Privacy

Examine the 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy. Next look at other privacy issues...employee surveillance, what every parent should know, and what every school should know.

Summarize your findings and give an "I Team" report on privacy.

Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy

Do not reveal personal information inadvertently.
Turn on cookie notices in your Web browser, and/or use cookie management software or infomediaries.

Cookies" are tidbits of information that Web sites store on your computer, temporarily or more-or-less permanently. In many cases cookies are useful and innocuous. They may be passwords and user IDs, so that you do not have to keep retyping them every time you load a new page at the site that issued the cookie. Other cookies however, can be
used for "data mining" purposes, to track your motions through a Web site, the time you spend there, what links you click on and other details that the company wants to record, usually for marketing purposes.

Infomediaries are products/services that act as a proxy or shield between you and sites you visit, and can completely disguise to Web sites where you are coming from and who you are (and intercept all cookies)

Keep a "clean" e-mail address.

When mailing to unknown parties; posting to newsgroups, mailing lists, chat rooms and other public spaces on the Net; or publishing a Web page that mentions your e-mail address, it is best to do this from a "side" account, some pseudonymous or simply alternate address, and to use your main or preferred address only on small, members-only lists and with known, trusted individuals.

Don't reveal personal details to strangers or just-met "friends".
Realize you may be monitored at work or school, avoid sending highly personal e-mail to mailing lists, and keep sensitive files on your home computer.
Beware sites that offer some sort of reward or prize in exchange for your contact information or other personal details.
Do not reply to spammers, for any reason. Spam", or unsolicited bulk e-mail, is something you are probably already familiar with (and tired of)
Be conscious of Web security.

In any browser, look at the URL (Web address) line - a secure connection will begin "https://" instead of "http://". If you are at page that asks for such information but shows "http://" try adding the "s" yourself and hitting enter to reload the page (for Netscape or IE; in another browser, use whatever method is required by your browser to reload the page at the new URL). If you get an error message that the page or site does not exist, this probably means that the company is so clueless - and careless with your information and your money - that they don't even have Web security. Take your business elsewhere.

Be conscious of home computer security.

If you have a DSL line, broadband cable modem or other connection to the Internet that is up and running 24 hours (including T1 at the office without a firewall or NAT), unlike a modem-and-phone-line connection, be sure to turn your computer off when you are not using it. Most home PCs have pitifully poor security compared to the Unix workstations that power most commercial Web sites. System crackers search for vulnerable, unattended DSL-connected home computers, and can invade them with surprising ease, riffling through files looking for credit card numbers or other sensitive data, or even "taking over" the computer and quietly using it for their own purposes, such as launching attacks on other computers elsewhere - attacks you could initially be blamed for.

Examine privacy policies and seals.

When you are considering whether or not to do business with a Web site, there are other factors than a secure connection you have to consider that are equally important to Web security. Does the site provide offline contact information, including a postal address? Does the site have a prominently-posted privacy policy? If so, what does it say? And are they backing up their privacy statement with a seal program such as TRUSTe ( http://www.truste.org/ )or BBBonline ( http://www.bbbonline.org/ )? (While imperfect, such programs hold Websites to at least some minimal baseline standards, and may revoke, with much fanfare, the approval-seal licenses of bad-acting companies that do not keep their word.)

Remember that YOU decide what information about yourself to reveal, when, why, and to whom.
Use encryption!

Last but certainly not least, there are other privacy threats besides abusive marketers, nosy bosses, spammers and scammers. Some of the threats include industrial espionage, government surveillance, identity theft, disgruntled former associates, and system crackers. Relatively easy-to-use e-mail and file encryption software is available for free, such as Pretty Good Privacy (PGP, available at: http://www.pgpi.org/ ), which runs on almost all computers and even integrates seamlessly with most major e-mail software. Good encryption uses very robust secret codes, that are difficult if not impossible to crack, to protect your data.

***Summary of information from EFF's Top 12 Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy by Stanton McCandlish, EFF Technology Director

Take The Internet Privacy IQ Quiz
(Taken from the DMA Get Cyber Savy! The DMA's Guide To Parenting Skills for the Digital Age)