Success in a Digital World™ » Digital Survival™ Fundamentals

How To Adjust Your Facebook Privacy Settings (video)

Tracey Holinka — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:06:26 +0000

Get to know Facebook’s new privacy settings and take control of your Facebook profile.

5 Links on Protecting Your Online Privacy (link friday)

Jo Golden — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:14:10 +0000

Protecting your privacy starts with you and the choices you make. Privacy online is a much bigger issue—if you want to know more, check out the following links.

1. The Center for Democracy and Technology’s Guide to Online Privacy will teach you the basics and has many useful tips.

2. Cookies are stored in your browser when you visit websites. Learn about what they mean for your privacy and how you can take control at Cookie Central.

3. Topsite compiled a great set of sites that can help you surf the Web anonymously, avoid spam, and encrypt your data to protect your privacy.

4. Are you a blogger? Check our the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s project Bloggers’ Rights. They have a large compilation of articles on privacy as well.

5. When you want to know more about privacy and civil liberties, the Electronic Privacy Information Center is must-look.

Protect Yourself Online—Think Differently

Jo Golden — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:47:28 +0000

Once you’re thinking about privacy and the implications of sharing your information online you will (hopefully) engage in appropriate self-censorship. At the same time it’s important to (re)consider your expectations of privacy in a digital world.

Always remember that computers make it easy to collect lots of information about you, even though the information may be spread across a number of sites. It can be very disconcerting to realize how much information is freely available about you in public records and how it can help fill in the blanks about who you are and what you do.

Another issue to consider: the more people use and value the social web, the more sites that will spring up and clamor for your attention. So you’ll need a strategy for which ones to use and a plan/guidelines for yourself about how much and what information to share. Especially since there are business benefits to selectively revealing information about yourself that you might not have in the past in order to conveying professional authenticity and credibility.

I’m a fan of the bathing suit metaphor. We all know that different bathing suit styles are better suited to revealing or concealing. The trick is to find a style and fit that will keep you comfortable as you engage in your preferred activities whether they include surfing, sunbathing, or just splashing around. You should spend a lot more time and energy on identifying and maintaining your boundaries than most women spend on selecting the right suit.

We are back to the first line of protection (for your dignity and your privacy). You. So get your head in the game and be sensible already.

Are you tweeting or posting about an upcoming vacation? Are you posting pictures in real time while you’re out of town? If so, you may open yourself up to trouble as Israel Hyman believes he did. Not to mention the many services which are happy to link your name to an address, phone number, home value, and even relatives with just a click. (Yes, of course criminals can still drive by or get your address from a phone book if they know your general location and you’re listed—but now many of us are connected to people we don’t know through the social web, and even a curious child with a computer can see your house with Google street view.)

At one point it seemed like the information you provided in your profile and through your status updates should vary based on your approach to connections, which networks you used, and how well you knew your connections. But don’t forget that no matter how much you adore them, your people can easily get caught up in their own sharing groove and put your business out on the Web without considering the implications. Then YOU may be at risk.

Who you choose to connect with and which networks you use are only pieces of a larger puzzle.

As I wrote last week, once you put your data out there it won’t be that hard to find for anyone who is really looking. Then of course, the information you think is private on social networking sites today may not be tomorrow since those sites can and do change their policies as they please.

One more time. No matter which networks you use, no matter how selective you are about connections, your data will not remain under your control if it is public record or shared on the Web. The Web has a long memory, make sure you’re thinking about the consequences.

Learn more about the issues and how to protect yourself in the Privacy Guide from the Center for Democracy & Technology and find recent news and tons of useful info at the Electronic Privacy and Information Center.

3 Must Read Posts on Facebook Privacy (link friday)

Tracey Holinka — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:52:59 +0000

The uproar over Facebook® privacy may have subsided but the next controversy is sure to be around the corner. Here are 3 posts to help you get a better sense of what happened and where Facebook is heading.

1. Facebook Executive Answers Reader Questions – Elliot Schrage, Vice President for public policy at Facebook, answers some insightful questions from NYT readers.

2. From Facebook, answering privacy concerns with new settings – Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, response to privacy concerns.

3. Why Facebook’s Privacy War Is Not Over – Pete Cashmore’s, CEO of Mashable, take on why the privacy debate is far from over.

Privacy. Identity. Exposure. Protecting Yourself on the Web

Jo Golden — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:35:01 +0000

At Chaos To Clarity, we work with web-related privacy issues every day. The more news time focused on Facebook® privacy, the more questions we answer. To get you thinking about what works for you, I suggest considering some of our basic assumptions in terms of the ways that you engage on the Web.

Assumptions

1. The only way to keep people from finding out sensitive information is to refuse to share it.

2. Nothing you post on social networking sites will necessarily remain private forever.

3. You should not expect emails to remain private.

4. Identity theft is a real concern in 2010. You can take steps to reduce your exposure.

You are your first line of defense, so if you don’t want people to know something about you, your family, or your habits—be quiet about it already.

If you signed up for a Facebook account and expected certain information to remain restricted in perpetuity (like your friends list, for example), it’s no wonder you’re mad that Facebook later shared your friends list with everyone (for a while you had no choice in the matter, now you can restrict who can see it again).

