by Ruby Patel
Want to buy an identity? How about investigate all the past location where a person has lived and worked? Now it is possible… There are many internet websites that can give you the personal information of any person in the world with a small and affordable fee of course. I can buy the social security number of anyone in the world as long as I know their first and last name and at times their middle initial.
I was shocked to find many internet websites which had more information about myself than I could probably remember. For example, a Japanese based website, has information about the two places I had lived during my life, the names of my parents, the schools I attended, information on my last tax form, and my dorm address. I know that identities are bought and sold everyday through the internet but never did I imagine that even the smallest details of average unimportant people (such as myself) we so easily traceable. What is even more appalling is that there is international law to prosecute such organizations that gather personal information. As discussed in class by our peers in a lecture regarding internet regulation, there is no universal body that exists to regulate the world-wide web.
If every single person has their personal information available on the internet, then is there really such a concept as privacy? And once someone does obtain our personal information after paying the $39.95 then what does that mean for us? What type of regulation should exist in order to protect our identities?
