Difference between revisions of "Samantha Thick"

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The Age of Information is an exciting and terrifying era to live in.  There are endless debates about individual’s privacy and the deregulation of privatized technology companies that control information flow.  Some believe privacy is a luxury of the past and as the world becomes more digital, we must give it up, others believe tech companies are unrightfully using our information for their own benefit and we must fight for privacy. ''' My personal data identity falls somewhere in between these two arguments.  I believe in technological evolution and digitalizing the future to connect the world and make things more accessible.  I also believe my information is mine and I should have the sole ability to decide what gets shared and who uses it.'''
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== <big>'''My Data Identity: As Private As A Social Media User Can Be'''</big> ==
 
== <big>'''My Data Identity: As Private As A Social Media User Can Be'''</big> ==
  
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Living in the Age of Information is both exciting and terrifying because of the endless opportunities and unknowns.  One of the biggest debates during this information revolution has been privacy and what it means.  Some believe privacy is a luxury of the past and as the world becomes more digital we must give it up, others believe we must do everything in our power to keep as much of ourselves private as possible and it wrong that companies are "stealing" this information from us.  My personal data identity falls somewhere in between these two arguments.  I believe in technological evolution and digitalizing the future to connect the world and make it more accessible to people everywhere.  I also firmly believe my information is mine and mine alone and I should have the sole ability to decide what gets shared and who uses it. 
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I have taken the efforts necessary to implement my data identity into how I use social media and the internet to the best of my ability.  From what I found in this project, I am happy with the results and how my public information represents me.  Remaining private while also being active on public forums and social media is easier than many may think.  To educate both sides of the privacy argument I will break down how I personalized my internet portfolio.
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I have taken the efforts necessary to implement my data identity into how I use social media and the internet to the best of my ability.  From what I found in this project, I am happy with the results and what my public information persona appears as.  Being public and social yet also private and personal is actually much easier than many may think, so I'm hoping to educate both sides of the above arguments on how they can personalize what their internet portfolio looks like.  
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=== <big>'''Social Media Privacy Settings'''</big> ===
 
=== <big>'''Social Media Privacy Settings'''</big> ===
  
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Before getting into what my online data identity looks like to someone who does not know me I wanted to break down the privacy setting I have on my social media platforms.  I am an active social media user and I enjoy the information and interaction it allows me to have. The biggest complaint I hear from people about these social media sites is that they are too public and share too much personal information with the world.  As someone who was raised to keep as much personal information off the internet as possible but also raised in the age of a boom in social media I have been more aware of the privacy settings applications provide than most users my age.  
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Before getting into what my online data identity looks like to the digital world, I wanted to highlight some of the privacy settings social media platforms and how I use them.  As an active social media user, I enjoy the information and interaction these platforms give me access to but understand concerns people have with how they invade privacy.   The biggest complaint about these sites is that they are too public and share too much personal information with the world.  I was raised to keep as much personal information off the internet as possible but also raised in the age of a social media boom, making me more aware of the privacy settings applications provide than most users my age.
  
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==== Facebook ====
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==== Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat ====
  
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Facebook is the most hated on social media host in my opinion.  This comes largely from the fact that it was one of the first, has the oldest generation still using it, and it has made many mistakes over the years. This being said, Facebook has also learned from its past battles and mistakes to an extent when it comes to improving its user based privacy settings. Unknown to many of its users, be it because of their age or their lack of investigation, you can actually make your Facebook profile/page private.   
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Facebook is one of the most confrontational social media hosts largely because it was one of the firsts, has older generations as users, and has made mistakes in the past. It has also learned from its past flaws to an extent when it comes to improving user privacy settings. Twitter has had similar issues but has come a long way in its privacy settings from when it originated. Instagram, my personal favorite site, mostly because I enjoy images and looking through photos but also because of how easy it is to make a profile secure, is less open about how they use your data than Facebook and Twitter.  Similarly, Snapchat has many different privacy and personalization settings available, but they are slightly harder for the user to find.
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[[File:Facebookprivacy.png|frameless|right|https://about.fb.com/news/2020/01/data-privacy-day-2020/]]
  
