Who Took the Cookie From the Cookie Jar?

The young children’s song of “Who Took the Cookie From the Cookie Jar” is a classic nursery rhyme where kids try to guess who took the cookie as they go around the circle. Oddly enough, with the addition of data mining, computer cookies, and data caches we are back trying to guess who took our cookies and in this case our search history.

So what exactly are computer cookies and what does this mean for our privacy? Whatarecookies.com addresses many frequently asked questions related to computer cookies and describes them as “small files which are stored on a user’s computer. They are designed to hold a modest amount of data specific to a particular client and website, and can be accessed either by the web server or the client computer.”

Cookies will record our usernames/ log in information as well as what we are searching or clicking on while browsing and then customizes web pages and advertisements accordingly. This is why you might notice the shoes you searched up weeks ago continues to pop up along the side of websites you are visiting or in suggested posts on social media applications. While it is very nice to not have to constantly log in to facebook and similar websites every time you visit the site, where my worry sets in is when I put in credit or debit card information.

The graphic above illustrates the distrust in our privacy and in no area is there more than 10% of the sample population that is very confident in our cyber security. I operate under the assumption that as long as I am online, privacy is not guaranteed because you never know who’s hand is in your “cookie jar”.

Online Safety and Privacy: Is Ignorance Bliss?

What are your thoughts about the issues of safety, security, and privacy? What are your concerns? What are your ideas for addressing them in ways that still allow you to take advantage of the value of social networking and media?

As I read the articles and watched the assigned videos on privacy and security this week, I threw myself in the fetal position, feeling the hopelessness that I no longer belong to myself.

via GIPHY

But seriously, according to WebHostingGeeks and Privacy International, we have very little knowledge and control about what personal information we share on the web and to whom. Apparently, we have been profiled, not only by the information we shared but by our online behavior. Should we panic?

I started worrying.  So, out of curiosity, I googled myself and I found my personal information in pages where I have never participated or consented to share it, yet there it was. Mylife.com, zoominfo.com, voterrecords.com, to mention some. These pages had my full name, age, home address, working address, and they even offer a background check on me!

To access these records, you have to agree to the following: “I WILL NOT use this information to stalk anyone. If I see someone I know, I WILL NOT use this information for blackmail. I WILL NOT harass people whose criminal records appear on this site”. They even give you ideas!

As I stared at the screen, I wondered how they got my info –somehow, I must have given it to them. It took me a few seconds to decide to be proactive about it and found out how to request that my information is erased. I followed the recommended steps –with my fingers crossed that it wasn’t another trap. I am giving them a few days to see if it worked.

In case you are wondering, I did this:

So, all the reading and the googling made me aware of a problem I didn’t know I had. For me, it was just about being careful, and just thinking before posting. As one of the week’s readings said: “…privacy is the currency of our online lives, paying for petty conveniences with bits of personal information. But we are blissfully ignorant of what that means”. (Hess, 2017)

I haven’t decided yet if I liked it better when I didn’t know I had this problem. As I write this post, I still have more questions than answers. My stream of consciousness goes like this: What are my thoughts about the issues of safety, security, and privacy? Am I concerned about my safety? Is ignorance bliss? Who cares about my data? What do they use it for? Is it for selling me stuff? Can a cybercriminal use my information to steal my identity and buy a house in Timbuktu?

Lessons Learned

Whereas I don’t feel utterly unsafe for what I discovered with this assignment, I will be more careful the next time someone –or something– asks for my information. Here are some ideas on how to take advantage of the value of social networking and media while protecting my privacy and keep myself and my data safe.

Lesson 1: Take control!

Shape your digital footprint and make your online presence what you want it to be. This is not that difficult to achieve. Have “public” accounts for your professional online activities and let people find you.  Be in charge of what the internet says about you. For example, it makes me happy that when I googled myself, I found my LinkedIn Page and some of my Prezi presentations, they make me look good!

Lesson 2: Just say no!

Do not give away your info. Next time you go shopping and the cashier interviews you to enter the rewards program, just say no! Don’t click on the “Accept cookies” button on random webpages. Don’t open suspicious e-mails. Don’t answer the phone if you don’t recognize the number (let them leave a message; if it’s important they will.) Personal information has a lot of value, keep it safe!

