Blog 3
The idea of our privacy being stripped away from us is something that many people fear. Living in the United States, people feel they have a right to privacy, which they do, but they do not realize that some aspects of their privacy are being taken away from them legally. The internet is the least private sector of our daily lives. Internet providers, servers and website owners all have the power to use us for a profit. Everything we do on the internet is being watched by the NSA and also being stored as information in large storage bases. Dr. Gates, a professor at Appalachian State University, noted in a lecture about how websites store users’ information about their purchases and sell that information to advertisers in order to make money. The same issue occurs when you make offline purchases with a credit card. That same information is sold for a profit.
This idea of a lack of privacy relates greatly to the “private” lives of footballers; especially European players. Their lives outside of the stadiums are followed greatly by journalists, broadcasters and fans. They are not able to go out into public places without receiving massive attention and having their photos taken. The normality of their lives is stripped from them once they do something significant in the sporting world; the more famous the player, the more attention they receive. Not only is it an issue in the public realm, it’s also a problem within the privacy of their own homes. People go to extreme measures and even hang around these footballers houses in an attempt to meet them. A famous case for Argentinian midfielder, Angel Di Maria, consisted of his house being burgled and ransacked while he was with Manchester United. This incident caused him to feel frightened and not at home in the United Kingdom. This was such an issue for Di Maria, that it influenced his transfer from United to Paris Saint Germain the following summer.
Beyond the lack of privacy in real life for footballers, they also have to be careful about what they do online, besides what they post on social media. They are also having their purchases and information stored. This information can be accessed by the provider and can lead to snooping and controversy through tabloid rumors. If a player were to purchase something from a brand that is competing with a brand that sponsors that player and that information was released, it could cause legal and sponsorship issues for that player.
No one is truly safe from someone watching on the internet. The internet is a peeping tom in a sense that it can record your every move online. Once people become aware of this occurrence, many people can become safer internet users and cyber-crimes could start to decrease.
