Reflective Essay: Privacy and Personal Information Management Analysis

This reflective essay delves into the student's journey of researching and understanding the management of privacy and personal information, particularly within the context of a dissertation. The essay highlights the challenges faced, such as gathering information and managing workload, while also emphasizing the positive aspects of the research process, like the literature review. The student discusses the importance of technological knowledge in managing personal data, comparing the understanding of IT professionals and computer science scholars with that of individuals without such expertise. Key learnings include strategies for data collection, the use of tools like TOR, and the identification of potential threats like hacking and micro-targeting. The essay concludes with a self-assessment of strengths, areas for improvement, and the impact of the research on the student's personal and professional growth, including career path decisions and the application of newly acquired knowledge in the IT sector.

Running head: MANAGEMENT OF PRIVACY AND PERSONAL INFORMATION
Management of privacy and personal Information

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Reflective Essay
Introduction
In this reflective essay, I will discuss the ways for completing the thesis that has less for
completing re-evaluating regarding my assumption in the context of academic life. It should
provide the preview to the reader regarding the piece and highlights the major themes.
Personal Experiences
During the tenure of research, I have faced challenges in terms of gathering information. But, I
have handled them by focusing on using feasible data collection. During the process, I enjoyed
the literature review process as it was easy to access and also supportive for gathering the
secondary information. I used to time-plan before starting the process as it was effective for
reducing workload in around all of other life responsibilities. I have learned about managing
privacy and personal information after completing my thesis. This would be also beneficial for
managing personal data in my personal life.
During the research, I have increased my understanding that two strategies are selected in this
investigation such as survey and literature review. It is observed that these strategies provide the
chances to gather information through past investigations and also understand the aspect of
several individuals (Caci, Cardaci, Scrima, & Tabacchi, 2017).
The aim of this investigation will assess personal opinion about data and privacy management
comparing individuals with understanding regarding technologies like IT professionals and
computer science scholars, as well as, with those, who do not have this type of understanding.
I have also learned that with respect to the existing investigation, both primary and secondary
data collecting techniques will be selected. It is identified that statistical data analysis will be
practiced for assessing the gathered information (Cardullo & Kitchin, 2019).

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It is addressed that TOR is defined as a search engine that does not store any data regarding
internet browsing of the user as well as, performs on an IT principle, which creates it almost
unfeasible in terms of tracking regarding the server of browser. I have learned that it is the main
cause that this browser has been in wider use as well as, between people who understanding
regarding this browser. I would apply this knowledge into the future to make my career in the IT
sector.
During the investigation, it is observed that Hackers are authorized users who have depth
technical understanding with respect to computer sciences and it is how they get access to data
and online possession about other people without their consent (Gunkel, 2018). This learning
would be applied by me for managing my personal and private data.
I have also pointed out that the ways where one can eliminate being hacked are through ensuring
that first of all, a 2-way firewall is installed within the system of the user. It is learned that
unfeasible the second thing to be done is to ensure that operating systems are updated on a
standard basis (Isaak, & Hanna, 2018). This learning would be applied by me in the future to
secure the data. I have also learned that browser security can be increased at higher possible
extent and users can make sure that they do not contribute their personal data such as email
addresses, card numbers and other credentials with less reputed websites on the internet.
Throughout the research, I have learned that micro-targeting is the strategy to increase insights
into a particular target market as well as, helps to understand regarding buying patterns,
demographic and psychological perspectives. It is addressed that micro-targeting makes
competent to me to ensure specific advertising strategies that can be implemented with the
intention of influencing these behaviors (Jardine, 2015). I have learned that this is a strategy that

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has been widely implemented through political parties with the intention of persuading their
votes.
During the tenure of the thesis, I have learned that Microsoft's research is a technique that is
highly effective in terms of managing the personal data of users on their personal systems. I have
also increased my experience that personal data could be managed on the internet by filling and
tagging data. It is addressed that with the blooming internet, demand for some unique services,
users are failed for verifying or questioning about the authenticity of online entities asking
regarding their data (Kalpana & Karthikeyan, 2017). I have learned that this may lead to illogical
sharing of data and could be as basic as demographic information and their interest.
Strengths and Areas for Improvement
Throughout this thesis, I feel that I have developed my learning in different areas such as
knowledge of information technology and management. This is beneficial for performing well
and significant progress. This research is beneficial for me to create an understanding of the
aspect of managing data in information technology. This information would be creating a
significant exception in understanding the attitude of an individual during the management of
data (Lansdale, 1988).
I have learned that for managing personal data and privacy, the understanding regarding
technologies plays a significant role in assessing the information. It is pointed that there is a need
to gain understanding regarding technologies that are differentiated in terms of information
management as it would aid in increasing the understanding of people that do not have such
knowledge (Weinberg, et. al., 2012).
The proudest of my work was gaining an understanding of managing personal and private data in
my work. In technological areas, I feel that I need to make an improvement. I would make

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improvements in this field my discussing with superiors, reading textbooks and conducting an
interview with experts. With this thesis, I have developed my technological and management
skills as it would be beneficial for my personal and professional growth.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that this research has enabled me for personal
and professional growth. In different ways, I have changed during the year such as before thesis;
I have lack of understanding regarding information security and privacy campaign but after that,
I have developed my knowledge in this field during the year. I have not changed noticeably the
field of management as I have an understanding of it. This research process has led to making a
decision regarding my career path. I would apply my knowledge and skills in my future life.

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References
Caci, B., Cardaci, M., Scrima, F., &Tabacchi, M. E. (2017).The dimensions of Facebook
addiction as measured by Facebook Addiction Italian Questionnaire and their
relationships with individual differences.Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social
Networking, 20(4), 251-258.
Cardullo, P., &Kitchin, R. (2019). Being a ‘citizen in the smart city: up and down the scaffold of
smart citizen participation in Dublin, Ireland. GeoJournal, 84(1), 1-13.
Gunkel, D. J. (2018).Hacking cyberspace.Routledge.
Isaak, J., & Hanna, M. J. (2018). User Data Privacy: Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and
Privacy Protection. Computer, 51(8), 56-59.
Jardine, E. (2015). The Dark Web dilemma: Tor, anonymity and online policing. Global
Commission on Internet Governance Paper Series, (21).
Kalpana, S., &Karthikeyan, S. (2017, March). A survey on the rise of mobile malware and
detection methods. In 2017 international conference on innovations in information,
embedded and communication systems (ICIIECS) (pp. 1-5).IEEE.
Lansdale, M. W. (1988). The psychology of personal information management.Applied
ergonomics, 19(1), 55-66.
Weinberg, Z., Wang, J., Yegneswaran, V., Briesemeister, L., Cheung, S., Wang, F., &Boneh, D.
(2012, October).StegoTorus: a camouflage proxy for the Tor anonymity system. In
Proceedings of the 2012 ACM conference on Computer and communications security
(pp. 109-120).ACM.