1.3+Privacy+and+anonymity


 * 1.3 Privacy and anonymity**

Privacy is the ability of individuals and groups to determine for themselves when, how and to what extent information about themselves is shared with others. At its extreme, privacy becomes anonymity when, for instance, a person uses it to conceal his or her true identity in order to cyber-bully someone else. Conversely, excessive privacy could also conceal the perpetrators of criminal, terrorist or computer hacking acts from law enforcement agencies.

Read Tomorrow's Technology & You p. 253 - 261


 * Assignment**

Read [|Bruce Schneier warns 'profits killing personal privacy'] **Profits Killing Personal Privacy**

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 * 1) Why is it becoming easier for governments and organizations to store information that, in the past, was much easier to keep unto ourselves?
 * The cost of storage is much lower than before and the advance of processing power allows computer storage device make gathering, storing and retrieving information easier and faster.
 * 1) How has the Internet and the Information Age changed how we view privacy?
 * The Internet and the Information Age have made privacy a big issue for many people. Privacy invasions and freedom access of information without authorization have created more worrisome problems as people started to realized their privacy are in great danger, some considered they are "being watched" or the saying of "Big Brother is everywhere" because the advances of technologies have made information storage and distribution much faster and easier than before. People start to consider ways to protect privacy because their private information have great potential for abuse or variety purpose.
 * 1) Do people feel more comfortable revealing information about themselves online? Why or why not?
 * No, people no longer feel comfortable revealing information online because they started to concern the effects of the wide access on their information. They realized once their information is reveal or collected, they will be facing a great potential for abuse or variety of unknown purpose. Also, the distinction between public information and private information become a difficult situation for people to know where the line should be drawn. Our names, addresses, and phone numbers can be considered public information but credit cards and job salaries are private information and this distinction will go on forever.
 * 1) Schneier quotes Google boss "Eric Schmidt" in regards to Google's Street View, that "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." Do you agree with this position? That is, if you don't want something to end up on camera, don't do it in the first place? Why or why not? Support your answer with knowledge from your textbook.
 * I disagree with the statement. When people did something, they never knew it will be revealed to everyone, and they have right to protect and control what information should be revealed and collected. For example when people take a funny photo of themselves, they never thought of revealing it to everyone online, they might did if for their own entertainment and freedom but it ended up being revealed to everyone else due to technology. I think people have freedom in their own actions and have right to keep information and actions by themselves, the fact that technologies have made information much easier to be spread around does not mean that people should control their lifestyle and freedom because sometimes we do things for our own benefits and fun, there was no intention in making them to public to create problems or letting information unexpectedly being revealed to everyone elsewhere. People did not expect their information to be fully access and revealed by technology.


 * What repercussions is this loss of privacy having?**


 * 1) Find a news article in which a person has lost their job or gotten in trouble in school because they left to much online information open to the public. Record this article in the news section.

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 * September 15, 2011 Christian High School Kicks Out Student For Being Gay
 * January 3, 2011 Students Kicked Out of School After Posing with Placenta
 * 1) Do you think it is okay for institutions to impose their judgement based on how they comport themselves in their private lives? Why or why not?
 * No, I think it depends on the situations. For example the student was kicked out for being gay, I think it is unfair to the student, because everyone should be treated equally in spite of their personal believes and lifestyles. But for the student posing with placenta, I think it was okay to judge because they were lack of professional behavior.


 * Read the articles** Scarlett Johansson nude photo leak investigated by FBI and Scarlett Johansson photos: How did they end up online?

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 * 1) How is it suspected that the leaked photos of these Scarlett Johansson, Vanessa Hudgens and Jessica Alba ended up online?
 * It was suspected that these celebrities' personal cellphone or computer (online e-mail account) were being hacked by people and their personal photos were stolen and leaked to everyone else online.
 * 1) How can you better protect yourself and your personal privacy in the age of digital information? Or can you?
 * I think you can protect yourself and your personal privacy in this age of digital information but not entirely. You cannot completely prevent privacy invasions to happen but you can decrease the chances of your privacy being invaded. Technologies have made personal privacy nearly impossible to be kept onto oneself, however, people can maximize their privacy by minimizing their personal information to be shared publicly. If everyone is aware of protecting their privacy, they should think carefully before they give away personal information randomly and they should minimize personal profile information online so that it will be harder for anyone else to invade and misuse the information.


 * Read the articles** Street View cars grabbed locations of phones, PCs, Microsoft collects phone location data without permission, says researcher, and Apple: We'll fix iPhone tracking 'bug'.

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 * 1) What threat do companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Apple present to our personal privacy.
 * These companies had presented the threat of tracking and collecting individuals locations accurately including the unique addresses of personal devices such as cellphone and computer to know exactly where we reside.
 * 1) Do they have a right to collect and distribute information that is available to anyone with the technical know-how?
 * I think these companies have right to collect and distribute information to anyone with technical know-how to improve and develop better devices but they need to clarify their purposes of collecting and distributing user's information to prove the information are not misused for other purposes. These companies should also allow users to have options to not reveal their personal information because not everyone enjoys to share their personal life and information publicly.