I spoke at BlogHer 2012, Keeping Things Private in a Public, Digital World, with NY Times moderator Jennifer Preston and fellow panelists Lynne Seitz & Vicky Colf (Warner Bros) about the ongoing changes in regulations & privacy agreements that leave the end user confused and vulnerable. While there are all types of informative ways to help protect oneself in the online world, I came out of the BlogHer conference with 5 main points top of mind:
• Turn OFF geo tagging (or geo location) on your phone’s camera app settings – unless you choose to allow the public to know your private details which are embedded within those shared pictures
• Try not to share with everyone – only selected users (i.e. semi-personal information with your friends..not friends of friends)
• DO NOT simply rely on a company’s privacy plan because they constantly change. Stay updated & change your perspective as these terms of service change.
• Think more than twice about allowing apps to share each others data. While you may trust Facebook or Twitter, those cute lil’ 3rd parties rarely have the same privacy terms
• READ those terms of privacy..you’ll be very surprised at what they’re having you agree to.
Last week the Federal Trade Commission attempted to tighten up the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) – in particular, the collection of personal data from children’s websites/services and also to create a more concrete definition of personal information. While it looks like a step in the right direction only time will tell.
What steps do you take to keep your information private or what methods give you peace of mind in the online world?
Here’s an informative post on the “Keeping Things Private in a Public, Digital World” session via sgrouples.com
http://blog.sgrouples.com/2012-blogher/