By Zack Finn–

A majority of us on campus today have some form of smart device that can take pictures, track locations and remember places you have been before. To some, this is no surprise and does not concern them in the slightest. To others, though, this is extremely concerning and even makes many paranoid.

Is this potentially dangerous or is it for our own good? Even if it isn’t for your own good, it doesn’t bother everyone.

“I mean I know they are tracking me and possibly know what I am doing, but it doesn’t really bother me. I try not to think about how much I am being watched or tracked,” student Kevin Tran said.

A lot of people find this tracking disturbing and invasive. “It’s creepy. I feel like all these companies know so much about me, even more than I do myself,” student Taylor Freimund said.

After conducting interviews with male and female students, it seemed males were less concerned with being tracked and followed by companies and the government. Some females, on the other hand, even put pieces of tape over their front-facing cameras and webcams.

One of the main reasons for this is marketing, but another aspect is the ability to fight crime. The FBI vs. Apple case is still fresh in minds. The results shocked many and even lead us to believe that no one is really safe from being hacked.

Is any of this information being stored safely? Or can someone with good enough hacking skills break the code and steal information? As students and especially as millennials, what we can ensure our privacy is kept safe? First and foremost, be very careful to what you put online.

First and foremost, be very careful to what you put online.

If you do not want anyone to know about certain sensitive information or something that only you should know about, keep it offline as much as you can. Once something is online, it is difficult to keep it contained. Just look at how fast something can become viral.

Second, just because your webcam or front-facing camera is off, does not mean a hacker cannot gain access. I realize this is more towards the paranoid individuals, but it can happen. Put a piece of tape over your webcam or front-facing camera to blur the image.

Finally, realize that any type of information that is online can be hacked. Even if is secured by the business, they can be hacked and it has been done before.