The Great Privacy Debate

It seems you cannot go anywhere on the internet these days without someone arguing about the privacy concerns of this website, or that technology, but to the average everyday person, what does all of this really mean? Consider this, millennials are going to be the first generation where your birth and government records, your school records, your health records, and your “likes” are all electronic, and in many cases easily accessible. The fact that this information is out there may not be an issue alone, but when large companies aggregate that information to create a dossier on you, and then target adds to the person they think you are, it can be a little creepy. In 2012 Target was able to predict and determine that a girl was pregnant, even before her father did. Target had (based on its prediction the girl was pregnant) sent coupons to the girl that matched products she would need at that stage of her pregnancy. All of that was based purely on purchasing habits over a few months of one credit card.

Now at the same time no one is advocating for using only cash at the grocery store, deleting your Facebook right now, or closing your Gmail because Google scans it, because those services are useful. I literally wouldn't be able to do any work if I didn't have a Facebook account. Perhaps though a middle ground can be reached, one where we don’t volunteer every bit of our interests to the world for examination, but we also don’t live as shut-ins wearing tin-foil hats. Below I have compiled some of the easiest ways to reduce some of the data available about you on the internet. Next week is going to be an outline of the legal rights you have regarding your data (spoiler: it’s not a lot).

Facebook

Large data aggregation companies mine Facebook, twitter, and any other social media sites to get more information about what you like (advertisers) and your habits/history (Background checks). One of the easiest ways that you can prevent your information from getting out there is to change your posting from the default friends of friends to friends. For example if you post a picture of you and your friends drinking, that gets shared with your 2,000 or so friends, and if it’s also shared with friends of friends, suddenly 4,000,000 people have access to the photo. Facebook actually has a handy little tool that allows you to change all of your previous posts to friends or private if you want to hide all of your old stuff, but keep in mind this won’t affect a third party that already has your information. You can also in the privacy settings make it so that your profile is not searchable on the internet (so getting to it from google for example), but anyone with a Facebook account will still be able to search it in Facebook’s search engine. Finally, make sure to manage things you are tagged in carefully, if you are tagged in a friend’s photo, you have no control over who its shared with, only your friend does.

Google Products

Gmail: There is nothing you can do except change add settings in your general Google profile. This is done by going to settings in your Google profile, then privacy/adds, and selecting the opt out option for everything.

Google Chrome: Although your protections on paper (in the contract you accept when installing) are very limited, Google does offer some helpful extensions to reduce the ability of sites to collect data on you as you are browsing. The first is the Google Analytics Opt-out Add-on, and the second is Keep My Opt-Outs, both are by google, and both help to stop advertising cookies from landing on your computer. Of course if you really want to eliminate the ability for cookies to land on your machine at all you can do so manually in the settings of Chrome, although the result is a browser that is almost non-functional.
Google+: Essentially any information you put in your about profile for Google+ is automatically public, period. So, only put up what you would feel comfortable everyone knowing about you.

If you live in Europe you have the ability to request google take down certain search results. How that process works is rather unclear as it requires you to (Currently as of 9/18/2014) submit a legal action, but that process may become more straightforward with time.

I accept the terms and conditions

In theory of course you should be always reading the terms and conditions before you click accept because clicking that button is the same as signing your legal signature, but in reality no one does that. Instead most of us just hit the button and then go back to what we were doing. Now to be fair most of us don’t have the time to read the 100+ pages of legal documentation that come with the iphone, so instead one of the best ways to know if there is an issue is to google/bing/duckduckgo it. Chances are that even if you haven’t read the contract, someone else has, and they will have posted on the internet what you are signing away (if its anything important to them). Of course if you do have the time, read the privacy section because that’s the most important part, everything else is usually just common sense.