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By going to your profile and clicking on the "Profile Settings" tab, then navigating to the "View Privacy Shortcuts" (note I am using the terms and steps used in mobile application mode) you are presented with six different privacy categories: "Privacy", "Account Security", "Ad Preferences", "Your Facebook Information", "Safety", and "Legal and Policies".  From here the user has the ability to change all of there privacy settings whether it be how information is shared across the Facebook community(with Friends, Friends of Friends, Only Me, or Public), how Facebook shares your information with search engines and other of its affiliates, and also how it interacts with your phone(Location sharing, linking with other application, ect).  From my personal experience the biggest steps in securing my online identity were to change all of the default sharing options from "Private" to "Only my Friends", turning off location tracking (which is by default is turned on), and most importantly turning off the ability for my profile to appear in search engine results.  Now the only way to find my Facebook profile is to be logged into Facebook and specifically typing my exact Profile name into the search, or by looking through the "Friends" list of those I have accepted as my "Friend".
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All these social media hosts allow the user to make their profile private, some like Instagram and Twitter do so more obviously, while others like Facebook hide these controls better.  By setting my profile to private I limit the ability for anyone that I do not previously approve of from seeing anything more than my profile picture and biography.  I limit the amount of times these profiles appear in searches as well by using a diminutive form of my name as my handle and adjusting settings like Instagram and Facebook have that allow me to turn off their ability to share my information with their affiliates and search engines.
  
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One thing Twitter does remarkably well is make it easy to turn off personalized data tracking.  Under the "Personalization and Data" section of their privacy settings Twitter has in depth explanations of what they are doing with your data and how they are sharing it but by clicking the slider to turn these setting to "off" you can easily protect your data.  Facebook has similarly detailed explanations offering six different privacy categories through their settings.  Instagram and Snapchat are less straightforward about how they use your data. Neither host goes into great detail about how they use your data and Snapchat hides the settings under confusing language making it more difficult to turn them off.  Both make the personal account information settings, like who can see what and when, obvious under the "Settings" tab, however, to get into the details of how they use your information and manage the way your data is shared is not as clear.  Snapchat for example makes the user navigate to the "Additional Services" --> "Manage" --> "Data Saver" to  turn off different information tracking and sharing options
  
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==== Instagram ====
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[[File:ghost-mode-timer.jpg|frameless|left|https://www.addictivetips.com/ios/temporarily-switch-to-ghost-mode-on-snapchat/]]
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From my personal experience the biggest steps in securing my online identity were to change all the default sharing options from "Public" to "Only My Friends", making my profiles private, turning off location tracking (which by default on most of these sites is turned on), and most importantly not connecting my accounts to my phone number, contact list or to one another.  By keeping each application separate and not connecting my profiles it is harder for the internet to connect the dots on my trends and personal information creating a barrier between all the different pieces of my online identity. I share more through my Snapchat than any other application, including my location (only while using the app), contact list, phone number, and camera roll.  This comes from the nature of the application being less social media based, and more communication based.  This is tricky however, because they are a social media host in all other accounts, especially concerning how they use and share personal user data.  The main way I retain privacy through Snapchat is by turning off settings, like the “Lifestyle & Interests” tracker and on "snap map" my location is in "ghost mode" when by default Snapchat tracks and shows your location while you use the app.
  
