Why should protection to privacy matter to us?

I believe that my question is important because we are in a business program one day will be working for company's who will have certain rules towards companies privacy. I do believe that email, texting and twitter plays a big part in our lives. Not only do we use it all the time we definitely depend on it to make our lives more productive and easier. It's very important for Sheridan students because majority of us at Sheridan use social networking or even any other sites. 

Every day students are at risk with their information because they may not be aware of how to use the privacy settings. Most sites now offer privacy features that make our usage on the internet a bit more secure by allowing us to control our information. I do believe it is important for us to keep up with how we are communicating today and what were putting out there for people to see specially if your out looking for a job. In regards to privacy protection, there is still going to be alot of research that needs to be explored in regards to how much privacy we really have.

Privacy Evolution

Texting has become very popular for almost any age. Text messages have provided the world with a new form of communication. People and especially teens desire for privacy, socializing which is why there are now unlimited SMS packages, Wi-Fi connection to their friends via the web and social networking sites. I am sure most of us don’t think of text like we do emails but we know that texts can well be forwarded just like emails. They can be stored on your phone and your providers network such as Rogers, Fido and etc.

Another example that I found was that most people are unaware that their text messages can be intercepted by anyone with a personal radio kit .Most people should treat texting like an email not sending personal information such as your credit card number, or PIN for your BB and any other personal details.

Twitter is a social networking site which lets you update your status telling your contacts and possibly the entire world what you are doing at that very moment, where you just check into.  Majority of twitters do not write about themselves, they don’t include identifiable information such as phone numbers, email and home addresses but they do in regards to the activities they are engaging in at the moment. 

For example, people use Twitter assuming that only their followers will read the message, when it necessarily isn’t true if they haven’t changed their default status it can be viewed by anyone. Default setting can play a very powerful part when it comes to behaviors online and privacy protection. 

 Most of these features are usually provided by sites like Twitter, Facebook and are totally out of user control and are set by default.  People are still unconscious of the identity theft as those are rising today. Also threats are unaware of the way to make privacy setting of their contacts.  Even though people may be using fake accounts, the risks exist when they publish something about themselves and it’s linked in with comments to certain videos or even existing links. 

The three methods of communication email, texting and twitter, twitter seems to have the least privacy protection and email the most when it comes to the protection of your personal information. As social networking continue to grow, privacy protection will develop. 

 

This graph shows while in use with social networking sites a percentage of users who are comfortable with posting personal and private information.

                              
Resources:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/privacy/68899.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/8311522/Twitter-messages-not-private-rules-press-watchdog.html

  http://markhess.blogspot.com/2010/06/twitter-privacy-breach-settlement.html
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/16924

How much is too much?

When looking into the privacy of emailing, texting and twitter we see that there isn’t much of a difference when it comes to privacy. Privacy is basically doesn’t exist online and people need to be aware of what they are putting online for others to see. Its really important in today’s society right?  If not, why is every website having a privacy protection statement?

When it comes to this it can be a big issue but its the right sense of control about the info about yourself. When it comes to email privacy there is a problem with regards to that individual’s privacy and the people using the email in terms of accessing personal info. Privacy protection of email has very well less defined than any other type of communication. When we talk about email there exists an illusion of privacy which is created by having a password to sign into one’s personal email account or phone for that matter.

Many people don’t have much of a great understanding about what really goes on when they send an email at work or even just simply a personal email from home.  When it comes to knowing the business process behind it all, people don’t know how it works and simply privacy protection controls such as safeguard.

            

  Based on some of the information that I found,if you send a message to another person that email that you just sent can be viewed to just about every possible computer that it has passed though. Another example of privacy concerns, people who hack computers can possible get your IP address and use your person info. The trend with most businesses now is the common and frequent use of emailing. Businesses today consider an employee emailing at work to be corporate property.

Resources:
   
Email Privacy Article

Is a little privacy way to much to ask?

As we go about our daily lives, what I think about is the way things have changed, our tactics, why do a lot of us prefer to email rather than meet up at the nearest Tim Hortons, to text message rather then simply picking up the phone. What are we simply trying to avoid?

 I believe our online-only contact, make us less vulnerable. In the privacy of our own home , we can try to reach out and build relationships with strangers. This reduces our human experience and communicating face to face, we just jump right into the body of the conversation. As a result we tend to lose a bit of the heart in the process and feeling towards what we would really say in person. When we communicate using email, texting and twitter it seems as though email would be the best used, common, and professionally used in businesses. When we talk about privacy issues that arise when you are not willing to allow other contacts to see a particular piece of information, most people are still willing to give away their email addresses  which makes email a lot less private. 

With my experience, I have signed up for different social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Tumbler and so forth. As we continue to get new forms of communication our privacy protection risks for each increase dramatically. I personally change my private setting just so I don’t receive random invites, or unsolicited messages and etc. Being a part of these social networks and being aware of privacy issues, I am aware in what I want people to see and view for that matter. On the flip side majority of social networking sites don’t have enough privacy protection, you simply can’t control other people viewing and making comments on your live data. 
 

Email, texting and twitter....& privacy protection?

Email, texting and twitter have grown over the last few years. 

At the moment, more and more people are communicating in new forms of communication especially in a lot of businesses today.  Everyday people are communicating in some sort of way by sharing their daily lives with trusted friends , family and  posting anything to everything where you just checked in, where you are going, what you were doing and etc. If you use it regularly you know it has made an impact on families and social groups that use to communicate very infrequently. When it comes to email, texting and twitter which of these have the least privacy protection?

Email is one of the most widely used forms of communication today. People were unaware of exacatly how they should use it and if it really was an effective way to communicate when it came out. Email is much faster way of communicating now but when it comes to privacy most people think e-mail, like letter, phone conversation are private. E-mail is quick, convenient, and cheap and is very un-private as it could be; email is as public as any postcard.


Majority of people in today`s society would rather text instead of talk on the phone. Texting is a fast and efficient way to communicate with people and get a fast response. When we look at texting we see a lot of issues when it come to privacy. People feel the need to use texting more openly compared to any other form of communication. It seems as though people are an aware of the information that they are exposing. 

Finally, we have Twitter which has grown over the last five years. Twitter a social networking site has become very popular causing peoples attention just like Facebook, LinkIn, Tumbler and any other social networking sites. As sites evolved so have our privacy concerns for signing up for accounts and being part of these social sites which included personal info. Twitter which is instant, quicker than email and texting are used so often today but what information is actually being protected?