Advertising @ JHU

The school year’s here and your student group has a bunch of great things planned for the year – performances, parties, trips, recruitment.  But how do you get the message out to the student body?  Well Hopkins has a variety of places and platforms for your advertising (assuming you’re part of a registered student group), and it’s just a matter of knowing what to have, who to talk to, and where to go.  Here’s a quick run-down on some great ways to advertise on the Homewood campus:

Posters\Flyers – This is the simple, old-fashioned college advertising method.  But let me tell you, it works!  If you want to post in the dorms, make a poster (maximum 8”x11”) and drop by the Office of Residential Life in AMR II to get the stamp of approval.  Then make copies of the stamped poster and make sure you follow the rules for posting!  If you want to post anywhere else (academic buildings, breezeways, etc.), you can pretty much post whatever and however you want.

Leaflets – Another standard college advertising strategy is handing out leaflets (quarter-page flyers) in high-volume traffic areas.  This strategy is cheap and efficient.  Generally, the best place to do this is the breezeway between Krieger Hall and Ames Hall.  Again, just get the leaflet approved by the Office of Residential Life in AMR II.  In addition, you can stuff these in dorm residents’ mailboxes or place them in the four-sided plastic napkin holders (“Table Talkers”) in campus dining areas.  Student groups must submit a copy of their proposed table talker to Kelly Davies in the Housing & Dining Office (Wolman 101), and these can’t be posted more than one week in advance of an event.

Tabling – Reserve a table in trafficked areas to have personal interactions with students.  Usually this goes in conjunction with handing out leaflets, giving away free stuff, or having some kind of poster or interactive thing.  To reserve a table outside residence halls, contact the Office of Residential Life (AMRII) no more than 2 weeks in advance, or contact Syreeta Hubbard (bbl@jhu.edu, 410-516-8209, Levering 102) for a breezeway table.

Banners - Banners are wonderful because they’re big and in high-traffic areas.  Contact the appropriate person for where you want it: 
· Mattin Center - Eric Beatty, Mattin Center 210, 516-0774, ebeatty@jhu.edu
· Breezeway - Syreeta Hubbard, Levering Hall 100, 516-8209, bbl@jhu.edu
· Residence halls - Hannah Von Krause, AMR II, 516-8283
· MSE Library - Betty Cook, 410-516-7676

Chalking – Chalking can be a fun and interesting way of advertising.  The obvious drawback is that inclement weather could quickly wipe away your hard work.  To reserve chalking space in the courtyard areas of AMR I & II, contact the Hannah Von Krause (AMR II) at 410-516-8283.  For all other areas, contact Syretta Hubbard (Levering 102) at 410-516-8209.

Mural Boards – These boards are located next to Whitehead Hall and also in the tunnel under Gilman Hall.  These locations get pretty heavy traffic, and the boards can really catch peoples’ eyes.  Latex paint and brushes and trays are provided, but bring a drop cloth and clean everything when you’re done.  Come up with a concept and contact Jillian Rickerd at Office of Student Activities (Mattin Center Suite 131, Jrickerd@jhu.edu, 410-516-4873) to reserve a board.  Your mural will be an attention-grabbing billboard for a minimum of 2 weeks!

Flash Ads – You may have noticed widescreen plasma tvs displaying ads in such places as the library and the Krieger computer lab.  These ads must be submitted at least two weeks before you want the ad displayed, and they can be displayed for up to one week at a time.  Flash ads can be submitted as PowerPoint, Flash (.swf), JPEG, BMP, or GIF files.

Today’s Announcements – These announcements are sent out to every student’s e-mail inbox every day of the school year.  Many students at least scan through these e-mails, and they are relatively easy to submit.  These are great for day-of announcements of events.  Just submit the post by 12 noon the business day prior to posting.

Hopkins Groups – Hopkins Groups is a new, up and coming online community for Hopkins students and student groups (see our previous blog post on this).  The main page prominently features a virtual “Public Flyerboard,” which functions like a cross between a real public flyerboard and FaceBook events.  Register your group, set up the profile, and start posting events.  There may not be many people using it yet, but if you start using it and advertising now, it’ll probably catch on soon enough.  I’ll also mention here that there is a separate Hopkins Events page where student groups can post events.  This doesn’t seem to be linked to the new Hopkins Groups page, but while it exists, it might be worth posting here as well. (events.jhu.edu)

FaceBook – You can never go wrong with a FaceBook event.  Make a FaceBook group for your student group, set up events, and invite everyone you know.  This is great for getting some idea of a head count (though not always accurate) and for sending out messages to everyone invited or RSVP’d.

