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Privacy

The topic I researched this week was on Privacy. I think it is important to know if our lives are really private or if someone or something is listening in on our conversations and learning about us and/or our preferences without our consent. The infographic that EAVI created is very informative. Here is a picture of it: 

Image Source: EAVI

I’ve always heard of the term “cookies”, but never really had the interest to research what it really meant until this week. The EAVI infographic explained that “First party cookies…come directly from the site. They improve your browsing experience by remembering things like your volume settings, displaying the weather where you live and the items in your shopping cart” and “Third party cookies…follow you around the internet, tracking your behaviour and any information they can gather. The Like buttons on Facebook or Twitter are also a way to activate third-party cookies” (EAVI). After reading about all of the information that advertisers can access through the apps or websites we visit, it is important to clear the cookies on our devices and to check our settings if we strive to have more privacy online. 

Another article I read this week discussed something very interesting and relevant to my career. Christopher Soghian discussed in the article “Why online privacy matters-and how to protect yours” that many people argue that if they don't have anything to hide, why should they be concerned about privacy or security. This is very important to me because as a teacher, I do have something to hide, and that is my personal life. This is why the topic on privacy relates to my current learning space because as a teacher to close to 40 students, I don’t like to disclose personal information because I don’t know my students’ parents intentions when they find my personal information online. As well as I don’t want my employer learning personal information about me that I didn’t explicitly share with them. I think it is fair to want to separate my personal life from my work life.  

Something that really surprised me from the same article, was the importance of putting something physically in front of my laptop’s camera because there are ways people can take over my webcam and turn it on without me knowing. This is something I will be doing from now on, on any computer device, because it is important to have some privacy. Although in the same article, it stated that hackers can listen in through the microphone which is harder to cover because you will need to physically cut the wires or not have your phone on you 24/7. Something else I recently started doing for my family’s privacy is physically moving my baby monitor to face the wall instead of my daughter’s crib. I read online that people are able to hack into baby monitors even if they are turned off. This is scary because I used to turn it off and leave it facing my daughter when she was sleeping, but not anymore. I will continue to do anything possible for my family’s safety and privacy.

Image Source: The Washington Post

The third article “The real danger of Alexa listening to our convos” by Kara Alaimo, caught my attention because I have a couple of Echo Dots in my house and they are on all the time because of how convenient they can be. After reading the article, I will be unplugging them when they are not in use because of all the information they are gathering from my family and I. It has been interesting to see ads pop up of things that were mentioned through conversation, but I didn’t really think much of it until now. I think Alexa is definitely listening in and it is frightening to not know who the information is being shared with. After reading and doing research on privacy, and learning that our lives are not as private as we’d like them to be, I will be making some changes to hopefully improve that. I plan to cover my computer screen, unplug my Alexa, check my phone and computer settings, and use my private browser more often. Do you have any additional suggestions to increase my privacy online? 
References

Alaimo, K. (2019, April 26). Perspectives: The real danger of Alexa listening to our convos | CNN business. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/26/perspectives/amazon-echo-listening-alaimo/index.html 

Infographic: The EAVI Guide to Privacy and tracking. EAVI. (2021, June 17). https://eavi.eu/infographic-the-eavi-guide-to-privacy-and-tracking-2/ 

Soghoian, C., & Potter, W. (2016, August 9). Why online privacy matters - and how to protect yours. ideas.ted.com. https://ideas.ted.com/why-online-privacy-matters-and-how-to-protect-yours/ 

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