Monday, March 28, 2011
FOOT: You're Leaving a Digital Trail
This article truly freaked me out. I had actually just signed up for a study, much like the one they were discussing, before I had read this article. Privacy just doesn't seem as important to people today, especially if there is something in it for participating, like free food or money. But how far should we go in order to get free things and how open is too open? This article pairs well with I'm So Digitally Close To You, another article I have read. Both point out some of the great things, such as eliminating distance, and bad things, such as no privacy, about technology. Even with Dr. Pentland's opinion in the article assumptions are made about privacy and public rights that cannot be defended. Dr. Pentland says, "The idea revolves around three principles: that you have a right to possess your own data, that you control the data that is collected about you, and that you can destroy, remove or redeploy your data as you wish"(3). None of this is fully true about anything you put on the web, especially if someone else put's information about you on the web that you don't know about. You can't control what someone else posts or creates, usually you can't take it down without serious problems and sometimes legal help and finally others know things about you and can post this data so it's not yours. If all these things are true why do we continue to use things like Facebook and Twitter, because we need to feel connected. If privacy is the cost for that then so be it for many people.
This article made me think a lot about using the more technological stuff in the classroom. Using it could prove to be wonderful and could refresh many subjects students see as dry, but how do teachers protect students online and is the risk worth it? I believe the risk is worth it, but all precautionary measures must be taken. Passwords and private areas online for lessons are not enough. We need to make sure students lives at home and at school are completely separate. I admittedly don't know how to be completely safe, but will do everything in my power to protect my students. On the other hand, getting to paranoid about this issue could turn people away from using.(Oh look another line teachers have to straddle to be effective.) I guess knowing the risks may have to be enough for some for now until something better is developed. For now privacy is only an idea.
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This article made me a little paranoid too, and it reminded me of Little Brother and what he went through with his privacy issues. I think it's important for us, as teachers to keep up with the technology in the classroom. I also think it's our responsibility to protect our students, and also teach them ways to protect themselves and their personal information, if they do choose to put it on the internet.
ReplyDeleteI'm honestly surprised by how surprised everyone is at this. I think way too many people overestimate their privacy in 2011. I think if people truly understood or even bothered to care about the repurcussions of actions X Y and Z while online and who got to know about it, they would be more careful.
ReplyDeleteThe worst part? There's really no way to protect it. At least not to the extent that it needs to be. As the private sector continues to use its power to harvest and resell our data, we continue to lose more and more. Let alone that cell phones can keep track of your every move.
We don't have these rights anymore, but we're not even FIGHTING for them. It's like we don't care or don't notice.
-Matthew Colwell
I agree with Matt! I feel like this article just proved that we really are losing our privacy. Back when I was in 7th grade, I threw a fit because I had a journal confiscated and read by my counselor. I kept claiming that it was invasion of privacy, but they said that school safety is more important than privacy. I think that our lives are already so open to the public, that there's no big shock value anymore.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm not even shocked when I hear about someone's identity being stolen anymore. I feel like it's just a part of life now with all of our information being so readily available.