GDPR Article 13

With the growing social media and online shopping spree, the personal data input online has been bombarding servers across the globe. This has raised the question of privacy issues online, since our personal data is being handled through many different mediators, whom we don't even know has access to them. In Europe this has led to upgrade from the old Data Protection Directive to the new General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR.  It obligees the companies to establish that all Personal Data are handled according to legislations.

Internet users has become more aware of the risks of hacking and identity thefts. They have also become more aware of their own rights what information to give online. All of these are creating more competition between online providers.

The new GDPR deals with how and what personal data is handled in different functions and organizations. How these organizations inform their customers what they are actually doing with the informations they are given, and where those informations actually exist. What are the conditions and procedures that are used to transfer that data from within EU to outside countries, and how long that personal data can be used. It defines the requirements for legislation when using subcontractors for handling that personal data. GDPR enhances how people's rights are properly treated in their personal data and how that data it properly protected.

Article 13 states all the information the data collector must provide for the users knowledge that they are collecting. If the collector has a need to use the data to others purposes, they are required to inform the users of this with all the specifics that they had to provide the users before data collection.


The GDPR is for us, the users. It enables you to have more access to your data, it gives you the opportunity to influence and it gives you the freedom to choose. In reality when you go to a new web page you will be bombarded with pop-up windows, which most don't seem to have any other button but "agree", before you can see the content of that site. Or simply choose not to use that site. The same problem occurs also every time you've checked their privacy policy and rejected them, and end up revisiting that site again. In social media you simply have to agree with their policies. Or choose not to use their services. 

Privacy issues

Our online behavior is a crude reflection of ourselves. How we talk with others, how we socialize. All our conduct in life is based on our upbringing. But even the best behaved people can act offensively and obscenely online. Even the best behaved people steal and lie. The beginning of this video makes me wonder human behavior and what makes people think it's okay to insult and slander people anonymously.

Google and Facebook are companies whose main object it to make money. Their objects are to retain their market value and keep up with the stock markets. Trusting in any such a company is delusional. Internet anonymity and privacy is a double-edgesword. It's nice to be able to voice out opinions that you can't say out loud as your own self. But not everything should be said aloud. With google scanning all the emails searching for terrorist is making the offline world much safer. But it might also unwittingly put a target on your own back. Who makes the decisions what is a threat and what is a joke? I would love to be there reading all the office emails, seeing what people think of me, who is having an affair and how steamy their romance is. But what right would I have to do it. What right does the thieves have to steal from others?

Everything has ups and downs. When committing to one thing, you have to commit to its side-effects too. Internet has grown so fast that the legislations has been hard to keep up with it. So how do we control our online privacy? With all the new and upcoming rules and regulation peoples privacies should be more protected. But what about the crumbs and footprints that we've already donated to the Internet? Wether we want it or not, our data is already out there for anyone to use. We should be very guarded with what we allow people to see and obtain.

https://debatewise.org/debates/2295-privacy-online-is-important/

This site has interesting points of view. It has looked on things both sides wether Privacy online is good or bad. Good has the majority votes, but there are aspects that argue against it.

Some couple hundred years ago employer was responsible for their employees, for their well being, money spending, religious life etc. During the years between employees have gained freedom from being observed and controlled on free-time by their employers. Now we are back to where an employer can just google you and your life and activities, and can have a control on your life.
When people have nothing to hide open intercourse online shouldn't be harmful. But while others don't bother with it, some might go and distort the facts for their own benefits, causing bad reputation for others thus getting them fired or demoted. Honesty may be the best policy in life, but in a competitive grounds where you might end up being the next obstacle on somebody's bath, your policy might get you burned. You never know what kind of information will get you promoted or demoted.

Internet is all about freedom and freedom of speech, but is it all good in the end?

Google me

With a common name as mine it is easy to be lost in the masses. I've tried to be invisible on the internet as much as possible, but it seems it hasn't worked out as I thought. But despite my efforts I'm still found in there. When I google my name I don't find hits or matches. My home computer will naturally find me in Facebook, which is the first search result.  Then there is also an old playlist on youtube that I made a long time ago for fun for our store.
Photo search varies from Queen Elizabeth to men with same last names. One picture appears long down the line of me, but with links to someone else's Instagram account who I follow.

I don't know how to delete the old playlist from Youtube. Therefore the playlist will remain linked to my account and anyone can find me through that. 
In the beginning when I created my Instagram-account I didn't register it as private and people could just add me to following list. Then I turned it to private account and deleted some of my followers. I didn't delete this one user who I follow, and through that account I'm found.  

I don't believe that anyone can truly control all the information out there online about themselves. One should always be aware of the dangers involved in posting something on the bit-space (bittiavaruus). The probability is that it will remain there for the duration of the internets lifespan. Therefore anyone with decent amount of understanding and knowledge can dig it all out.

