The Problem with Privacy: Inherent Class Issues with Understanding Digital Policies in Humboldt Park, Chicago

Abstract

Information today is monopolized in a way that has discouraged the protection of our online privacy. We are given complete autonomy over the way we share our information, yet a lot of the time in hopes of better deals, personalized marketing, and other short term benefits people are quick to set any and all concern aside, yet, most people don’t understand what this entails. Big data companies have thus created an online environment in which we are expected to know what happens with our private information, yet there is no feasible way to learn how to do so without time or an academic understanding of online policies. This is even more apparent in low income Spanish speaking communities in which Privacy is often neglected and misunderstood because of the lack of resources to understand the ever evolving online landscape. This research focuses on Humboldt Park, a low income Spanish speaking community in Chicago, that ultimately affirms this idea that many people don’t have the same access to resources to understand how much privacy is being invaded, creating a cycle of neglect that ultimately leads to less resistance to these sort of policies.