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Instagram is my personal favorite site, mostly because I enjoy images and looking through different photos of people and scenery but also because of how easy it is to make a profile secure.  Their private profile option gives the user total control over who sees what and when.  By setting my profile to private I already limit the ability for anyone that I do not previously approve of from seeing anything more than my profile picture and my biography, but Instagram offers many other more detailed privacy options inside of those approved to follow me.  I can limit who sees which stories, messages, comments, tags, and activities.
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With these precautions I have made it that the only way to find my profiles is to be logged into the application and specifically type my exact Profile name into the search, or to look through the "Friends" list of those I have accepted as my "Friend".
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All of these settings are found in the "Settings" tab of the user profile under the "Privacy" section where you find privacy sections focused on "Account Privacy", "Interactions", and "Connections".  Another important section to note is the "Security" section of the settings.  Here you will find important settings on how Instagram itself uses your data.  Under the "Data and History" section you have the ability to limit how your information is shared with other applications, websites, and ad companies.  A key way I keep my data private with Instagram, and therefore all of my social media sites, is by not allowing them to connect.  By keeping each application separate and not connecting my profiles it is harder for the internet to connect the dots on my trends and personal information.
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==== Twitter ====
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Twitter is another application that has come a long way in its privacy settings from when it originated.  Now you can set your account to private and follow many of the same detailed privacy settings I described in the Instagram section above.  One thing Twitter does remarkably well is make it easy to turn off personalized data tracking.  This may seem surprising as many who have used the Twitter API know how easy it is to pull tweets but this is because many users do not take the time to simply click the button to turn off their sharing. Under the "Personalization and Data" section of their privacy settings Twitter has in depth explanations of what they are doing with your data and how they are sharing it but all you have to do is click the slider to turn these setting to "off".  A way I keep my Twitter even more private than most that makes very little difference from a user perspective is I do not connect my Twitter to my phone number or contact list.  This is just one more way of creating a barrier for putting all the different pieces of my online identity together.
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==== Snapchat ====
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Snapchat also has many different privacy settings and personalization settings available but they are also less obvious about them and make them a little harder to find.  They make the personal account information settings like who can see what and what you are sharing with your friends obvious under the "Settings" tab.  In order to get into the details of how Snapchat uses your information and manage the way your Snap data is shared you must navigate to the "Additional Services", then "Manage", and from there turn off "Data Saver" and go through to the different "Ad Preferences", Lifestyle & Interests", "Map" sharing, and other tab security settings. For this reason I say they are the hardest to control your privacy with, strictly because of their poor labeling and confusing structure on where these functions are found.  That being said, I also allow Snapchat more access to my personal information than any other application.  I share my location (only while using the app) and my contact list, phone number, and camera roll are connected to it.  This comes solely from the nature of the application in my opinion.  It is less social media based and more communication, one-on-one based.  This is tricky though because they are a social media host in all other accounts, especially when it comes to how they use and share you personal use data.  There are ways to still keep private however, for example turn off your "snap map" location and put it in "ghost mode" to be as private as you can.
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=== <big>'''Did These Privacy Precautions Work?'''</big> ===
 
=== <big>'''Did These Privacy Precautions Work?'''</big> ===
  
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After testing my online identity through Google Search Incognito Mode(to avoid saved settings in my normal chrome window) and fastpeoplesearch.com I was happily surprised with how little the internet knew about me.  Almost all of what I found were professional profiles and images I purposely made public for the purposes of academia and job searches.
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After testing my online identity through Google Search Incognito Mode(avoiding saved settings in my normal chrome window) and fastpeoplesearch.com I was happily surprised with how little the internet knew about me.  Almost all I found were professional profiles and images I purposely made public for the purposes of academia and job searches.
  
 
==== Google Search (Incognito Mode) ====
 
==== Google Search (Incognito Mode) ====
  
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My exploration through Google was done three times each time making it more specific and detailed based on location.  I began by just searching my full name "Samantha Thick" and the results I got were 5/10 accurately linked to me.  Of these five pages all were related to professional sites and profiles such as LinkedIn and Portfolium.  As for the images in this search only three are actually of me, one is my LinkedIn profile picture, the other two were near the bottom of the results and were from my hometown Newspaper articles written about my basketball performances. 
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My Google exploration was done three times, each search more specific via location than the first.  I began by searching my full name "Samantha Thick" and the results I got were 5/10 accurately linked to me.  Of these five pages all were related to professional sites and profiles such as LinkedIn and Portfolium.  The images in this search returned three of me, one my LinkedIn profile, the other two were near the bottom of the results and were from Newspaper articles about my high school basketball performances.   
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From here, my next search limited the scope by adding "Ann Arbor Michigan" after my name.  This search returned almost the same results the only big difference being an added image that linked me to my job with the University of Michigan.
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Finally, I replaced the "Ann Arbor Michigan" with my hometown name and state.  This was the result I expected the most information to be found about me because I am from a small town, and has an abnormally successful sports career in high school.  This suspicion was correct.  Almost all of the images and articles were me on the first two pages and most of them were links to articles reporting game statistics and breakdowns.   
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Some information when searched as specific as full name and hometown are inevitable to be shared as my address, birthday, and other personal information is found through the Michigan resident database and voting records database. 
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My next search limited the scope by adding "Ann Arbor Michigan" after my name.  This search returned almost the same results the only difference being an image that linked me to my job with the University of Michigan.
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==== fastpeoplesearch.com ====
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As a final search I investigated my results on fastpeoplesearch.com.  I was pleasantly surprised in how little I found about myself here as well.  My personal address and DOB were there but that is to be expected.  They did have the first incorrect information linked to my name I found which was the "Past Addresses" they had listed for me were all locations I have never been associated with.  They also has old, disconnected phones numbers listed for me with no results returning my personal number.
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Finally, I replaced the "Ann Arbor Michigan" with my hometown and state.  I expected the most information to be found about me with this search, because I am from a small town, and had an successful athletic career in high school.  This supposition was correct.  Most of the images and articles were me and majority of them were articles reporting game statistics and breakdowns.  When searching as specific as full name and hometown some information is inevitable to be shared as my address, birthday, and other personal information is found through the Michigan resident database and voting records database.
  
