If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
Here is my bottom line: By all means, be as open as you want online; but realize that with openness can come vulnerabilities, especially for your children.
If history is any guide, advances in privacy have tended to arise in the wake of widespread privacy abuses. Something similar may be happening today with data breaches and identity theft, as more and more people come to understand the pain and consequences of personal data misuse.
The most powerful forces making the case for sharing personal information are not philosophers or media pundits -- they are social media companies and other corporations who have a lot to gain from our social norms about privacy changing.
Just as parents caution their children about the dangers of playing in the street or running with scissors, they must also educate and work with their children in developing personal privacy strategies.
Even though the human condition requires connection, we also need to feel confident that we can be alone and unwatched when we want to be. It may seem an odd notion today, but initially the Internet was a favorite refuge for many seeking privacy.
A growing number of people argue that the notion of having a private life in which we carefully restrict what information we share with others may not be a good idea. And this is not just a fringe movement.
People worry about what they choose to share on Facebook but may not even think about what they're already sharing with corporations.
With each click of the mouse we leave breadcrumb trails of our interests, needs and websites we stumble upon. But the majority of the companies that track us online and collect data on our activities never asked for permission.
When Consumer Reports decided to write about Facebook, it focused extensively on how it's possible for people to use the service in ways that jeopardize their privacy even though, based on their own statistics, the vast majority of users have mostly positive experiences with Facebook.
Some critics point out that TV, radio and magazine advertisers measure ad effectiveness using research panels of users who sign up to provide feedback. Why do websites need to measure effectiveness with greater precision?
Do we have the right to be forgotten? Thanks to social media, something silly you thought or did at age 15 could easily appear for all to judge 10, 20, or 50 years later at the tap of a button.
Let's put our daily conversations about information over-sharing in perspective and address what is by far the real danger to our security and national well-being.
CISPA is the new SOPA. Today marks the opening of a week of action in opposition to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which would ob...
Tomorrow, your Gmail account and Facebook may show ads for online security software, you may receive a paid tweet for anti-spyware services, and Amazon could email recommendations on popular books about the Internet and privacy.
Thank you FTC for outlining a broad approach to transparency when it comes to accessing our own data. Now it's time for Congress to enact legislation that truly benefits consumers, not just those who profit from our information.
In these last years, while so many Americans were foreclosed upon or had their homes go "underwater" and the construction industry went to hell, the intelligence housing bubble just continued to grow.
