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6.2.07

Summary of Topic 1


The topic “Should methods to identify and track individuals without their consent be allowed?” was featured for two weeks and it generated 475 page views. In the poll, 82% of the voters said no while the remaining 12% said a firm yes.
There were a lot of reasons why people disagreed to be identified and tracked online. One of the major reasons the visitors indicated in the chatterbox was that it is a sign of disrespect (especially when personal information is shared or even sold). This also makes internet users feel that their rights are neglected and that the web administrators are taking advantage of their vulnerability.

Some also claimed that they are hesitant to disclose information because it is personal. They often do not know what is it for and don’t get anything beneficial from sharing it.

On the other hand, some comments in the chatterbox indicated that cookies are not bad at all – According to Gian, “cookies are used for authenticating specific information about users, such as site preferences. When people use Friendster, MySpace MySpace, and other interaction sites, they use cookies in order to personalize their own sites.” In addition, some visitors indicated that cookies help in choosing what products to buy.

We at BloggersCode say that tracking individuals on the net would be a great idea for control but internet users should be informed about its purpose. As one of the bloggers said it, “best thing we can do is just equip ourselves with knowledge... In the face of rapid technological development, knowledge is our only defense from negative advances”. Here here!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

the internet primarily exists to allow for the exchange of information among individuals. if you would stop file sharing, the internet will fail to serve one of its purpose. besides, file sharing allows for people who are lagging behind the age of information technology to catch up. basically, i think, it is an avenue where everyone can level-off.

Megaera said...

Hm... tracking is alright, but using the info for other stuff (e.g. selling info) is illegal.

You're visiting THEIR page anyway, right ^_^