Four young scientists, accompanied by Eskom Expo’s Business Manager, Mmamoloko Rancia Riba, won their place to represent the country at the Indonesia competition, renowned…
Virtual privacy, the line every parent should not cross
Virtual privacy is a term that combines two words that in today’s tech and digital era translates to some form of security for the user.
While cybersecurity and virtual privacy have somehow become important aspects when logging online, their relevance fits perfectly when considering minors online and the required need to maintain their innocence.
Threats
Adults have become more digitally aware of the dangers of unsupervised online presence and have since shown a key interest in practicing responsible online digital supervision.
This follows a survey conducted by SecurityORG in the US which highlighted the habits of 1- 000 parents and their children.
The survey pointed to around 75% of parents posting pictures, and videos of their children on social media – with their real names – all while 80% of the parents did not even know their social media friends’ personalities.
The parents granted access to their personal information without even understanding the impact this could have on their own children.
Sharing is not caring
There remain a number of dangers which parents in particular should practice caution on while sharing their children’s images and videos.
With the dawn of artificial intelligence, AI may in the very near future highlight some unintended side effects.
We look into some possible dangers of unintended oversharing.
Virtual privacy is a clear concept as it refers to the concept of privacy in the digital and virtual realm.
Its understanding is crucial as the term points to the protection of personal information, communication, and online activities in the digital space.
Protecting personal data
Beefing up online habits is never a bad idea as protected personal data remains a critical aspect of virtual privacy.
With the right type of privacy, sensitive information such as contact details, financial data, and other personal details remain relatively secure.
Safeguarding the confidentiality of digital communication such as passwords, emails, messages, and voice or video calls is paramount. This is the reason for several encryption technologies which play a major role in securing communication channels.
Children and the danger.
With AI fast developing past expectations in a short period. The digital landscape is likely to change with features such as the ability to copy and replicate someones image likely to become an accessible reality in the near future.
Online users, parents, and loved ones are likely to see the ability for someones voice copied and used to read out certain information.
We have seen glimpses of this as AI now allows artists to curate images according to specific requirements.
Where’s the danger
While data security plays catch up to unscrupulous online con artists, the idea of identity theft is likely to materialize as AI and many other updates continue to raise the digital ceiling.
The rule
Practice caution. Most users on social media are often just acquaintances and it is important that parents understand the difference and the impact posting a child’s image may have on the children.
There are a number of safety concerns regarding the sharing of personal information.
Aside from activity tracking, users often leave digital footprints as they navigate the net. This coupled with some parents and users sharing personal information could provide unwanted assailants into user private content.
Stay vigilant
Cybersecurity is a crucial addition to the digital landscape and as more and more users begin to incorporate security into their personal security, remember to maintain strong passwords, and authentication methods when signing into your profiles.
The line past unsafe
Setting up parental control measures to ensure you have tailor-selected content for your children is crucial as information consumed by minors should always have parental supervision.
Also read: Why Microsoft swooped in, Sam Altman, Brockman and the bot forward
Also read: August de Richelieu from Pexels