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=== <big>'''Conclusion'''</big> ===
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=== <big>'''Conclusion (Is My Internet Persona Accurate)'''</big> ===
  
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In conclusion, I am proud of how I have actively managed to be an active social media user but also keep my personal information private. I know I still have work to do in limiting the amount I share with certain applications and companies but for now I agree with and support what the internet portrays as my Data Identity.  I encourage technological evolutions as long as they continue to make it clear and apparent on how I can manage how my data is being used and shared.
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In conclusion, I am proud of how I have managed to be an active social media user and keep my personal information private. Although people who know me only through their screen still do not know the real me, I feel in control of how they perceive me.  The things I post for my friends and family to see are highlights of my work and academic life, they show a more confident, fun, adventurous, and successful side of myself but that is because I am willing to share that part of myself with them. Most of my posts relate to my travels, fun times with friends, and the amazing opportunities my job offers me.  
  
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It has been much easier than many expected it to be for me to stay private while also being social and it comes from paying attention to small details.  I have done it through using a diminutive form of my full name as my social media handles, changing my privacy settings, and turning off my data sharing.
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The public that only sees my search results from Google, will see a young, successful high school athlete that has carried those achievements into her work and personal life at the University of Michigan.  All this information is factual and although I might not be as confident or put together as my internet persona conveys, I think it overall gives a positive and accurate representation of who I am today. I still have work to do in limiting the amount I share with certain applications and companies but for now I agree with and support what the internet portrays as my Data Identity.

Latest revision as of 12:50, 5 March 2021

The Age of Information is an exciting and terrifying era to live in. There are endless debates about individual’s privacy and the deregulation of privatized technology companies that control information flow. Some believe privacy is a luxury of the past and as the world becomes more digital, we must give it up, others believe tech companies are unrightfully using our information for their own benefit and we must fight for privacy. My personal data identity falls somewhere in between these two arguments. I believe in technological evolution and digitalizing the future to connect the world and make things more accessible. I also believe my information is mine and I should have the sole ability to decide what gets shared and who uses it.

My Data Identity: As Private As A Social Media User Can Be

I have taken the efforts necessary to implement my data identity into how I use social media and the internet to the best of my ability. From what I found in this project, I am happy with the results and how my public information represents me. Remaining private while also being active on public forums and social media is easier than many may think. To educate both sides of the privacy argument I will break down how I personalized my internet portfolio.

Social Media Privacy Settings

Before getting into what my online data identity looks like to the digital world, I wanted to highlight some of the privacy settings social media platforms and how I use them. As an active social media user, I enjoy the information and interaction these platforms give me access to but understand concerns people have with how they invade privacy. The biggest complaint about these sites is that they are too public and share too much personal information with the world. I was raised to keep as much personal information off the internet as possible but also raised in the age of a social media boom, making me more aware of the privacy settings applications provide than most users my age.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat

Facebook is one of the most confrontational social media hosts largely because it was one of the firsts, has older generations as users, and has made mistakes in the past. It has also learned from its past flaws to an extent when it comes to improving user privacy settings. Twitter has had similar issues but has come a long way in its privacy settings from when it originated. Instagram, my personal favorite site, mostly because I enjoy images and looking through photos but also because of how easy it is to make a profile secure, is less open about how they use your data than Facebook and Twitter. Similarly, Snapchat has many different privacy and personalization settings available, but they are slightly harder for the user to find.

https://about.fb.com/news/2020/01/data-privacy-day-2020/

All these social media hosts allow the user to make their profile private, some like Instagram and Twitter do so more obviously, while others like Facebook hide these controls better. By setting my profile to private I limit the ability for anyone that I do not previously approve of from seeing anything more than my profile picture and biography. I limit the amount of times these profiles appear in searches as well by using a diminutive form of my name as my handle and adjusting settings like Instagram and Facebook have that allow me to turn off their ability to share my information with their affiliates and search engines.

