Online Anonymity

From my research so far about online activism, notably anonymous, I decided to look further into privacy issues as a direct response to my essay. The privacy issues I plan to look at are internet privacy, due to the internet being the largest weapon of free speech, many feel this is coming to an end.

"Why stay anonymous online? In today’s society there are people and automated devices that are recording your deepest, most private thoughts and activities. Each day we voluntarily divulge the most intimate details of our lives through social networking accounts, email, banking apps, online games and more. In addition, governments and corporations can censor and block our traffic based on whatever standards are in place that day."

 From a post on Activist Post which had a lot of information about how you're hacked and how to evade certain people/corporations from infringing on your privacy.

"Whether you’re browsing the Web, signing up for a new online game, or simply checking your email, you are constantly leaving tracks and giving away information to anyone with access and the knowledge to analyze the traffic. Once the data is compiled the attacker can build an incredibly accurate profile of not only your online life but your real-world life as well." 

 Any action served on the internet leaves a traceable route which the user took. This route and the data along the way are called 'traffic', anyone with hacking knowledge can access this information with the user knowing little to nothing about it. Is this a problem?

"“Why would hackers want to hack into my life? I am not that important.” You have to understand that these “intruders into our lives” are scanning huge blocks of Internet addresses at a time. They don’t care who you are. Your computer is simply another target IP address as they scan through thousands of computers and devices in their search for more information. Once collected they take all the information and funnel it into databases where they can search through it later for high-valued loot."

 The fact that huge amounts of data are collected and scanned is known nowadays by most of the generation who grew up around the rise of the internet, if they don't then that's a naive outlook.

Similarly to the way that the Government, or any other corporation, tracks people through the use of private investigators, corporations are doing the same online. Hiring hackers to analyse information required is a further breach of our human rights, but what can we do?