988 which has made it more effective for the
recent cases of online privacy related issues (Portal, 2018). Also, there are some important
differences in the rights of the individuals which more perfect for the GDPR. Thus, it can be
expressed that both of the GDPR and Privacy Act 1988 are quite good in their location. Updating
the Privacy Act 1988 with the current privacy cases will make it more effective.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion it can be concluded that digital privacy is very much
important for the individual users while they are in an online environment. Online privacy is
crucial so that security of the individual users can be ensured. Thus, this essay has conducted a
vast discussion regarding the online privacy. Initially, in this essay the privacy of the individuals
has been discussed. Important issues which occurs with the digital materials has been elaborated
in this essay. Also, important security measures which are crucial so that the users always
remains safe in the social media platform has been evaluated and discussed. In the further section
of this essay the case studies of Coles’ flybuys and Woolworths Rewards has been evaluated and
some important aspects regarding these cases has been discussed. Also, a functional comparison
has been done between the GDPR and Privacy Act 1988 in this essay.

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References:
Ahmed, S. I., Haque, M. R., Chen, J., & Dell, N. (2017). Digital privacy challenges with shared
mobile phone use in bangladesh. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer
Interaction, 1(CSCW), 17.
Athey, S., Catalini, C., & Tucker, C. (2017). The digital privacy paradox: Small money, small
costs, small talk (No. w23488). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Baruh, L., Secinti, E., & Cemalcilar, Z. (2017). Online privacy concerns and privacy
management: A meta-analytical review. Journal of Communication, 67(1), 26-53.
Benn, S. I. (2017). Privacy, freedom, and respect for persons. In Privacy and personality (pp. 1-
26). Routledge.
Cooke, T. N. (2015). Security, Power and Digital Privacy. E-IR, The Journal of Electronic
International Relations.
Corones, S., & Davis, J. (2017). Protecting Consumer Privacy and Data Security: Regulatory
Challenges and Potential Future Directions. Federal Law Review, 45(1), 65-95.
Fuller, C. S. (2019). Is the market for digital privacy a failure?. Public Choice, 180(3-4), 353-
381.
Gelman, S. A., Martinez, M., Davidson, N. S., & Noles, N. S. (2018). Developing digital
privacy: Children's moral judgments concerning mobile GPS devices. Child
development, 89(1), 17-26.

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Nissenbaum, H. (2018, October). Achieving Meaningful Privacy in Digital Systems.
In Proceedings of the 2018 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and
Communications Security (pp. 1-2). ACM.
Portal, E. G. (2018). GDPR key changes.
Stuckey, K. D., & Ellis, R. L. (2019). Internet and online law. Law Journal Press.
Witzleb, N. (2018). Determinations Under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) As a Privacy Remedy.