For a few years now the American Library Association has sponsored Choose Privacy Week. Online privacy is a universal problem and gets more complicated every day. It became an issue for me last year when my tax return was hijacked before I filed. As a parent I am concerned about what future employers will find out when they google my sons during the hiring process. Teenagers should be concerned about building a professional digital footprint instead of cleaning up their social media presence as they approach college and future job interviews. I wonder what our students inadvertently reveal about themselves online.
We leave information information behind at every stop on the World Wide Web. Most of us don't want access to the E. U.'s Right to be Forgotten, but controlling our digital footprint is essential. Many of you have googled your own name just to see what is out there, but Josh Ochs suggests searching a little more systematically. As a member of the Safe, Smart and Social organization he recommends searching google in icognito mode for:
"your name" in the basic search and in google images - you need the quotes
"name first middle and last"
"your name" city of residence
"your name" organization or high school
"your email address"
He charges a chunk of money to do it for you, but it's a relatively simple process. It is eye opening to find out what the Internet thinks it knows about you. Even after reading "Everything Google Knows About You" I have no intention of switching to another browser. I am too addicted. If you ever want to read about our near future and scare yourself silly, read Feed by Laurie Halse Anderson.
Lately I have read posts online about spring cleaning your social media accounts. It is usually aimed at social media marketing personnel, but the concept works well for social media users too. At least once a year, review your privacy and sharing settings on your most heavily used social media accounts. It's an opportunity to make up for all those user agreements that you accept, but don't read.
Facebook -
Pinterest - in your personal pins, look at your followers, click on the unfamiliar, irrelevant or just plain creepy and block them. Use secret boards for your pins that may identify you or keep the general public from locating you.
The aspect of online security that seems to be the most troublesome is passwords. The Diceware Passphrase system is supposedly one of the best ways to create a secure password. To make it more secure add the first initial of website you are using into the random four word phrase as a capital.
Everything Google Knows About You
