Privacy Bill of Rights

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My article on March 3rd 2012 from an old Media & Tech blog

Even if you’re just minimally active online, privacy ought to be an issue for you. While the past decade heralded amazing platforms for media and technology, this decade is the coliseum where both David and Goliath companies battle fiercely for as many pieces of information about us as they can grab.

Social network users face mounting privacy concerns, so announces The Citizen in its article today. It references the Pew Research Center and its report Privacy management on social media sites.

First, I believe it’s our responsibility as users to know the privacy controls and policies of sites we frequent and to use these properly to serve our purpose. Second, more importantly, it’s our responsibility to exercise good judgment in the content that we upload and respond with. The same, too, for content about us from friends, connections, followers et al. In particular, I regularly monitor their tags, mentions, and posts, and I do not hesitate to delete, block or report, if something is inappropriate or unwanted.

The Citizen also mentions Obama Seeks Privacy Bill of Rights for Internet Users from Voice of America.  Hear Darren Hayes speak about this (below).   He is head of the Computer Information Systems Program at Pace University in New York.

I think that, you know, this legislation is just, it’s long overdue. I think that in its present form it looks very effective and I think that it is a step in the right direction and the average online user does need more transparency and more control over the use of their information.

I think in practical terms it’s going to make online companies more accountable for what they do. It also seeks to provide more transparency about how third parties are sharing their information and give the user, hopefully, the ability to opt out of having their information shared.

What’s also going to be important about this legislation are the penalties and fines that will ultimately be imposed for non-compliance.

So be informed, entertained, and engaged on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. But, for goodness sake, be smart, careful, and responsible as well.