I thought this weeks articles were really interesting… and slightly terrifying. I thought the ones about the dark/deep web were surprising. It always seemed way more important and scary and full of tons of sites but the one article really put into perspective how small it really is. The articles about personal data were concerning for obvious reasons. I generally am a pretty careful person and was fortunate to have parents who are somewhat wary of the internet teach me how to safely shop online and keep accounts secure but I still am young and definitely do much more online than they do. I try to be cautious about how much personal information I willingly put out there but know there’s plenty being taken through cookies and other means from everything I do.

One aspect of data collection mentioned in the Wired article that did concern me more was the idea of sites rewarding users for their data. Although I understand how this gives users power to control their data and a more even trade of data for something, I’d be concerned it would be utilized in an unfair manner with this targeting people who are in more desperate need of money and unfairly taking more of their personal information. Once money comes into play things can get complicated… it being one of the main reasons any data is collected and traded in the first place.

I definitely think all these articles were really interesting and think they are worth reading for anyone interested in how their personal data is used. They explained everything clearly and made this aspect of how the internet works very easy to understand.