One thing Twitter does remarkably well is make it easy to turn off personalized data tracking. Under the "Personalization and Data" section of their privacy settings Twitter has in depth explanations of what they are doing with your data and how they are sharing it but by clicking the slider to turn these setting to "off" you can easily protect your data. Facebook has similarly detailed explanations offering six different privacy categories through their settings. Instagram and Snapchat are less straightforward about how they use your data. Neither host goes into great detail about how they use your data and Snapchat hides the settings under confusing language making it more difficult to turn them off. Both make the personal account information settings, like who can see what and when, obvious under the "Settings" tab, however, to get into the details of how they use your information and manage the way your data is shared is not as clear. Snapchat for example makes the user navigate to the "Additional Services" --> "Manage" --> "Data Saver" to turn off different information tracking and sharing options

https://www.addictivetips.com/ios/temporarily-switch-to-ghost-mode-on-snapchat/

From my personal experience the biggest steps in securing my online identity were to change all the default sharing options from "Public" to "Only My Friends", making my profiles private, turning off location tracking (which by default on most of these sites is turned on), and most importantly not connecting my accounts to my phone number, contact list or to one another. By keeping each application separate and not connecting my profiles it is harder for the internet to connect the dots on my trends and personal information creating a barrier between all the different pieces of my online identity. I share more through my Snapchat than any other application, including my location (only while using the app), contact list, phone number, and camera roll. This comes from the nature of the application being less social media based, and more communication based. This is tricky however, because they are a social media host in all other accounts, especially concerning how they use and share personal user data. The main way I retain privacy through Snapchat is by turning off settings, like the “Lifestyle & Interests” tracker and on "snap map" my location is in "ghost mode" when by default Snapchat tracks and shows your location while you use the app.

With these precautions I have made it that the only way to find my profiles is to be logged into the application and specifically type my exact Profile name into the search, or to look through the "Friends" list of those I have accepted as my "Friend".

Did These Privacy Precautions Work?

After testing my online identity through Google Search Incognito Mode(avoiding saved settings in my normal chrome window) and fastpeoplesearch.com I was happily surprised with how little the internet knew about me. Almost all I found were professional profiles and images I purposely made public for the purposes of academia and job searches.

Google Search (Incognito Mode)

My Google exploration was done three times, each search more specific via location than the first. I began by searching my full name "Samantha Thick" and the results I got were 5/10 accurately linked to me. Of these five pages all were related to professional sites and profiles such as LinkedIn and Portfolium. The images in this search returned three of me, one my LinkedIn profile, the other two were near the bottom of the results and were from Newspaper articles about my high school basketball performances.

My next search limited the scope by adding "Ann Arbor Michigan" after my name. This search returned almost the same results the only difference being an image that linked me to my job with the University of Michigan.

Finally, I replaced the "Ann Arbor Michigan" with my hometown and state. I expected the most information to be found about me with this search, because I am from a small town, and had an successful athletic career in high school. This supposition was correct. Most of the images and articles were me and majority of them were articles reporting game statistics and breakdowns. When searching as specific as full name and hometown some information is inevitable to be shared as my address, birthday, and other personal information is found through the Michigan resident database and voting records database.

Conclusion (Is My Internet Persona Accurate)

In conclusion, I am proud of how I have managed to be an active social media user and keep my personal information private. Although people who know me only through their screen still do not know the real me, I feel in control of how they perceive me. The things I post for my friends and family to see are highlights of my work and academic life, they show a more confident, fun, adventurous, and successful side of myself but that is because I am willing to share that part of myself with them. Most of my posts relate to my travels, fun times with friends, and the amazing opportunities my job offers me.

The public that only sees my search results from Google, will see a young, successful high school athlete that has carried those achievements into her work and personal life at the University of Michigan. All this information is factual and although I might not be as confident or put together as my internet persona conveys, I think it overall gives a positive and accurate representation of who I am today. I still have work to do in limiting the amount I share with certain applications and companies but for now I agree with and support what the internet portrays as my Data Identity.

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