Privacy on the Internet is a very broad issue. This unit only explains a few of the things that you can do to protect your own personal-information privacy while using the Internet and what you can teach your students.
What should your students get out of this unit? The ability to be able to participate in an informed manner what information they want Web sites to have about them, how that information is used, and how that information is protected. Read books, access the Internet, etc., to become aware of current issues about privacy rights and gain an understanding of such rights in order to speak intelligently on the impact to consumers, businesses and the government. Summarizing information from reading material by clearly and succinctly articulating its major points and proposals. They should also realize that the major threat to privacy today comes from big business, not the government.
Reading privacy policies are very important because each site’s policy is a little different depending on what they have or have not included. For example, why they are collecting information, how different sites share their data, which sites are members of TRUSTe, how you can update your information and how and why your personal information can be shared with law enforcement agencies if the law allows it.
Make your students aware of advocacy groups that are fighting for their privacy rights and the various laws that have been passed to protect their privacy as well as the government’s hesitancy to regulate such a dynamic infrastructure. Explain the Fourth Amendment to them so that they fully understand where this country started in our quest for privacy and how the Constitution is constantly being reinterpreted to meet the needs of changing lifestyles, changing technology and changing times.
Of course, there are many others ways to protect your privacy online. Hopefully this unit has piqued your interest, and you will want to do further research.
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Endnotes
1Privacy Working Group, “Privacy and the National Information Infrastructure: Principles for Providing and Using Personal Information.” HYPERLINK http://www.iitf.nis.gov/ipc/ipc/ipc-pubs/niiprivprin_final.html http://www.iitf.nis.gov/ipc/ipc/ipc-pubs/niiprivprin_final.html. June 6, 1995.
2CDT’s Guide to Online Privacy, “Chapter Three: Existing Privacy Protections and Initiatives.”
http://www.cdt.org/privacy/guide/protect/.
3Michele Nelson, “Web Tracking Is Watching You.” Smart Computing, vol. 8, issue 4, p. 21.
4Jennifer Farwell, “Online Profiling.” Smart Computing, vol. 8, issue 4, p. 25.
5Will Rodger, “Activists Charge DoubleClick Double Cross.”
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tec/cth211.htm. February 21, 2000.
6Leslie Miller and Elizabeth Weise, “FTC Studies Web Site ‘Profiling”.”
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/review/crg570.htm. November 23, 1999.
7Privacy Policy for AllAdvantage.com.
http://www.alladvantage.com/privacy.asp. August, 1999.
8CDT’s Guide to Online Privacy, “Privacy Basics.”
http://www.cdt.org/privach/guide/basic/
9Harry Henderson, Privacy in the Information Age. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 1999. p. 16.
10Fred H. Cate, Privacy in the Information Age. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institute Press, 1999, p. 22.
11William Wresch, Disconnected Haves and Have-nots in the Information Age. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, p. 93.
12Jeff Dodd, “Us vs. Them.” Smart Computing. vol. 8, issue 4, p. 10.
13Michael Sweet, “Protecting Privacy in a Digital World.” Smart Computing, vol.8, issue 4, p. 8.
14Marc Rotenberg, Privacy Law Source Book 1999, United States Law International Law and Recent Developments. Washington, D.C.: EPIC, p. 57.
15Marc Rotenberg, p. 65.
16Marc Rotenberg, p. 38.
17Marc Rotenberg, p. 103.
18Marc Rotenberg, p. 165.
19President William J. Clinton and Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., “A Framework for Global Electronic Commerce.” http://www.iiff.nist.gov/eleccomm/ecomm.htm
20Privacy Working Group
21Electronic Privacy Information Center. HYPERLINK http://www.epic.org http://www.epic.org.
22Michael Sweet, p. 6.
23EPIC, “Surfer Beware: Personal Privacy and the Internet.”
http://www.epic.org/reports/surder-beware.html,.June 1997.
24EPIC, “Surfer Beware II: Notice Is Not Enough.”
http://www.epic.org/reports/surder-beware2.html, June 1998.
25EPIC, “Surfer Beware III: Privacy Policies Without Privacy Protection.”
http://www.epic.org/reports/surfer-beware3.html, December 1999.
26Ed Bott, “We know Where You Live, Work, Shop, Bank, Play, and So Does Everyone Else.” PC Computing, vol. 13, March 2000, p. 82.
27Privacy Choices, “Understanding Your Rights.”
http://www.privacychoices.org/content_understanding.htm.
28Privacy Choice, “Opt Out.”
http://www.privacychoices.org/content_optout.htm.
29Yahoo Privacy Policy.
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/privacy/ p. 8.
30TRUSTe, “TRUSTe Approves 1000th Web Site.”
http://www.truste.com/about/about_1000th.html.
31Daniel Tynan, “Privacy 2000, In Web We Trust?” PC World, June 2000, p. 116.
32TRUSTe, “President Clinton to Industry: Join TRUSTe.”
http://www.truste.com/about/about_clintonspeech.htm.
33TRUSTe, “TRUSTe Forms Advisory Committee on Third Party Ad Servers and Licensee Practices.” http://www.truste.com/about/about_tpas.html.
34TRUSTe, http://www.truste.com