Nov.+15


 * Today's class is on the topic of Privacy**


 * Class Summary**

PRIVACY


 * Americans are generally more concerned about privacy from government than from corporations.
 * A lot of Americans consider privacy a consumer right
 * Websites can track you for specific ads, and that’s okay now
 * Europeans believe privacy is a matter of human dignity
 * Much more cautious about what information they give corporations
 * Use cash more frequently; don’t trust banks
 * Have a much more recent experience of privacy being curtailed than Americans do, so it makes sense
 * In the past:
 * Libraries kept patrons records strictly private
 * Movie theatres didn’t (and still don’t) collect names and information of their customers
 * Newspapers and magazines had no idea which articles you read
 * Now, they can track this very thoroughly online
 * Today:
 * We’re more comfortable with corporations monitoring us
 * We are much more tolerant of these privacy infringes
 * What media sells to advertisers
 * Your attention used to be what was being sold
 * Now, your information is being sold, so they can give you ads for things you are interested in
 * Cookies
 * Websites use “cookies” to track users on their sites.
 * A cookie is a small piece of code that stays on your computer, so you don’t have to enter a password every time you visit, for example
 * The problem comes in when third parties cookies come into the picture (when they can get your personal information and track you across websites)
 * Some websites are taking action against advertising companies by figuring out what these ad companies are actually doing with the data from their sites
 * These companies use the data they get from the websites they are doing ad targeting for and use/sell it for other websites they work for
 * Facebook, Google, etc.
 * Scan emails, profiles, web searches, etc. to enable advertisers to send targeted advertising of most interest to you
 * Facebook’s default privacy settings are often confusing and set to maximum openness. Apps were recently discovered to be collecting far more private information than advertised.
 * The government retains the right to track this information when it believes national security is at stake.
 * Should you have to monitor your behavior now so that you don’t have to worry about it later? Say, 10 years from now?
 * What you think is hilarious now may not be funny when you’re applying for the big job, medical school, etc.
 * In the past, most would probably say no, but now, it is more accepted that you have to monitor your behavior, so it doesn’t haunt you later


 * Class materials**

I think that privacy is viewed differently by everyone. I don't really care what people see on the internet about me right now. I never really thought about it until today though. I'm sure in the future I will care more because I will have a career and a family most likely. I think maybe after todays class discussion I will watch what I put online and be careful of what I share with the world. -Marissa Skinner

Privacy is something that should never be taken lightly, as the reason for its installment into the Bill of Rights. It seems the current state of technology has allowed the youth of today to operate in cyberspace without the restraint afforded to the generations who did not "Twitter"; where people of older generations would never put their real information into any website the whole world can see. In my personal experience it seems that social networking is a type of technological fad that appeals only to the concepts of egotistical grandiosity. -Joey Thomas