Fake news is the topic of the present President of the United States of America. However true or false his accusations are against the local press it is still a good example of how information can be manipulated or misconstrued. With small posts such as in Twitter where you can post just a word or a gesture can be interpreted various ways which can all lead to misunderstandings. With hashtags one must always be careful since the words are written all together, and can sometimes be read differently, as was pointed out in this Graham Norton show-clip.

There is a saying that any press is good press. All celebrities have a some size must to be online to promote themselves and the product they sell. But having someone hack your phone or laptop and releasing all your inner thoughts out to the public isn't necessarily the press that was wanted. Worst case, it might ruin a career.

Not everybody wants to be out there in the public eye to be judged. Working as a public representer one is required to have an opinion. Does that requirement include posting online thoughts and opinions? Usually they are required to be accessible to people, but how much is enough?

Grocery stores on social media

I've always wondered what can a grocery store do in a social media. As long as people need to eat, groceries will exist. The stores however might not be there. With Kesko buying all the stores from Suomen Lähikauppa, the competition has grown. There are stores in every corner, and the question is, which store to choose. So how do you distinguish yourself amongst the others?

Social media is a good place to advertise your store. Running your own facebook-pages gives you free advertisement, but wether the content is good is a different matter. What is good social media content for a grocery store?

There are stores that mainly update their sites by posting sales and offers. Many times I've seen them only copy Keskos weekly advertisement letter to their pages. As good as that is, it is not really sociable. I knew one Facebook-site like this once, but couldn't find it anymore.

Then there are those who advertise their personnel, rather than their stores. Jounin Kauppa is a good example of this. I don't know how much business is booming in Äkäslompola, but it seems that they have a lot of time on their hands to post all sorts of things throughout the day. There is a limit to how much people want to have posts from someone. They do make posts from their store now and again, but mainly to my eye the store owner Sampo is advertising himself. Video of Sampo taking a shower at home is not something I would consider a good social media content for a grocery store.  However they do have more than 500 000 followers. Is their content good or bad? Has their content reached their main customers?

There's been political happenings all throug this spring, and during that time we've had communications from political parties. My own boss has made it clear that it is crucial to stay politically impartial. Using contemporary political issues might make your social media status drop, and make users void your store altogether. Personal opinions are good enough on your own social media status, but it shouldn't be posted on company sites. 

We've made it a point not to delete any criticism the social media customers might post. Social media is for users and in a country with freedom of speech everyone should be allowed to voice their opinions. While writing a post I always try think what is the appropriate thing to say and how to voice things without giving offense. Also checking typos is a good thing. Even though  posts are allowed to be changed after posting, it the changes not necessarily updated to the mainstream posts.

In general social media is like social communication without actually speaking face to face. We have the freedom of speech, but we should still consider what to say and most importantly, how to say it. In social event when you make a mistake or make a bad remark you can always apologies later on. On social media when you make that bad remark, things will hit the fan pretty fast and apologizing might be impossible in the end. 

Living Deauville on social media

Living Deauville is an interior decoration store. They have an actual store in Naantali where customers frequent but also an online store. Their products vary depending on seasons. 

They are quite active on Instagram. They post pictures of installations and ideas. They keep up with seasons and holidays, and they post them often. They also make instant Instagram videos.

They have linked connection with Instagram and Facebook, so once they update one, they also upload the same message to the other. On Facebook they make also other updates, such as special offers and season sales. I like it that they start their sites with customer reviews. 

I think that this store is a good example of active social media usage.

Mentor Hirvensalo on social media

Mentor Hirvensalo is your basic neighbourhood gym with personal trainers for every customer. Their product is pretty much customer service, so they don't really have a product to sell on internet. The actual product that they sell is reputation. The better the feedback, the better chances they have to get new customers. 

On Facebook customers can contact the company by calling or leaving messages. They have opening hours on display and they make posts to inform if it differs from the usual. Their pages are open to customers to rate, to comment, to question, to like, to follow. They keep updates weekly for customers to stay in touch, to remind people to attend and use their memberships.

On Instagram they post pictures as expected. Their images consist of fit good looking people who are up to speed in bodybuilding, and of the gym itself. There are a few hazy pictures that don't seem to have any correlation to their products.  They don'd seem to bother posting on Instagram much. 

On a day to day activity an idea could be to a have a personal trainer, or a customer, blog or update his or hers progress through a period of time. This might give more kick to others to activate and try out different styles, weights or machines. To actually get inspired to actively move for a purpose needs a lot of effort. Following someone else's journey through difficulties and victories gives others hope. 

On Instagram they don't seem to bother at all. They seem to rely on customers using hashtags to link them, but there are no customer pictures on the site, nor any link to them. #mentorhirvensalo has more posts than their actual site. Maybe they could make a promotional campaign, where they ask people to hashtag them and reward customers with discounts or free passes.