The See Through Shades of the Digital Window

Is there any privacy online? I think there is some, but not much. I actually think there is less than most people think. A quote from the very controversial Julian Assange:

“Facebook in particular is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented,” he said. “Here we have the world’s most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations and the communications with each other, their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to U.S. intelligence. Facebook, Google, Yahoo — all these major U.S. organizations have built-in interfaces for U.S. intelligence. It’s not a matter of serving a subpoena. They have an interface that they have developed for U.S. intelligence to use.”

You can read the rest of the Atlantic article here. Here is the interview in which he says this and many other interesting if not controversial things:

Here is another interesting article about the biggest privacy gaffes by some of the biggest companies around today.

Of course if you do anything online you are exposing yourself to some level of risk. I think the discussion should be about what’s in your power to control and the steps you can take to limit your risk. And as educators it is our responsibility to educate our students about this risk and what they can and should do to protect their privacy.

With privacy settings changing so much and so swiftly we need to stay educated as well as educate our students about what this means and what the repercussions could be. Again we must stress that if it’s on the internet it has been “published” and that carries with it responsibilities. The Net can be a very liberating and powerful medium when used correctly.

There are many resources to learn about privacy setting and how your choices will affect who can see what. Here is an article aptly entitled “Understanding Facebook Security”. This article is a good introductory into educating the reader on security. Here is a follow up article detailing “How to Configure Facebook Privacy Settings”.

I don’t mean to pick on Facebook here but it is the most used social media site and therefore can be a good tool to use to educate people about privacy.