Friday, May 7, 2010

Choose Privacy Week, May 2-8 2010

May 2-8 is the first ever Choose Privacy Week, sponsored by the American Library Association. ALA describes Choose Privacy Week as a "new initiative...about privacy rights in a digital age", where libraries can "give citizens the resources to think critically and make more informed choices about their privacy." 1

Although online services such as Google and Facebook are undeniably convenient, they come with privacy concerns. For example, ALA states that "online searches create traceable records that make [users] vulnerable to questioning by the FBI, or that government agencies can track their phone calls, airline travel, online purchases, and more."2

Facebook, for example, has been under fire recently for its privacy changes (Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, stated in January that "privacy is no longer a social norm."3) In December of 2009, Facebook default settings were changed to public. In April 2010, Facebook made information "such as a user's hometown, education, work, activities, likes and interests public, whereas previously such information could be hidden."4 And on May 5, Facebook suffered a major privacy glitch when private chats between members could be viewed publicly.


1The American Library Association. "Choose Privacy Week." http://www.privacyrevolution.org/. Accessed May 6, 2010.

2Ibid.

3 Johnson, Bobby. The Guardian. "Privacy no longer a social norm, says Facebook founder." January 11, 1010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/11/facebook-privacy. Accessed May 6, 2010.

4Brodkin, Jon. Networked World. "Consumer groups hammer Facebook privacy violations in federal complaint." http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/050610-facebook-privacy-violations.html. May 6, 2010. Accessed May 6, 2010.Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Never, never, never, never give up


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University of Ankara, Turkey