Saturday, November 5, 2011

We Can Expect NO Actual "Free" Privacy In Cyber-Space

First of all, what would you expect when you heard that you'll be protected your own privacy online?

Maybe you'll say things like;
* decent level of anonymity
* hiding your actual address
* hiding info about where you could be frequently reached
...etc...

...WHAT? NO?

...WELL, I thought that some would say NO, coz I'm one of them. lol
Coz I'm expecting NO actual privacy in cyber-spaces.

...Why?
I'll tell you.
*I'll be talking about Japanese mobile-Internet issues, mainly.*



I was a senior-high-school kid when I first got a mobile-phone which allows free Internet connection for a monthly fee.
I used to like go looking for free phone-receiving alarm melodies and free FLASH application games online, which required me nothing but only few info about myself; my handle-name, my birthday, my gender, and my e-mail address.
Which seemed nice, coz it was free ... but something happened.

One day, I was joining a club activity of school, and was leaving my mobile-phone in my bag for about an hour.
AND when I checked the phone afterward, there were like 25 e-mails from some different, unknown e-mail addresses, those offered me some sweet love-romance-searching in membership-system BBS!
You know, it's the MOST ANNOYING SPAM IN WHOLE WORLD!!  UGH!!

I didn't know why such thing happened, coz that actually was the very first time I've encountered such shitty, cyber-space-wasting craps.
However, when I told what happened to one of my friends, she told me that it always happens when we joined any kinds of free sites.
She said that free sites like those sell e-mail addresses to the shitty spam sites instead of charging their users ... but I was like, "WHAT...?" when I heard that.

"WHY!!?
In the contract, you said that you'll be using my e-mail address only for identifying me in your site, and that totally was a lie!?"
(AND some of the FLASH game sites seemed to change the contract without noticing its users; "we will be showing the given info about users to a third-party in any cases we need to," the contract says.)


...Actually,  I wasn't able to find a decent source for obviously pointing out this issue ... but now, I guess what my friend had told me was right.
As I joined new free sites, the spam increased.
Now, I have to deal with the issue by using the spam-filtering service provided by the mobile-phone company.
Well, I could simply change my e-mail address in order to escape from the spams, but I had no choice coz I still wanted to be joined in the free sites those provides SNS services in addition of free apps coz I've already made some friends there.
Moreover, I didn't want to resist all unknown e-mail addresses coz I knew that there are many friends who are like hobby-ing changing their e-mail addresses.

YUP, I have to get along with the spams almost forever! :(



SO, that was why I learned lessons that I can never get free privacy in cyber-spaces, especially in mobile-Internet world.


So, guys, remember...
If you wanna be sure to have a certain level of privacy, DON'T hesitate to pay for it!!



OR, you may have another solution; which now I'm in to it...

JUST LET IT BE!

If you're already aware you can select which info about you could be shown to strangers, that you'll have a good selection to avoid yourself joining suspicious sites! :)


OR, if it's too late (just like I am now...), you may find ways to enjoy the spams, coz their messages are totally ridiculous most of the time! LOL
I, for example ... I've received some love-letters from a Gin Ichimaru, who is a character from BLEACH! lol
↑Gin Ichimaru appearance

It was tremendously hilarious to see the writer making efforts for mimicking the character's way of speech, which sounds like a Kansai-area Japanese dialect!
↑Gin Ichimaru speeches

*Kansai-area dialect is extremely different from Kanto-area dialect...*
↑Kanto-area dialect (Chicken from Tokyo) vs Kansai-area dialect (Dog from Osaka) conversation


Also, I've seen some spams warn receivers to watch out of spams!  WTF!! LOL




WELL, in my opinion, it is almost impossible for us to escape from spam nowadays, as long as we are using somewhat kind of cyber-spaces.

In order to point out how our privacy could be used in cyber-spaces, I talked only about private e-mail addresses and spam mails up to here, but it obviously isn't a story only for that.
You know that we easily can virtually fly around the world these days, so that stalkers are now able to see what their imaginary girlfriends' hometown look like in convenience!





Everyone, PLZ be careful while you're showing your private info to strangers in cyber-spaces!!





Qestion for the final>>
Spam mails always offer you dating websites.  True/False?

6 comments:

  1. I think you are pretty right about there being no privacy online anymore. Even if you try to keep privacy, it's pretty much impossible because you can't do anything. Even through our IP addresses that connect to the internet people can track us down or know our information. I think that there will be less and less privacy through the internet as time goes on as well. I guess we'll see.

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  2. TNX for comment! ;)

    YUP, we cannot do anything, unless we could establish a completely new network system that never communicates with the Internet ... which is essentially impossible in a sap.
    The point is this; there are people who are looking after this massive networking cyber space.
    Which almost equals this; we are relying on strangers for keeping our private info "safe" ... which sounds like it never makes any sense.

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  3. I agree with Asbury_tuj - there is no expectation of privacy in the online world.

    As always, I enjoyed reading your thought provoking and energetic blog post. You have a great writing style.

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  4. TNX! ;)

    Well, I suppose, we're kinda like sacrificing our privacy in order to get convenience ... AND that is how online world works all the time.
    Some sorts of privacy-lacking could be great support for our protection, but it works harmfully at the same time.
    It certainly is a sword with blades in its both sides. :(

    ...In this course, I guess I learned to like writing a little more... lol

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  5. Wow! great post! I of course agree with the fact that there is no privacy...I have personal experience of getting into trouble in high school because of Facebook even though I put every thing in safety mode O.o

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  6. TNX, and glad that you liked it! ;)
    Never expect more than this from me now! lol

    And hey, your experience's odd too!
    That could be done by malwares possibly, but if it's coz of FB, that totally is a big problem...
    Hope that it wasn't coz of FB's breaking the contract! :S

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