Lesson 3: Technical Precautions

Stop leakage of sensitive information by preventing the transmission of confidential data from your computer and mobile devices. How? Use the incognito browser, delete cookies frequently, check the privacy settings of the apps you use and the sites you visit. Disable your microphone in your phone and computer –someone or something may be listening. Likewise, disable the location services for mobile apps so they cannot collect that data. You can never be too cautious.  

Lesson 4: Think before you post!

This one is obvious, but it’s worth remembering it. This is a classic: 

Spiders, the web, and me

Flowering plant with a spiderweb attached.

I am pretty phobic about spiders, so when I saw one hanging out (literally) in the shower tonight as I started to step in, it occurred to me that my uphill battle against spiders in the house has some parallels to my efforts to maintain decent barriers within my internet and social media usage. (I would say I’m slightly less paranoid about the internet tracking) First, autumn seems to be on its way, and the spiders are either moving in to the house, or just being more visible. We’ve dealt with a minimum of a dozen spiders in the last week. I think spiders are marvelous outside the house, which I consider to be their proper setting. I enjoy watching them scramble around in our garden space, eating pests and keeping their numbers in check. They have amazing physical characteristics and an ability to go almost anywhere. Various internet providers, online services, and social networks can also be extremely useful and have a similar, more metaphorical ability to be everywhere. I recognize that my house will never be spider-free, and my network interactions will never be surveillance-free.  On the other hand, I’m willing to go to some effort to minimize both spiders and data surrender. We try to minimize obvious cracks and food sources for arachnids in the house, and online, I pay attention to what information I’m willing to share and how I access various sites.

As I read through the various resources about what gets shared, stored, and tracked, I was edified to see that there wasn’t a ton of information that was entirely new to me. I use minimal profiles and background on my social media that I use for truly social purposes, like Facebook. For my more professional usage, I focus on more narrow, work-oriented background and contacts. I use multiple email addresses, including an essentially throw-away option for signing up for online services and the occasional online purchase, which I also try to minimize. I started using DuckDuckGo as my search engine a few years ago, and prefer the interface and results lists to Google. I clear history and cookies with some regularity, and the fact that my job as a librarian has me using multiple different computers in the course of a day or week, and searching for a wide variety of topics and products well outside my actual interests feels like a bit of extra camouflage as well.  

There are certainly levels of privacy protection that I’m not ready to tackle yet and don’t really feel a need to utilize. I’ve been tempted to play with Tor browsing on occasion, but I am not really interested in the attention that can also arise from that usage or that of some of the more anonymous email providers. I’m also not ready to go to a progression of burner phones or drop boxes that start to feel more like I’m playing a role in a spy thriller than managing communication. Since so many industries and jobs expect some form of an internet presence, I’d rather manage and curate one that sends a message I want rather than be completely invisible to potential colleagues and employers.  

Reflecting on “How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day” TED Talk

Please watch to this TED Talk from Tristan Harris in 2017. Feel free to participate in the associated sharing/conversation via Vialogues. Select a quote/excerpt from the presentation that stands out to you. Create a new blog post or add to your existing page here on our WordPress site. In this post/page be sure to reference other readings/viewings and your own experience. End your post/page with an invitation for others to share their own thoughts and ideas — create the potential for conversation.

Safety, security, & privacy

What are your thoughts about the issues of safety, security, and privacy? What are your concerns? What are your ideas for addressing them in ways that still allow you to take advantage of the value of social networking and media?

Before we begin our more formal exploration of digital cultures and social networking/media in education, we need to address issues and concerns related to safety, security, and privacy. Let’s start with some context and framing:

  • danah boyd, past and present views:

As you think about your own use of social networking and media tools and platforms, what are your thoughts about the issues of safety, security, and privacy? What are your concerns? What are your ideas for addressing them in ways that still allow you to take advantage of the value of social networking and media?

Although you are welcome to add a comment below, I recommend you start a new blog post*. [I provide a brief how-to walk through on our activity page in Canvas. If you are looking for more, please see resources I recommend via my Joni’s Ideas & Resources page on this site.]

*Remember, you are now authors of this site, so you may add pages, blog posts, etc. I recommend starting a new blog post so you may begin working with the features and functionality of blogging with WordPress. At this point you should have received an automatically generated email from the WordPress site with your username and password; if you haven’t received an email, please check your Junk/Spam folder, but if it’s not there message me and I will reset your password and sent it to you manually.:-)