The personal information of many individuals is held by large internet companies and organisations. Do you think the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

Private details of an individual are often requested by giant internet organizations while signing up on their websites. This essay explores why it is risky to put personal information online. Firstly, cyber crimes have increased exponentially putting valuable data up for illegal use and secondly, anything uploaded online is never permanently deleted. Nonetheless, sharing information can prove beneficial in emergency cases. Hacking and creation of fake identity are major crisis that have with time become harder to track and rectify. Moreover, online breaches have not only collapsed organizations that store these details but also attacked heavily protected government websites. A recent example of such damage of the USA government website granted the hackers access to private e-mails of top-level personnel. Even if someone erases their account information from any company's webpage, it could still be found in case deeper search is undertaken. Social networking sites such as Twitter fall prey to such unintentional circulation of privacy. For example, a video of a violent murder was removed from the same company's account, however, it had spread throughout the world already. Although it is challenging to control data leaks, emergency situations can sometimes be resolved by having an online presence. A plethora of webpages streamline content according to the user's location, thereby giving local updates and news. I was able to use this type of service efficiently to avoid travelling to a food mall that had a gas leak, potentially saving my life. In conclusion, most individuals who form online accounts should read the fine print before agreeing to share their data as cyber crimes can cost them a hefty price of either identity exploitation or unintended content distribution.