I definitely have concerns about safety, however, I think it requires a risk reward analysis
What are your thoughts about the issues of safety, security, and privacy? I definitely have concerns about safety, however, I think it requires a risk reward analysis. The risks include the fact that people are peering into our lives on a regular basis. That is clearly disheartening and concerning and who knows what they know about my family and me. The rewards are equally as extreme. The use of the tools, Google Calendar, shared Google docs that I use professionally and personally (including for grad school) are incredible. The storage of my photos is awesome plus it makes it easy to share my family pictures with my parents who live out of town. Those are just some of the simple ways I use those tools. Bottom line is safe, security and privacy are really important to me, but I also know that giving up privacy allows the use of some pretty amazing tools.
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.
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.
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:
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.
