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Introduction
see Open Education Resources | Public Health Policy - Sources of Information
- "...never before in the history of the planet have so many people - on their own - had the ability to find so much information about so many things and about so many other people" — Thomas L. Friedman
Social networks are groups of websites that allow users to upload information for their personal profiles. The trend toward social networking involves an activity known as friending through contact with others and browsing their user profiles. Social networking websites have membership rules and community standards, and social media users often disclose identity-relevant information on their profiles. This information is either referential, ie. refers to others, or attributive. Some laws and regulations restrict access to referential information but attributive information is not always protected. The aggregation of large amounts of information on social media profiles poses several new kinds of privacy risks.
Information spreads faster via the web than in real-life networks. Information might be disclosed to groups unexpectedly because the digital information is easy copyable, can be stored indefinitely and is searchable. It especially harms users when information travels through different spheres, and ends up with people whom it was not intended for.
Participation in social networking sites has dramatically increased in recent years, and so have concerns around managing privacy of our personal information. Recently, the Pew Research Center published a helpful document that outlines the situation in Privacy Management on Social Media Sites.
Privacy issues now also fall under the concept of privacy literacy which are skills needed in the digital age to manage privacy.
Privacy literacy
- Canada is a nation of early adopters when it comes to new technologies – with 80% of Canadians over the age of 16 now onlin
- when it comes to online literacy, Canada lags a bit; more so when it comes to privacy literacy in the context of the digital world
- many people don't realize they’re leaving a trail of digital bread crumbs when they click their way through websites and from website to website
- often, computer users don’t realize the digital crumbs won’t disappear -- they are stored, analyzed and accessible
- they don’t understand that this information may be used in ways they never imagined
- moreover, how many people actually read privacy policies?
- we need to learn how to make use of tools to protect our privacy; for example, use search engines that don’t remember our searches (or opt out of them capturing personal information); some search engines have shorter data retention periods than others
- in the Google WiFi story, the focus was on the company’s actions; but there’s a question about user knowledge about securing wireless networks
- need for improved privacy literacy applies to individuals and organizations; businesses need to ensure their employees are privacy literate; that they have knowledge of how personal information should be used and handled in the context of privacy
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Google privacy 2012
Websites
- NPR Story on Internet Piracy Misses the Point [Phil Windley's Technometria]
- http://www.windley.com/archives/2012/02/npr_story_on_internet_piracy_misses_the_point.shtml
- Privacy plugin keeps Facebook from reading your updates [Boing Boing]
- http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/h7Snzkg3f6Q/privacy-plugin-keeps-facebook.html
- Companies learn your secrets with data about you [FlowingData]
- http://flowingdata.com/2012/02/16/companies-learn-your-secrets-with-data-about-you/
- iPhone and Android apps now required to have privacy policies [Ars Technica]
- http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/everything/~3/TJl-taM57A8/iphone-and-android-apps-now-required-to-have-privacy-policies.ars
- FTC: Apps for Children Raise Privacy Concerns [mashable]
- http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Mashable/~3/XmYHpMvIbj8/
- White House announces new privacy "Bill of Rights," Do Not Track agreement [Ars Technica]
- http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/everything/~3/KYLzviQAj2E/white-house-announces-new-privacy-bill-of-rights-do-not-track-agreement.ars
References
- boyd d. Facebook’s privacy trainwreck: exposure, invasion, and social convergence. Int J Res New Media Technologies. 2008;14(1):13–20.
- Goffman E. Behavior in public places: notes on the social organization of gatherings. New York: Simon and Schuster; 1966.
- Hull G, Lipford H, Latulipe C. Contextual gaps: privacy issues on Facebook. Ethics and Information Technology. 2010;1-14.
- Lipford HR, Hull G, Latulipe C, Besmer A. Visible flows: contextual integrity and the design of privacy mechanisms on social network sites.
- Marwick A, Murgia-Diaz D, Palfrey J. Youth, privacy and reputation. Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University; 2010.
- Nissenbaum H. Privacy as contextual integrity. Washington Law Review. 2004;74:101-39.
- Nissenbaum H. Privacy in context: technology, policy and the integrity of social life. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press; 2010.
- Ryberg T. Networked identities: understanding relationships between strong and weak ties in networked environments. J Comp Assisted Learning. 2008;24(2):103-115.
- Squicciarini AC, Shehab M, Wede J. Privacy policies for shared content in social network sites. VLDB Journal. 2010.
- Zimmer M. The quest for the perfect search engine: values, technical design, and the flow of personal information in spheres of mobility. New York University, New York; 2007.
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