I have been following the big Facebook scandal, and it seems that the general public is discovering that big companies like Facebook has a lot of information on their users. As big of a scandal this is, I do not think that this is “news”. I see it as a wake up call, because believe it or not, we have entered an age where a lot of our private information is being stored on tables. Google may have even more information on you than Facebook does, especially if you use Google chrome, and have chrome on your cell.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/28/all-the-data-facebook-google-has-on-you-privacy?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=269359&subid=22935582&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2
This link shares all the information that Google has on you.
Cambridge Analytica using this data to steer elections is just wrong, but at the same time it is the new reality. When you put your information online, all of this information is being stored on a database. Some companies use it to target their advertising, but some can use it for malicious motives.
As a web developer, i feel that it is very useful to have data on my customers. It can help me target my business to my clients.
There is a lot of great power that you have as a web developer/programmer, but with great power, comes great responsibility. This is a big lesson to all of us, that we as individuals need to be very careful on what information we put online, and as developers, we need to think about how we use the data we collect, how to keep this information secure, and respect our users privacy.