Much of the hullaballoo around recent Facebook privacy issues stems from the mid-stream change of course made by the network. Facebook started out as more of a closed network, and now the folks in charge are determined to open it up as widely as possible.

Facebook’s terms of service clearly state that they can change their site however they like, whenever they like, and they are not required to notify you in advance. BELIEVE THEM when they tell you this. It’s not just that they can change; the market is changing so fast they are more likely to change than stay the same.

Terms of service are always a trade-off. If you want the benefits of using the network then you have to agree to play by their rules.

Think of yourself as having Identity-Protecting Terms of Engagement. If you’re going to engage on social networks, you have to set your own boundaries and enforce them! Consistently!

Protecting your identity means not sharing key information linked to identity theft (even through games, quizzes, or other seemingly harmless collections of information). People don’t need to know what year you were born, your various legal names, your permanent residence, social security number, library card account, the places you shop, or the financial institutions that you use, to name just a few.

Protecting yourself starts with not sharing anything you don’t want to become widely known in the future. When you do decide to share, you need to know the terms of service that you’re agreeing to.

It doesn’t matter whether or not you INTEND your information to become widely known. No one knows what the future will bring or who will buy out a network where you’ve shared lots of information.

Setting your own terms of engagement is about taking charge of your digital footprint and protecting yourself—as only you are motivated to do.

Self-Education with the Web: 7 Lucky Links

Jo Golden — Sat, 15 May 2010 01:08:47 +0000

Take charge of your education–it’s easier than ever with the many excellent (and often free!) resources available on the Web. You can empower yourself through education. What are you waiting for?

Here are 7 lucky links for your learning pleasure. Feel free to let us know about the ones you like too. Link Friday is a regular feature.

Jeff Cobb’s blog is not to be missed, start with this post highlighting 5 essential self-education sites for anyone who is serious about their journey.

The Online Education Database has a helpful list of Online Research Apps/Sites that is well worth a look.

Check out Openculture.com and their wide array of resources, start with these 10 tools for learning and their groovy list of Intelligent YouTube channels.

If online courses are your cup of tea take a look at OnlineColleges.net 100 best Self-Education Sites for Switching Careers and make the most of free online college and training courses that will help get you ready for your next gig.

If you care about technocultural change, social media, journalism, learning, and a wealth of topics related to living in a digital world, educator Howard Rheingold’s delicious bookmarks and website rheingold.com will prove to be invaluable resources.

Happy learning!

6 Lucky Links for Free and Low Cost Mac Apps

Tracey Holinka — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:34:56 +0000

Use these lucky (cuz we did all the work) links from our collection on delicious to find some great low cost and free applications for your Mac®. Do you have another one to recommend? Add a comment and let us know.

1. Uninstalling applications on a Mac is easy compared to a Windows® machine. CleanApp makes uninstalling applications even easier.

2. Wonder what’s taking up so much space on your computer? Disk Inventory X gives you a visual map (treemap) of your hard drive, making it easier to clean it up.

3. Licensekeeper stores the all important software licensing numbers. One of the best features is that it scans emails for the software titles and serial numbers so for downloaded software there is nothing to input. It also stores as an attachment the orignial email and related documents.

4. Audacity® is a great open source recording and editing software.

5. NeoOffice® is an open source office suite for the Mac. It is based on OpenOffice.org office suite and is a great alternative to Office 2008. It can read Microsoft Office formats.

6. Flip4Mac Windows Media® Components for QuickTime allows you to play Windows Media files on your Mac and is a must in a Windows dominated world.

This is a repost from January 2010

7 Lucky Extension Links for Google Chrome

Tracey Holinka — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:32:10 +0000

In Tuesday’s blog post, I wrote that I made the switch from Mozilla Firefox to Google Chrome on both my Mac® & Windows® machines. Below are my must have Chrome extensions. Extensions add additional functionality and customization. They’re super easy to install and don’t require restarting your browser, unlike Firefox Add-ons.

1. AdBlock – Keep ads from annoying you with this must have extension.

2. GMail Checker – Shows the number of new emails in your GMail account with an icon in your menu bar.

3. Google Reader Notifier – Like GMail Checker, it indicates the number of new items.

4. Aviary Screen Capture – If you need to take screen shots of web pages, this is the extension for you.

5. Bit.ly – Quick access to the Bit.ly URL shortener. A must for Twitter users.

6. Delicious Tools – Quickly access your delicious bookmarks.

7. Forecastfox Weather – Local weather forecast right from your menu bar.

What extensions can’t you live without? Let us know by commenting below.

Success in a Digital World™ » Digital Survival™ Fundamentals

How To Adjust Your Facebook Privacy Settings (video)

You might be interested in:

5 Links on Protecting Your Online Privacy (link friday)

You might be interested in:

Protect Yourself Online—Think Differently

You might be interested in:

3 Must Read Posts on Facebook Privacy (link friday)

You might be interested in:

Privacy. Identity. Exposure. Protecting Yourself on the Web

Assumptions

You might be interested in:

Self-Education with the Web: 7 Lucky Links

You might be interested in:

6 Lucky Links for Free and Low Cost Mac Apps

7 Lucky Extension Links for Google Chrome

You might be interested in: