Technology and Internet Safety Grows More Advanced

“Newly released Federal Trade Commission data show that consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023, marking the first time that fraud losses have reached that benchmark. This marks a 14% increase over reported losses in 2022,” the Federal Trade Commission said.

The 21st century has ushered in a considerable boost in the use of technology. People find it fascinating that the internet is as broad and advanced as it is; however, it is also a controversial topic when it comes to the safety of other people.

“All companies face serious IT security risks on a daily basis. Fleetwood Bank spends a significant amount of time, resources, and money protecting our infrastructure,” Timothy Snyder, the president and CEO of Fleetwood Bank, said. “While the bank has not been the victim of scams or hacks, our customers are the intended targets of various types of scams as well.”

It’s a popular debate to determine what apps and websites could be invading your privacy.

The most common tips to help protect yourself from hackers and scammers are using two-step verification, backing up data, installing latest software and app updates, as well as using strong passwords. Signs of a potential virus or malware dysfunction include poor performance, application crashes, and computer freezes.

According to the instructions for Google Chrome, “When you visit a site, Chrome looks up the site’s host server’s IP address. To protect your privacy and security, if Secure DNS lookup is turned on, Chrome encrypts your information during the lookup process.”

What also ties into general internet safety is the privacy and protection of popular social media apps. For example, TikTok is often questioned about its safety and whether or not the owners, ByteDance, are collecting private user information.

This debate has reached the White House.

“Many House legislators have argued that the app could allow the Chinese government to access user data and influence Americans through the wildly popular social media platform’s addictive algorithm. The White House has backed the bill, with President Joe Biden saying he would sign it if it passes Congress,” AI Jazeera said.

Since then, controversy and debate has spread through users whether or not this action is justified.

Instagram, an app that hosts many teenagers, is often looked down upon for negatively influencing the mental health of teens. There are common cases of users oversharing information on Snapchat due to its easily accessible forms of communication.

Frances Haugen, a former Facebook staffer, made a statement against Meta, the company owning Facebook and Instagram in which he, “submitted internal documents that appeared to show that bosses at Meta knew that Facebook and Instagram were harming teenagers, by encouraging emotionally or physically harmful behavior, but had taken little or no action to prevent by way of mitigation,” according to the Columbia Journalism Review. This case appeared before Congress in 2022.

Counter-arguments for these statements say that it’s ultimately the users’ choice and parents’ responsibility for mass exposure to social media and that it’s up to them to monitor what they do online. In other words, some people argue that it’s the user’s doing if their safety and information is breached.