For more information on advertising and a start-to-finish guide to running events at Hopkins, see the “JHU Event Planning and Promotion Handbook.”  Remember – the key to getting your group name and events out there is exposure.  Use as many mediums in as many places as possible.  So now that you know what to do, start working on yours ads and submit them!

Facebook Settings 101: Application Settings

So this is the third and final post about Facebook settings, and this one deals with application settings. As I mentioned before, it's almost impossible to avoid applications on Facebook, and even if you could, you probably wouldn't want to: there's guaranteed to be at least one app out there that you'd want to add to your profile.

The Application Settings page itself is pretty straightforward. One thing to notice is that there are some applications that you can't remove (like Events, Links, and Photos) and some (many) that you can. Clicking on "Edit Settings" opens a window where you can set preferences for how you interact with each application. One of the most important settings is whether or not you want a box for that application to appear in your profile and who you want to be able to see that box. Clicking on the X next to an application will remove it from your profile.

If you're like me, you don't actually look at your Facebook profile very often. Moreover, when you look at the Application Settings page it only shows Recently Used applications by default. If you want to do a little bit of tidying up (which is a good idea), select authorized from the drop down menu next to "Show". This will show all the applications you have authorized to be part of your profile. Chances are you have at least a few applications in that last you haven't updated in a long time or are out of date. I was really surprised how many applications I had authorized.

When you use social networking sites like Facebook, remember that it's ultimately your responsibility to protect your personal information. If you don't actively use settings to keep yourself safe, then you're asking for trouble. With a site like Facebook, it's also important to make sure you understand the latest changes to privacy policies and the various settings. If you have any questions about using Facebook or other social networking sites, let us know.

Facebook Settings 101: Privacy Settings

This is the second of three posts about the basics of Facebook settings. If you didn't read it, you might want to go back and look at the first post, which talks about Facebook's Account Settings.

Before you start looking at your privacy settings on Facebook, it's probably a good idea to click on Account (at the top of the page) and go to "Edit Friends". One of the really useful things about this page is that it allows you to organize your friends in different lists. A default list will be friends who belong to your network. You can set up additional lists, though, which is a good idea since it will help you control who can see what on your profile (you might not want your great aunt to see the same things your best friend can see). We're used to giving out information freely, but it's safer and wiser to think about what people really need to know about you and to tell people only what you really want them to know. So, I'd recommend setting up at least one additional list to help you control who can see what.

Now, if you click on "Account" and then select "Privacy Settings" you can start setting things up. The first screen you see gives you a quick glance at your privacy settings and allows you to choose from several preset options for controlling your privacy. It is a bad idea to use the "Everyone" preset as that will allow anyone to access all of your information posted on Facebook. The best option is probably to choose the "Recommended" preset and then customize it from there.

Clicking on "Customize settings"brings up a page where you can create settings for each category of information. I won't go into detail about what each category of personal information means (it's mostly self-explanatory); instead, I want to focus on the button with a padlock on it to the right of each category (except "Allow friends to post on my wall"). Clicking that button lets you choose from five options for who can see that category of information: Everyone, Friends and Networks, Friends of Friends, Only Friends, and Custom.

You can see the role that Networks (we talked about them in the post about Account Settings) play in privacy settings. You can imagine the privacy setting options as a set of concentric rings. At the center is you, then your friends, then your friends' friends, then your network(s), then everyone. As you go farther out there are more people. So, if you don't want a lot of people to see your information, you have to set your privacy settings accordingly.

You might have some friends who you don't want to let see as much as other friends are able to see. If this is the case, you should use the "Custom" option. Clicking "Custom" brings up a window with two parts: "Make this visible to:" and "Hide this from:". This allows you to control who can see or not see that category of information down to the levels of individuals. Here you can also use the lists of people you have set up to control your privacy. It's a lot easier than selecting people one at a time.

