Introduction
Introduction Statistics Contact Development Disclaimer Help
I believe that Internet privacy is overrated.
Back when the Internet was first introduced to the public,
the concept of tracking user data through cookies and
the cache were a pretty big deal. Advertisers would obviously
use the information super highway as a medium to attract
consumers, and utilize the cookies to find out where you've
been on the net, allowing companies to see whatever your
'anonymous' antics on the web are.
Today, this is pretty much commonplace. Cookies are something
that every user pretty much are subject to, and yes,
advertisers are using this to appeal to you (think Facebook).
So instead, people have become concerned with how their
information is being used rather than complaining on
whether the said companies have private information in the
first place.
But, like I said before, it is very likely that those companies
already have something to say about you. And then we have to
remember stuff like social networks on the web that are
rising to popularity.
I think it was earlier this year that Google announced a
change to their privacy policy. There were some people
that were upset to find out that Google had so much
personal information about them. But shouldn't they
expect that?
Any person who has had an extended time on the web
can probably tell you that anything that you put up
on the Internet will eventually be found at some point.
So why are there still people that feel like what they
put up about themselves will only be seen by who they
want?
In my opinion, the problem is in education.
While it is evident that in recent years, there has
been a push to teach students at an early age about
at least how to use a computer, starting with basic
typing techniques and whatnot. But by the time High
School comes around, unless you go to a technology
focused school (do those exist?), education in
information technology subjects is reduced to an
optional choice. And these optional courses tend to
instead focus on 'useful' subjects like word processing,
web design, and the likes. While that type of knowledge
is very useful, especially with some students who may
decide to immediately enter the work force after High
School, there seems to be a lack of instruction on
teaching kids exactly what their presence on the internet
is.
Again, I think that this is an important subject that
must be taught mandatorily at least at the High School
level. Doing this would clear up misunderstandings about
what the Internet is, what it isn't, and most importantly
teach personal moderation and netiqutte.
This type of knowledge would attempt to educate new potential
users about keeping degrees of the Internet anonymity, explain
to what extent users are anonymous (IP address issues), typical
information that is given to third parties upon making a new
user account on an arbitrary website, essential information
about social networks, teach students how to accurately skim
through license agreements from online services and software,
inform on copyright benefits and limitations and introduce
alternative licensing choices (Creative Commons, Copyleft),
and teach netiqutte (introduce terms such as trolls and
white knighting and internet bullying).
While such a class would be hopeful and useful, it is a
valid question to ask whether there would be enough time
and resources to teach all these subjects. The class, to
be at it's most effective state, be taught in an engaging
way, be taught by a teacher that accurately knows the
required information (which can be tricky as a lot has
changed on the web in even the last 10 years), but above
all else have students which are eager to learn (which
is harder to come across in a typical public school).
All in all, it would be nice to see school start in a
shift towards such education. Of course, schools would
be reluctant to even introduce new mandatory courses on
top of required subjects that are the basis for
standardized testing, but that is a different issue.
The important thing to focus on at this stage is to inform
the public why it is important to teach this matereial at an
early age.
We live in a time where if you're not careful
about what we say, it will most probably come back and
bite us in the rear. This is the advent of a new age
for technology and information services. If the main
players for the start of this next generation are not
accurately informed, who knows what we will see out
of the next generation of people who are misinformed
or not educated in these subjects?
END
Degrees of Anonymity
You are viewing proxied material from sdf.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.