Privacy and Social Media
Social Media and Privacy
Is there such a thing?
Amazon Browsing History
As I was scrolling through Facebook I noticed an advertisement for shoes. I thought to myself "how did Facebook know I wanted new shoes?" Is someone listening to the conversation that I had with my husband about wanting a new pair of shoes? I then went to Amazon to look for the pair of shoes I saw on the advertisement and before I typed the name of the brand the homepage also had the similar shoes from the brand on its front page. I figured out that my husband was browsing for shoes on our shared Amazon account. This led me to a quick Google search and learned that Facebook Ads utilize cookies or the browsing history of users who have visited Amazon's website. These cookies communicate with Facebook about what you searched for and then generate adds for the same or similar items.
You can learn more about it by reading this Market Plus Article and this Business Insider Article.
Image provided by Jasmine Monroe
Social Media and Privacy
This event led me to think more about Privacy. How secure are we when browsing on social media or online? Can we do something to limit our data from spreading. I looked over three article that discussed privacy and learned many interesting things. I also branched out and found an interesting article "Amazon, Facebook and Google all keep track of your habits. Here's how to keep your info safe online" by Kim Komando which shared insightful tips on how to keep our information safe.
Image provide by Kim Komando. Visit their website to access a technology podcast.
How Tracking Works
The infographic created by EAVI Media Literacy for Citizenship provided me with more insight into how targeted advertisements work. Each time we conduct a search, "Cookies" are downloaded onto the browser, a third party tracks information, your data is then bid on by data brokers, and advertisers and other entities use the data to create advertisements targeted to your interests. This may seem useful at first, but how many advertisements do we see every day? Do we need to be constantly bombarded with advertisements? In my case, I knew what kind of shoes I was going to get based on my husband's browsing history on our shared account. This did not sit well with me. Fortunately, the infographic provided tips on how to limit our data sharing.
Even if we followed the tips from the infographic I just discussed we may be unintentionally sharing private information in the way of Facebook quizzes. Have you ever filled out a quiz such as "We will guess your age based on your interests" or "Your elf name is your favorite color and your birth month". The article "Police Warn: Taking Facebook Quizzes Could Get Your Identity Stolen" discussed how our sharing of small pieces of information could potentially lead hackers to guessing the answers to your security questions for various accounts. For example let's say my favorite color is blue and my birthday is in December. I comment on the Facebook post my new name is "Blue December". Hackers could utilize those answers to try and hack into my accounts. Let's say a verification question to my bank account is "What is your favorite color?" hackers would now know my favorite color is blue! (It is not by the way).
Image provided by Lindsey Murray of Good Housekeeping
The last article 10 Tips to Protect Your Online Data Privacy in 2019 may be five years old but the tips are still relevant and useful today. The website suggests to limit our spread of Cookies (data that is stored and shared) we can browse using incognito mode. This however, does not stop your employer or service provider from knowing what you are searching.
Warning message when opening incognito browsing on Google.
Image provided by Jasmine Monroe
We can also keep our data safe by using secure passwords, changing our social media privacy settings, and changing our default search engine to a privacy focused search engine. The infographic that I mentioned in the beginning has more information about privacy focused search engines.
I highly encourage you to look the websites I linked in this post to keep your data safe.
Even making one change part of our regular routine can help us begin to make other positive habits.
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ReplyDeleteHi Jasmine
ReplyDeleteYour experience with seeing ads for shoes after a conversation with your husband was interesting to read. It's amazing (but creepy) how our online activities can influence the ads we see.Your insights into how cookies and browsing history are used to generate targeted ads were
had me thinking about what kinds of things I let my phone and laptop approve without realizing. It shows the importance of understanding how our data is collected, shared, and utilized by many parties. The infographic from EAVI Media Literacy for Citizenship was super helpful in understanding the data tracking process and learning how to limit data sharing. It's something I'll definitely be looking back on for future references. It's important for individuals to be aware of their online activities and take steps to safeguard their privacy. I also appreciated your warning about the risks of sharing too much personal information through social media quizzes. It's scary to think about how something as innocent as a quiz could potentially lead to identity theft. In addition, those tips from "10 Tips to Protect Your Online Data Privacy in 2019"? Even though they're a few years old, they're still super relevant and useful. Have you incorporated any of those tips already or been wanting to? I've already started using some such as changing my passwords and have different ones for each especially after hearing about Apple’s data breach. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Jasmine!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about how "harmless" posts, like the goofy quizzes, can make it easy for people to steal and store sensitive information. I see them a lot, where they ask for someone's birth day/month, their favorite color, or which street a person lived on in childhood.
The facebook/amazon tracking is strange to see too; I thought the infographic you shared was really helpful. Some of the tips in the articles are great and I'll try to apply them for my accounts as well.
Hello Jasmine
ReplyDeleteFantastic Post! I appreciate the tools you offered to stop hackers from taking our information and using it for purposes we believe will be beneficial, like showing us repeated advertisements until we actually make a purchase. I also had no idea how dangerous it may be to finish seemingly enjoyable tasks like "facebook quizzes" and have your identity stolen. Since everything is constantly caluctaed, I think it's critical to use privacy modes on our electronics to protect our families' and our own safety.