How Online Privacy affects all of us

Online privacy has been one of the most controversial topics of the last few years. Since Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA is collecting data of citizens and high ranked politicians all over the world, online privacy is in the focus of the media at least once a week. However, the discussion on whether it should be tolerated or not affects all of us. The article is supposed to give a short overview on the advantages and disadvantages of data collection, as well as on the recent legal arrangements in Germany.

Undoubtedly, the collecting of data of internet users can be seen as a positive and necessary instrument in the 21st century. It can be used to identify possible terrorists by overlooking their activities for a longer period of time, thus helping to improve the security situation and the detection of suspects in countries all over the world. Another more harmless advantage is the personalization of websites such as Amazon or Ebay. When logging in on the website, it offers at first the search results of the last visit, guiding the visitor directly to the things he is interested in. Thus it is more likely that the product is bought.

Nevertheless, the disadvantages of data collection are far more important. Provided that Snowden is right with his statement that the NSA is collecting data from governmental offices, it seems quite difficult to retain the good relations with the USA. The discussion in Germany climaxed, when it became public that even the private and well secured mobile phone of chancellor Merkel was hacked. From this point onwards it became clear that none of our data is protected, although providers of social networks or online markets claim to do so. These companies often collect the data to sell it to agencies like the NSA or to other companies which use it for example for surveys. Hence, our data is being spread all over the internet without our knowledge, revealing not only important information about our online activities, but also about aspects of the world outside the internet. Via Facebook it is nowadays possible for companies to use information given by the user, to create the internet searches on Google in a way they believe it is the best for the user. Thereby the unique user is guided to information he is searching for. Admittedly, in this way valuable information for an objective opinion on a specific topic are not directly accessible for the user. Hence, it is easily possible for companies to manipulate the information access. This point becomes more visible when creating a short example: Two users insert exactly the same words into the Google search section to search for information on Egypt. Depending on earlier searches and information given on social networks, one of them is guided to the latest news on politics, while the second user finds information on hotels for the next vacation, although he did not want to search for it.

In fact, most people nowadays accept these methods, as it becomes more and more difficult to avoid data collection. One can only try to give away the smallest amount possible of personal information online and to protect personal data with good passwords. The most important party in the fight against data collection is the government which can pass laws to keep private information private. Nevertheless, the NSA, according to many reports, works without the permission of the US government, thus hampering efforts to limit their influences.

In conclusion, our online privacy nowadays cannot be provided in an acceptable way for everyone. Living in a century dominated by modern technology and social networks, online data collection represents a necessary evil. Nevertheless, politics as well as special agencies need to work out a plan which is acceptable for a great majority. It is unimaginable that everyone’s data is saved and sold to the one with the most money. Politicians in Germany for example call for data preservation with ten days as the maximum deadline of data saving. However, there is a great discussion on this topic, as former data preservation was considered illegal by the Federal Constitutional Court in 2010, as the data was seen to be too easy to access for governmental institutions. At the moment, internet providers are allowed to store the IP addresses of their customers for one week, as the data cannot be used for prosecution. In effect, the final outcome and legal situation will change with the years and is unlikely to remain consistent.