"Can You Speak Louder Into The Microphone?"
Last weekend, I was making my to do list in preparation of returning to school after spring break. Busy making a grocery list, I absentmindedly started a conversation with my mom about some different items that needed to be added: a case of sparkling water (should we go with blackberry or raspberry flavored?), more paper towels, and other everyday items were discussed and written down in their appropriate spots. Before heading to the store, I hopped on to Facebook for a little mindless scrolling and wasn't surprised to see that the first thing that popped up on my feed: a sponsored post for LaCroix, advertising one of their newer springtime flavors, cherry blossom. While I'm no stranger to targeted ads appearing simply out of "nowhere" on my social media feeds, I always assumed that ads of this nature were curated based solely on things that I search on various platforms. What gave me pause was the fact that I mentioned a product (in this case, sparkling water) in a passing conversation and then just so happened to see almost exactly what I was in need of, mere moments later. If you're curious, yes, I did immediately unplug our Alexa and no, I don't plan on plugging it back in any time soon.
Data Tracking
After the LaCroix incident, I started paying more attention to the various ads and sponsored posts I would see when scrolling through platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. When I started actively looking for it, I noticed that the majority of ads that I came across were for products I had either searched for or talked about. I simply needed to know more about how my social media feeds knew me and my needs SO well. I started my journey by checking out this infographic from EAVI. When reading through the various topics covered in the infographic, I was most interested to learn how data tracking works to create targeted ads that appear on your social media feeds. While I knew that the ads were curated based on your searches, I didn't realize that the information gathered from those searches are essentially "sold" to the highest bidders, who then turn around and sell it to other agencies. In my head, I'm picturing a huge filing cabinet filled with everything I've ever searched and all of that information being sorted through and purchased by complete strangers-- very unsettling, to say the least.
Internet Privacy
I consider myself to be a relatively private person, especially on the internet. All of my social media accounts are locked/on "private" mode-- on the rare occasion that I actually do post something, only my friends and family can see it. I don't have a true reason for why my internet presence is so private, other than I just prefer it that way. Truly, I don't feel that anything I post is worthwhile enough to be out there for the whole internet to see, so I'd rather just keep my accounts and my posts to myself. I suppose that this is for the better, especially after reading the Ted Article, "Why Online Privacy Matters-and How to Protect Yours". In the article, I was shocked to learn that the easiest thing you can do to protect your private information is simply putting a sticker or Bandaid over the camera on your laptop. That idea really made me stop and think-- am I being watched without even knowing? I suppose you never think you're interesting enough to be watched through your technology, but clearly this has happened and continues to happen, most often unbeknownst to us.
Protecting Ourselves in a Digital World
Unfortunately, we can't change that we live in a world where our private information isn't truly private. However, there are steps that we can take to protect ourselves and things that we can do as teachers to help our students safely navigate our digital world. In the article "10 Tips to Protect Your Online Data", contributors suggest that among other actions, one thing that can be done to protect your data is to use an alternate search engine that is privacy-focused. Such websites, such as DuckDuckGo are funded by donations and value the privacy of their users, so they do not collect data you search and "sell" it to third party trackers. Other suggestions include ensuring you have strong, secure passwords and adjusting your privacy settings on social media so that your information isn't out in the open. I feel like any of these tips, but especially the two aforementioned ones, would be important to teach to our students. This generation of students has grown up with technology and it will only continue to be more present in their lives as they grow up. It's important that they understand how dangerous the internet could be if their information got in the wrong hands. Prioritizing digital literacy and internet safety can be a step in the right direction-- following these tips and others to protect our data not only will help keep us safe, but it will model correct digital etiquette for our students so that they will (hopefully) follow in our example.
So much to unpack with privacy, isn't there?! One of the things I find interesting is that many people are outraged when they hear of instances like this but they don't want to give up devices or pay for services to make things private. Another fantastic web browser is Mozilla's Firefox. They are privacy focused like DuckDuckGo. Thanks for the great read.
ReplyDeleteHi Kelly,
ReplyDeleteWow, the same thing just happened with my mom and I. I too unplugged my Google Home! I feel we are watched and listened to everywhere we go. Their are camera's and most likely microphones everywhere. I fully agree that we need to teach our students about Internet safety and privacy. I have spoken to my own children about their Digital Footprints and how things you do online today could be used against you in the future. Unfortunately kids don't think about the future. We had several instances this year with social media use with students to plan in school fights and then record and post on social media. Fortunately, my district solved this problem with a "No cell phone" policy. So far this seems to be effective. Perhaps I am old, but I truly enjoy my privacy and am currently researching more way to protect myself and my family.
Hi Kelly, your blog post was very interesting to read. I always knew there were listeners and watchers on the other side of our device but I did not know they sell our data to organizations to target our ads. I also like to keep my social media private, but like you said there are always people watching through our devices. I am guilty of continuing to use these social media platforms even though I know how they invade our privacy. You do give great tips on how we can protect our privacy. Hopefully we can use those organizations to help keep ourselves and students safe.
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