Journal 3

There can be four ethical issues that arise when information is stored on individuals electronically: malware, advertising, privacy, and compromise of identity. Malware is a form of cyberattack that can hide on an existing file and infect the computer. By using malware, the user can take control of the computer, allowing the person to do virtually anything. For example, a person can use malware to install a keylogger inside the computer and capture all of the passwords that are entered by the victim unknowingly. Once the person has the passwords, they can compromise the identity of the victim by selling them on the black market or releasing the victim’s identity to the people close to the victim. When an identity is compromised, the victim has to change all of his/her passwords and apologize for the incident, even though it wasn’t caused by him/her. Additionally, the privacy of the individual can become unveiled because the passwords can allow others to view the victim’s browsing history, location, emails, and other sensitive information. The federal government can take advantage of the leak and use the information in court to incriminate the victim because the leak was done by the third-party and not by an agency. Finally, advertising has a huge impact on the privacy of the individual. By tracking cookies and other consent policies, a company can sell the data to a third-party advertiser and market the corresponding ads to the individual. For example, I am looking for a new phone plan, so I visit many different websites to compare the costs. The websites can take advantage and use my browsing history to advertise phone plans because I was interested in finding a plan. Now, whenever I visit YouTube, it will display different MNVOs and their offerings. This activity is a benefit to both the company and third-party advertiser because they receive revenue from the transaction, but it harms the victim because the victim has no way of getting compensated for his/her data and cannot track the extent of data that was taken from his/her activity.

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