A majority of Americans believe their online and offline activities are being tracked and monitored by companies and the government with some regularity. It is such a common condition of modern life that roughly six-in-ten U.S. adults say they do not think it is possible to go through daily life without having data collected about them by companies or the government.
Data-driven products and services are often marketed with the potential to save users time and money or even lead to better health and well-being. Still, large shares of U.S. adults are not convinced they benefit from this system of widespread data gathering. Some 81% of the public say that the potential risks they face because of data collection by companies outweigh the benefits, and 66% say the same about government data collection. At the same time, a majority of Americans report being concerned about the way their data is being used by companies (79%) or the government (64%). Most also feel they have little or no control over how these entities use their personal information, according to a new survey of U.S. adults by Pew Research Center that explores how Americans feel about the state of privacy in the nation.
Americans' concerns about digital privacy extend to those who collect, store and use their personal information. Additionally, majorities of the public are not confident that corporations are good stewards of the data they collect. For example, 79% of Americans say they are not too or not at all confident that companies will admit mistakes and take responsibility if they misuse or compromise personal information, and 69% report having this same lack of confidence that firms will use their personal information in ways they will be comfortable with.
Several of the queries of this survey focus on public perceptions of what "the government" does related to personal data. For instance, respondents were asked: "As far as you know, how much of what you do online or on your cellphone is being tracked by the government?" Related questions focused on people's attitudes about the data the government collects about them.
It is difficult to determine how much personal data the government collects and otherwise can access through private company records. Administrative government agencies like the IRS, Census Bureau, Postal Service and social welfare departments gather various personal details about people. That includes their tax- and employment-related information, physical attributes if they get a government ID, financial circumstances if they get benefits from social, housing and employment training programs, health information if they participate in government health-insurance programs, addresses, household composition, property ownership if they own houses or cars and educational details if they get student loan or grant, for example. This list is not exhaustive.
Beyond that, national security organizations like the National Security Agency have authority to monitor phone traffic and people's movements. With subpoenas or court orders and warrants, law enforcement organizations can typically access and monitor people's phone and traffic records, health records (including genetic records), online and app browsing, search queries, texts and emails. Users' social media activities and their tech-based social networks are at least at times examined in investigations, according to "transparencyreports" released by the companies.
It is important to note, that there are often limitations on the ways government agencies can share what they know with others, including those in other parts of the government.
There is also a collective sentiment that data security is more elusive today than in the past. When asked whether they think their personal data is less secure, more secure or about the same as it was five years ago, 70% of adults say their personal data is less secure. Only 6% report that they believe their data is more secure today than it was in the past.
Wikpedia's List of Data Breaches.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19 2019, @12:46AM (2 children)
Hello!
I am a hacker who has access to your operating system.
I also have full access to your account.
I've been watching you for a few months now.
The fact is that you were infected with malware through an adult site that you visited.
If you are not familiar with this, I will explain.
Trojan Virus gives me full access and control over a computer or other device.
This means that I can see everything on your screen, turn on the camera and microphone, but you do not know about it.
I also have access to all your contacts and all your correspondence.
Why your antivirus did not detect malware?
Answer: My malware uses the driver, I update its signatures every 4 hours so that your antivirus is silent.
I made a video showing how you satisfy yourself in the left half of the screen, and in the right half you see the video that you watched.
With one click of the mouse, I can send this video to all your emails and contacts on social networks.
I can also post access to all your e-mail correspondence and messengers that you use.
If you want to prevent this,
transfer the amount of $500 to my bitcoin address (if you do not know how to do this, write to Google: "Buy Bitcoin").
My bitcoin address (BTC Wallet) is: 3DrXbJV4MgWGdQpHvFD9sjANbeJ8yLCs2Y
After receiving the payment, I will delete the video and you will never hear me again.
I give you 50 hours (more than 2 days) to pay.
I have a notice reading this letter, and the timer will work when you see this letter.
Filing a complaint somewhere does not make sense because this email cannot be tracked like my bitcoin address.
I do not make any mistakes.
If I find that you have shared this message with someone else, the video will be immediately distributed.
Best regards!
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Anybody have a favorite address for any federal agency collecting these? It gave a live Bitcoin address, which I reveal just as surely as it's gonna reveal what it thinks is me. My computer does not have a camera. Fire Away!
I am quite sure it was sent from one of those ten minute email addresses .
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19 2019, @01:34AM
Relax...its a fake.
Besides, the first hacker he sends it to will open the document source, find what the tracker points to, trace that, and see whose interested in the tracking info.
Some prankster will be hung up by the balls, and some investigator will get his kudos. It's a sport these days. Like an old style fox hunt. And whoever sending out these emails is the fox.
Somebody is going to have fun.
Somebody else will be compelled to appear before the magistrate, sweating bullets.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 19 2019, @07:42PM
A bitcoin wallet by itself is mostly anonymous. The way people are tracked is by using centralized services (like Coinbase) to get their coins which they then transfer under the same address. That's the equivalent, in terms of effective anonymity, of sending somebody a check. Your scammer here is probably in Nigeria, India, China or somewhere of the like. In other words the chance of anything happening here is almost certainly 0. Quite a clever scam too since he probably just blasted tens of thousands of people with that and the success rate will probably be non-zero.
I would check that email (and any other similarly named accounts) on https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords [haveibeenpwned.com] however. There's a pretty good chance you're on some lists you don't want to be on, so at least ensure your password hasn't been leaked.