What And What Not: Data Privacy Act

When I logged in this morning for my 5AM shift, our former boss shared a screenshot on our group chat. It was a screenshot from someone’s social media who appears to be making a live feed while he was on call.

It was posted by his superior I think or someone who knows the guy. I’m not sure if this has gone viral on the internet as I no longer have a FB account. I’m not sure whether this has been long circulating on FB or it was just a fresh post.

If you happen to see the screenshot post, the guy looks filming himself on his left side angle with headset on as though facing a computer screen working from home. I tried to search the internet for the said video but I couldn’t find a similar case. I think for sure it has been deleted.

The person who posted the screenshot was disappointed. It appears that he/she had seen the live video. It says that the call center agent was on live while talking to a customer. It was like he was talking with his spiel asking for personal information about the customer then I think some data was disclosed. Now the client pulled out the entire campaign from that certain BPO company because of a data privacy violation.

Years ago when I was just new to the company, one of my tasks was to create an account for new hire employees. The recruitment will send the list of names to our department which includes mobile number, email and employee ID. Then I will create an account for them and I will send back the list with username and password. I think I have been doing it a couple of times until one day our boss replied back to one email with the same content. He said that it is not right to attach data that contains confidential information particularly with username and password. The original email that contains confidential files did not come from me. It was from my teammate who was also doing the same.

Although the information was sent to the right recipient it was still a violation of data privacy because there were several email distro that were carbon copied (CC). So from then on I have learned my lesson.

See related post: Regretfully Yours

When people learn about social media, some of them don’t know about data privacy. When I was still on FB I was really disgusted when I saw people posting almost all about their life on social media. Some of my friends would post about their achievements which is not bad but will depend on how you will caption it. One thing that I hated was that they would post their certificates or any paper that contains personal information like names, date of birth and signature. Some also would post form 137 that contain their child's personal information. Not only that, others would also post PRC ID license, driver license and even birth certificate! Do they know the dangers of posting that personal information over social media platforms?

I have deleted my FB account ten months ago and I am strictly reminding my kids regarding their usage of the said platform. I am also telling my wife about this data privacy, good thing she listens. However, some of her friends don’t seem to be responsible social media users. The other day she was kind of irritated by a post from one of her friends. She is not really close to her, just a mother or our daughter’s classmate. She posted a paper with her personal information on it with the caption (hashtag) vaccinated. Is it really necessary? Do we really need to post on our social media about what is going on with us even if it is already private matters?

Going back to the call center agent who allegedly disclosed personal information by doing a live feed. We all experienced boredom during the lockdown and most BPO companies had their employees do the work from home set up. The BPO company I am currently working with still manages to make their way on how to give employees recognition. The management still continues with their programs even virtually like the monthly recognition, contest for best summer outing outfit and even dance video contest. However, there will comes a time that some people will be feeling bored working from home and social media has become their comfort zone. So they make their way through these social media platforms to entertain themselves as well as their friends and followers.

Posting photos or videos on our social media while we are working from home is not bad at all. I even do that. In fact, I am posting photos on IG or Twitter of my WFM small office or cup of coffee with the blurred background of my PC monitor.  But of course there was no sensitive information that was included in the photo I posted.

See related post: Sign Up, Post, Interact, Deactivate

Some people failed to keep that in mind or may have forgotten about what to and what not to post on their social media. They become careless without thinking of jeopardizing his colleagues and the reputation of the company he is connected with. There are a lot of similar instances like this posted in several social media. Most users get what they deserve and the worst is, they may face charges against someone because of disclosing private information on the internet. Even if it is intentional or not we are still accountable for our actions. People who used to do this I think have their personal satisfaction for doing so. It’s not being irresponsible or carelessness, I think it is more like idiotic (forgive me for the terminology) to do such act even if the person already knew the dangers for posting such.

We Don’t Have to Prove to Anyone

I think sometimes people just want to be noticed or want to show off. I admit I sometimes do that. When I was a kid I used to do things that people would notice me, sometimes I even called their attention and watched me do some trick but in the end I suffered and felt humiliation.

I remember one scenario back then. I was only 6 years old. There were visitors in our house and they were my mother’s. My grandma entertained them as mother was not yet around. So I escaped and went outside. I climbed a tree and on the smallest branch I sat as if I was riding a horse. Then I shouted to my playmate watching from their house who was grounded that time. Just as I sat on the tree branch it broke and I fell with my back first to hit the ground. The last thing I remember was that I saw the clouds and my vision circled until I lost consciousness.

See related post: Been There Done That

Celebrity Be Like

So most people on social media these days have the intention of being noticed and others are just showing off. We are not celebrities but if you want to become one, then that’s fine. You can use all social media platforms and post your videos and photos every minute. I bet you will become an internet celebrity in an instant.

Some good people are posting reminders about proper ways of using social media. There are also influencers who are posting or teaching social media etiquettes.

I felt saddened when I saw people sharing another post of a social media user and mocking the person because of a seemingly inappropriate post. The most part was that the person who posted a mistake has been bullied by some dumbhead netizens. They just add more issues to the conflict.

Anyway I hope I am making sense with this post. I have to cut it as it is getting long again.

What can you say about these people who used to post personal information over the internet? Are you one of them?

 Thanks for reading. Ciao!

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To all those who support, Thank you!

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