Just a couple of notes about the rest of these settings:

• Facebook recently simplified the privacy settings so it's a good idea to look at them if you haven't in a while.
• You can set the privacy options for your photo albums by clicking "Edit album privacy." It's important to do this because the default settings for your photo albums may not be what you want them to be.
• It's not a good idea to let everyone see your contact information. Remember that everyone means everyone, not just your friends, not just your networks, and not even just people on Facebook.
• You can see what your Facebook profile looks like to different people by clicking on "Preview my Profile".

Facebook Settings 101: Account Settings

You probably already use Facebook, or you've at least heard about it and considered joining. More and more people are spending more and more time and sharing more and more personal information on Facebook. At some point, it just seems natural and safe to post whatever you want to your profile. The fact is, though, that if you don't spend some time familiarizing yourself with your account, privacy, and application settings, you could wind up with big regrets.

Let's take a look at these three kinds of settings and see how they can help keep social networking safe and fun.

Account Settings

The first thing is knowing how to access your settings. At the top of each Facebook page, there is an "Account" button (to the right of the search bar and right next to "Home" and "Profile"). If you click on "Account", it expands to show several other options, including your account, privacy, and application settings. Click on "Account Settings", and notice the tabs at the top of the page...a lot of settings to look over.

Your first account setting is your name. This is pretty straightforward, but it raises the issue of fake names. Some people like to use fake names for their Facebook profile so they can't be easily found (e.g. by prospective employers). This, however, violates Facebook's "Statement of Rights and Responsibilities". By setting up a Facebook profile, you agree to "not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission." That means that not only should you not use a fake name, but you should also not create a Facebook profile in the name of someone else, like a celebrity. If you use a fake name, your profile may be deleted. Instead of hiding behind a fake name, it's better to only share information and content that you don't mind others seeing and to effectively use your privacy settings to control who can see information about you.

I actually forgot I had a user name until I looked. Your user name defines the URL of your Facebook profile, which means that searches for your user name could turn up your profile.

Your Facebook password is very, very important. I know it's tempting to get careless with passwords, but having a strong password for any website is important, especially Facebook. People's Facebook accounts do get hacked into, and cleaning up afterward is more than a minor nuisance.

I don't have a linked account set up, so if anyone has experience with that, let me know. I imagine it could make life a little more convenient. We'll leave Privacy Settings for another day. Account Security provides the option for Facebook to send you an email when you log in from a device you've never logged in before. That can be a good idea; if you log in from different devices (like lab computers) you should make sure you logout and close the browser window when you're done with Facebook. That's the best way to keep your account safe.

Note that deactivating your account does not permanently delete your information. It only makes it invisible to the rest of the world, and you can reactivate your account whenever you want. If you want to permanently delete your account (I applaud your strength), you have to submit a request here.

Next, if you click on the "Networks" tab, you can see which networks you belong to. Networks are important when it comes to privacy because your privacy settings will set different rules based on whether someone is inside or outside of your network. People who may know you (who go to the same school or work at the same place) will generally be able to see more information about you than people who do not.

The "Notifications" tab lets you determine when you want email or mobile Facebook alerts. I used to get emails when practically anything happened to my Facebook, but that got really annoying quickly. If you don't check your Facebook account regularly, it might be a good idea to set up some notifications to let you know when someone sends you a message or friends you.

If you have a mobile device, the "Mobile" tab will help you set it up to use with Facebook. The "Language" tab is where you set up your default language. People are buying more and more stuff on Facebook these days, so the "Payments" tab is where you set up how you want to pay for purchases. Like any site, use some common sense when giving out your credit card information. You should also be careful with spending your money on Facebook: avoid scams and don't spend money you don't have.

Finally, the "Facebook Ads" tab is where you can allow or disallow Facebook and third party applications from using your personal information in your ads. The most common use of your information in advertising is that if you "like" something, then an ad your friends may see will indicated that you have "liked" it. Facebook ads may also contain your profile picture.

Well, that's all for now. We'll pick up next time with Facebook's Privacy Settings.