According to Lainie
***
I'm trying to write an article for our program newsletter about internet safety, in light of all of the Buzz about Google Buzz, but more universally applicable, and I'm hoping all of the nerds in my various networks can help me to make sure this is all appropriate and fairly all-inclusive. So if any of you think I'm wrong about any of this, or think I left out something that I should include, keeping in mind that this is written for an audience of inexperienced computer users who are also adults (and sometimes we are talking about people who already fear or resent technology a great deal, so I don't want to incite more anxiety, but I do want them to be well-informed)...please let me know! Thanks!
And if you see any weirdnesses like typos or context or grammar errors, also let me know. This is a draft. :)
***
Google rolled out a new social media tool last week called Google Buzz, and caused a buzz about privacy and technology that caused me to think about safety as it applies to newer computer users. Like most things tech, a lot is assumed of people who sign up and log in to the various online tools. Sometimes even card-carrying nerds find themselves questioning whether they have taken the necessary precautions to avoid uncomfortable, awkward, and occasionally dangerous oversharing with people who were not intended recipients of a late night drunken status update, or a private tweet gone horribly awry and posted to a public feed.
While the internet is not necessarily something that needs to be avoided at all costs in order to preserve your identity (after all, phone books with your exact name and address printed within have been in existence for quite some time now) there are some things that are important to keep in mind when participating in online forums or creating an online profile. I’ve listed a few of them below to help guide you in your journey.
1) Think of the internet in general as a large and diverse community, and social network sites as pubs, coffeehouses and parks within that large and diverse community. While it might seem that people aren’t watching you while you are alone in your house wearing your sock monkey pajamas and fuzzy slippers, they really are. Everything that you say in a public form can be cataloged and made searchable by internet search engines. Most things are archived. So if you wouldn’t yell it out in a crowded bar, you probably don’t want to type it out in a public forum.
2) Even in a private forum – or even in email – keep in mind that your privacy is only as good as the network you use and the people who see your emails. The spoken word is difficult to forward, but the typed missive can be easily copied and pasted and mailed off to any number of people without any hacking whatsoever. While the ethics of this is dubious, and the legality of it is in some cases questionable, it’s still possible. So if you wouldn’t feel comfortable recording it on tape or writing it in a letter, all of the firewalls in the world shouldn’t convince you to put it in an email.
3) It’s probably best that you don’t use the same account for your personal/professional/other identities. This was made hyper clear last week, when Google rolled out Buzz to all gmail users, did not give them the option to opt-in, but instead generated a publicly viewable list of contacts based on frequency of contact. While the problem was fixed within the week, in the meantime, the potential and reality of compromised identity became a real issue for people who found some of their email contacts displayed for everyone to see. It would be considered victim-blaming to force users of gmail, or any other online service provider, to assume their password protected content could be compromised in this way and asked to take steps accordingly. This was clearly a huge misstep on the part of Google and their development team, who should have at least tested this service on an ever-available group of willing test subjects before unleashing it on the public at large, but my suggestion to people who use free online services is to take precautions, anyway. Sharing one huge contact list that includes many different types of contacts makes it more likely that you will accidentally send an email to the wrong person anyway. If you do create separate email accounts for various contexts, at least if you send that love or hate letter to the wrong person accidentally, it won’t be your boss or co-worker.
4) Clean up your contacts on a regular basis. Most free email services will store the information of people you frequently contact and make suggestions based on predictive text. This is a really helpful thing, until you try to sell your refrigerator on Craig’s List, and suddenly you have 952 new contacts cluttering up your suggestions. Find out where your contacts are stored, and on an annual, quarterly, monthly, or even weekly basis, poke through and delete people you won’t be communicating with again, or don’t communicate with enough to warrant saving their contact information. While it’s nice to have a limitless address book, it becomes cumbersome when overcluttered. And, again, too many contacts equates to a potential of sending the wrong thing to the wrong person.
5) When in doubt, opt out! If you are given the option to share information on a social media site, or to create a public profile, and you aren’t completely sure how it all works, keep your profiles private. Share updates or information among friends and family members first. While the internet can be a wonderful place to meet people who share your interests it’s a good idea to take it slow and get to know common practices of safety and etiquette while online before broadcasting your thoughts, opinions, ideas, and favorite breakfast foods. The internet will still be there when you are ready to share, and you might avoid some embarrassment…or worse!
6) Expand your horizons – try a number of different sites out, create various profiles and experiment with the wide variety of tools that are available. You might find that you want to use several different social media outlets in different ways. For myself, I have a Facebook account that I use for friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances, a completely public blog, a partially private Friendfeed account, and I keep my Twitter stream totally private, only allowing people I know or really trust to view it. The content I share in each of these contexts varies according to my audience, and that’s ok. You get to choose what you paint on your internet billboard, and you get to choose what you display in your private, invitation-only gallery. It’s all you.
Those are the basics that I can think of. Remember that the internet can be a fun and interesting place to share your experience and learn about the experiences of others. You can use the tools at your disposal to create a private clubhouse for your friends to congregate online when you can’t congregate in person, or you can create a world-wide salon and participate in conversations you would never even think to discuss with the people you see every day. Once you are aware of the pitfalls of using social networking tools to access these kinds of communities, it’s much easier to make choices that allow you to engage and participate while still maintaining control of your identity and privacy.
Recent Comments
dogBRAT!