The ‘Trust and privacy online:
Why Americans want to rewrite the rules’ article gives a summary on privacy issues associated with website usage. It describes how Americans are skeptical about websites having their information, yet they don’t take the appropriate steps in protecting themselves.
Only 27% of Americans surveyed think that it is useful for websites to keep track of users, meaning that 73% of us don’t agree with the current policy. To summarize; the Clinton Administration allows for companies to track our information without us knowing or approving, as long as we have the option to view “what kinds of personal information they collect and how they use it” and as long as we are able “to take steps to protect [our] privacy”. The government’s views differ to that of 86% of Internet users who think that Internet companies should ask people for permission to use their personal information.
This is what allows companies such as toys r us, amazon.com and Pharmatrak Inc., to obtain our information without us knowing. Only a quarter of internet users are skeptical enough to take action against websites, and only 44% of us know what a cookie is. Those who take action in defending their privacy online use “guerilla tactics” such as providing a fake name or personal information, using a secondary email address, sending a encrypted email and/or using software that hides their computer identity from Web sites.
The article goes on to argue that despite these fears and our non-preventative actions, 48% of us have bought things online with our credit card, 55% of us have sought medical information, 43% have sought financial help, and 25% have disclosed our information to make friends.
The second article, by Susan B. Barnes, also relates to our insecurity with regards to the internet. It discusses a point of view more related to Social Networking Sites. Again, we all have this fear of anonymous people knowing our information, yet we willingly disclose a lot of private information on social networking sites. As the article mentions, “we live in a paradoxical world of privacy - on one hand, teenagers reveal their intimate thoughts and behaviors online and, on the other hand, government agencies and marketers are collecting personal data about us”.
The article emphasizes that adults are more skeptical about providing personal information, but teenagers and younger users share all their personal information through SNS. Everyone claims to want to keep information private, but are willing to disclose their information on Facebook and myspace, which are public spaces. People don’t realize that “sharing their personal information on social networking sites is not only sharing with online friends. Parents, future employers, and university officials can also read journal entries”. The article goes on to state that users tend to respond neutraly to the statement that facebook respects their privacy, implying that many users seem to be aware that facebook may use their information.
The article states the major problems associated with information being made public:
1) children are exposed to pedophiles
2) teenagers being raped by people they meet on social networking sites
3) companies using the sites to collect marketing information
4) children under the age of 14 using social networks
It mentioned how the Department of Defense started keeping tracks of teenagers, including their ethnicity, phone numbers, e–mail addresses, intended fields of study and extracurricular activities. The article argues that the “government utilizes computer technology to exert some degree of control over its citizens, rather than protect their privacy”. The internet is stated to be a contemporary Panopticon, in that it is a constant anonymous surveillance that goes on in our lives.
The article proposes three types of solutions to this problem of online surveillance:
social solutions: having parents and schools take a stronger role in making their children aware of online threats
technical solutions: having SNS restrict age use, have more security functions and restrictions, and enforcing solutions and awareness of online predators.
legal solutions – having human monitoring of social networking sites aswell as technological solutions, and having the government reinforce them.
Questions:
- If 68%of Internet users are concerned with computer hackers getting their credit card information, why do you think that 48% of users have bought something online? Why do you think our generation in particular will still continue to buy things online?
- Nowadays, many websites we use, only allow for us to use them if we allow cookies to be installed. Among them, facebook, google, USC Webmail. What are your opinions on this? Would you prefer for cookies not to exist, or do you think it’s only fair for websites to have this information? Should the government be more protective on these laws?
- Read the following statement: “Students wanted to keep information private, but did not seem to realize that Facebook is a public space. Sharing their personal information on social networking sites is not only sharing with online friends”. To what extent to you consider these consequences when disclosing textual and graphical information on websites?
6 comments:
1. I think the convenience factor of purchasing something online weighs more than the fear of having our information taken by someone who we don't want having it. Our generation has grown up with the internet, and it is natural for us to make a purchase online, no matter how safe or dangerous it may be.
2. I dislike the notion of cookies, though I understand why internet companies require them. In order to advertise to properly to their users, internet companies want as much information about them as possible. I still don't like it though. Cookies should be an option, not a requirement. A person should have to willingly disclose information rather than just hand it out by logging in to a site.
