Digital privacy is a growing concern, and both users and websites need to be more careful about online information

Most people scoff at the idea of a Facebook addiction, but the sad truth is that this addiction is a striking reality.

Facebook and digital technology users need to be aware that with technology often comes a questionable intrusion into digital privacy.

Facebook is currently facing several lawsuits regarding its information-gathering practices and has admitted that several of its cookies included identifiers on users’ computers even after they logged out, according to a statement made to the Associated Press. Should smart gadgets, networking sites and technological devices be allowed to record such specific information about people’s lives?

To corporations such as Google Inc. and Facebook, this information about users is extremely valuable. Facebook has admitted to tracking users’ movements even after they had logged out in order to create advertisements catered to individual users.

Social networking sites and producers of digital media need to take it upon themselves to limit how much information they acquire, how much is used and for how long it should be stored. Both companies and users would benefit from self-regulation before strict laws limit users themselves. If the companies go too far in their use of accumulating digital information, users will have such a strong, negative reaction that they may not be able to have the same access they now enjoy at social networking sites.

The flow of this information cannot simply be stopped. As the digital age moves forward, it is almost impossible to put a harness on the amount of information that the average person publishes about him or herself on Facebook or that is recorded through other digital avenues.

The protection of privacy online should be an issue undertaken by not only the companies using the information but also by the people providing it. Companies should not have free reign on this information. Users should be more aware of the information they are providing about themselves online and should more actively restrict this information in order to discourage digital tracking and sustain online privacy.

Most people would be surprised as to how much information the technological devices and services they use can acquire about them. iPhones are able to record their owner’s locations for years at a time. Other networking sites are often able to track the websites users visit.

Users should not wait to be surprised by how much information these websites have accumulated and should take a more proactive role in protecting their privacy. Users of networking sites need to be more media literate. Before agreeing to the Terms of Use often compiled by websites such as Facebook, users should read them thoroughly. Users also have the option of tweaking their privacy settings as well as deciding how much information they want to include about themselves on Facebook.

Companies such as Facebook shouldn’t store the information of digital users for years at a time and information should only be used for advertising purposes. Apple was discovered to have saved the location of iPhone users for years. This information is unnecessary to store for such a long period of time.

At no time should others from inside or outside the company be allowed to access this information for purposes other than customer evaluations and advertisement use.

Because networking sites such as Facebook make most of their profits from user-specific ads, compiling user-specific information is all but unavoidable. But, just because this information exists does not mean that it should be made available to anyone else for any other reason. We cannot be sure of how protected information accumulated digitally is and who this information may be made available to in the future.

While government regulations on Internet privacy would be useful, it would be more beneficial for the digital community to regulate itself before things get out of control. And this includes the consumers of digital technology themselves.

Users and owners alike should be more aware and conscious of the information being provided online.

While Facebook is not a new addition to the digital age of information and technology, the fact that such tracking and data accumulation can occur may be news to many. And privacy is too important to be passive about.

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