Article review Paper:
Three recent Articles analyze Current Events

Petra Letteer

CMRJ100
Professor Rich
September 17, 2012

Article review Paper:
Application concerns with Personal Information
In recent years, Applications for electronic devices have become a major concern amongst technology users. One of the most concerns that the individuals have is the lack of privacy and the protection of personal information. Research shows that well-off, older, and more educated individuals do not face this issue because they tend to avoid applications that harm their electronic devices. In the United States alone, half of the people decided that they would not purchase or even download applications that would potentially harm their personal information. Many of the mobile users ages ranging from 30 years and up were more likely to use applications than rich individuals and college students (eMarketer, 2012). The uninstalling of an application that was already present on the electronic device decreased a lot because of the growing concern of their information. Statistic shows only three out of ten individuals actually uninstalled the application found on the device. In this particular survey, age was not a huge factor and only low income individuals surveys were reported which were above the average rate. Furthermore, the survey showed that men were more likely to uninstall applications than women were. Personal information applications are a geographical information feature which many people hesitate to download. One other feature about smartphones is the location-tracking device which many individuals are cautious about. Many of the young people that took the survey had the location-tracking device ages ranging from 25 to 34 years old. However, individuals that were much older had declined the idea of having a location-tracking device on their smartphone. The question however was not ask if, they were to turn of the tracking device if that would change their point of view. One other aspects to think about is companies can still access the individual’s personal information even if the tracking device is off (eMarketer, 2012). Phone companies can still locate a phone and will share personal information with government employees and in some cases without a warrant. Individuals should be concerned about their privacy, or at least they should be more responsible with their phones. According to recent findings, mobile phone users have a tendency to get their phone stolen or even lose it. Some individuals have also experienced that their phone was accessed without their knowledge. Applications are becoming more of a receptacle for people that records most of their history. Individuals are now considering using applications that are more convenient to them. Nevertheless, at the same time, most individuals do not even check to see what applications are downloaded and that creates fears in people’s minds. The fear of the unknown is usually the worst of fears, not knowing what it can do and what it is. The companies that build applications need to understand that privacy is a big issue facing America and nothing is sacred anymore. With this said, software companies need to build applications with complete privacy in mind to safeguard people’s personal information. However, to safeguard an individual’s privacy starts with the individual themself. Primarily, it is important to understand what information is on the device and second people need to identify who has access to the information (eMarketer, 2012). Understanding how personal information travels to and from an individual’s device and who could have access to the information could eventually block a security thread. It is important to understand how information is processed in order to secure vital data that might be stored on an individual’s device. Running regular virus checks could potentially help eliminate the thread of a security leak. With technology, progressing