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YuShiFirstPaper 6 - 02 Jun 2010 - Main.YuShi
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< | (Revised - Ready for Review) | >
> | (Revised and Ready for Review) | | | Apathy, Vigilance, and an Amorphous Fear | | | What Can We Do? | |
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< | I think the most effective way for one to curb this amorphous fear and deal with privacy concerns in as rational of a manner as possible is to become as informed as possible. Media reports about online privacy vulnerabilities, especially those appearing in mainstream sources not specifically catering to a technical audience, are often sensationalized and not descriptive. Hence when one sees a headline saying that Facebook Applications pose a grave threat, one should attempt to learn why exactly it is a threat. How do these Applications get your information? Where do they get it from? By understanding the mechanisms through which a person’s information could be pilfered, one is better able to take reasonable precautions instead of resorting to extreme measures. Paranoid behavior comes from hearing sound bites such as “you leave a track of everything you do online” without attempting to really understand such statements. In the Facebook/EIP example above, if those who deactivated their profiles took time to think through the absurdity of law firms using the students’ friends to spy on their profiles, then perhaps they would simply have “privatized” their profiles instead of temporarily deactivating their account. | >
> | I think the most effective way for one to curb this amorphous fear and deal with privacy concerns in an informed manner is to become as informed as possible. Media reports about online privacy vulnerabilities, especially those appearing in mainstream sources not specifically catering to a technical audience, are often sensationalized and not descriptive. Hence when one sees a headline saying that Facebook Applications pose a grave threat, one should attempt to learn why exactly it is a threat. How do these Applications get your information? Where do they get it from? By understanding the mechanisms through which a person’s information could be pilfered, one is better able to take reasonable precautions instead of resorting to extreme measures. Paranoid behavior comes from hearing sound bites such as “you leave a track of everything you do online” without attempting to really understand such statements. In the Facebook/EIP example above, if those who deactivated their profiles took time to think through the absurdity of law firms using the students’ friends to spy on their profiles, then perhaps they would simply have “privatized” their profiles instead of temporarily deactivating their account. | | |
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| Revision 6 | r6 - 02 Jun 2010 - 23:11:16 - YuShi |
| Revision 5 | r5 - 02 Jun 2010 - 01:54:47 - YuShi |
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