3. This statement applies to the early days of facebook and other sites when it was much harder to keep other people from viewing your information. Today, limited profiles and privacy features make it much easier to keep some information private. I still take precautions when putting my information on facebook, but I now maintain strong privacy control over my page so people I don't want getting my information can't.
1. I agree with Sean's response..I think many people choose to shop online because of its convenience. Also, with rising gas prices, I think people will be more inclined to make at-home purchases.
2, 3. Cookies annoy me because having too many slows down my computer. I have an anti-spyware program that I use to delete them.
4. I don't think the statement refers to Facebook any longer, esp. since Facebook has recently raised privacy options for its users. But before the stricter privacy settings, I was aware that my information and photos were visible to the public. I wasn't too comfortable with that idea, so I was very careful about the information I did disclose.
Questions 1: If 68%of Internet users are concerned with computer hackers getting their credit card information, why do you think that 48% of users have bought something online?
In my opinion, I think it's important to distinguish between the credibility of the internet as a whole and the credibility of individual websites. I definitely fall into the category of having worried about my credit card information being stolen via the internet(in fact it did as someone once bought plane tickets to Sweden with my citi card). However, I also fall into the category of someone who makes online purchases. As a whole, I believe that the internet is a dangerous place to disclose personal financial information. However, I find that there are a number of trustworthy online vendors whom I still continue to shop with. For example, I still use sites like amazon.com and nordstroms.com without any feelings of paranoia.
Question 2.)
Read the following statement: “Students wanted to keep information private, but did not seem to realize that Facebook is a public space. Sharing their personal information on social networking sites is not only sharing with online friends”. To what extent to you consider these consequences when disclosing textual and graphical information on websites?
I personally do not use facebook or post any pictures of myself online. I believe that the statement is accurate in the assessment of sharing information via social network sites. The whole idea of privacy only applies in venues that are not available to the public. When someone agrees to facebook's terms and conditions, they are in fact in agreement that their information could be infiltrated by third parties and often times reused by facebook. I think that this fact poses very little consequences for the majority of people who use facebook. Most users have not experienced significant problems as a result of posting pictures in a semi public domain. However, I do believe that everyone should take this into consideration when joining this type of social networking site. I believe that everyone should at least be aware of this type of loss in privacy and make the individual decision as to whether they are willing to make such a compromise.
1. Actually, your statistics partially answer your own question. If 68% of internet users are concerned with computer hackers getting their credit card information, that leaves 32% who are not. If only 48% of users have bought something online, that means only 16% of users act in a manner contradictory to their fear of getting information stolen. Of this population, I would argue that one can still be concerned about having their information stolen, but recognize that there are steps that can be taken to prevent this, and do so. Personally, I am quite aware of the possibility of my personal info. being stolen, but because I take those methods to protect myself I still feel comfortable making online purchases.
2. Cookies are a necessary function for many of the features employed on web pages, not just personal data collection. These features include many things we take for grated, for instance when you 'log in' to a website, this necessarily depends on your browsers ability to accept cookies. Without cookies our conception of 'web surfing' would be completely different. This taken into account, I think cookies definitely have a useful role. The question that needs to be asked is: what should companies be allowed to do with this information? While I do believe in someones right to collect information about those persons that visit their website, I also think it crucial for the user to be aware, and to be able to dictate to what extent their information is released. From the users end this can already be done to a certain extent, but I think greater control should be afforded to the user. I also believe that websites should have to disclose what information they are collecting about their visitors, and what that information will be used for.
I think more and more people are making online purchases for various reasons. The first thing that comes to mind is how many things that we need to purchase are only available online. For example, college applications for UCs and Cal States are only available online, which means that students have no choice but to submit their own or their parent's credit card information over the internet.
Online banking is also becoming popular. With credible banking and university sites holding our credit card information, people are probably learning to trust the internet with this information more.
People are also realizing the marketing and money making opportunities with the internet- like myspace, ebay, amazon, etc.
I never knew what cookies were unitl last class meeting. Based on discussion I understand that cookies are not a good thing, and feel that websites should not require them. I think setting it as default where we have to disable it ourselves is good enough on their end.
As for disclosing information on social networking sites, I personally never disclose information that I feel that harm my image or upset others. I always remember that it is not just my friends viewing my text and images.
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