Talk:Rachel Westrick
Hi Rachel,
This is a good start and is certainly very comprehensive. You seem very data-savvy and aware of potential issues about the security of your data and information. I like how you brought up non-traditional sources to analyze your online profile like Yandex and DuckDuckGo--this is definitely something I want to consider when I work on my revision. The structure was clear and easy to follow too.
As you work on a revision, I think you could improve by making your theme more clear. When I finished your piece, I felt that I had missed what your central argument/thesis was. Your page felt more like a regurgitation of the information someone would find about you online, so I think you could explore these implications further. You could really distinguish your page by adding some discussion around ethics and what practices around data collection you think is morally acceptable. Perhaps consider supporting your argument with readings as well.
Overall, you clearly did your research, and this was a strong first go at the assignment!
-Evon Yao
Hi Rachel,
I was impressed by your thorough research and documentation. Not only did you try multiple different combinations of queries, different search engines, but you also dared to venture into the dark web. You do seem very well versed and aware of all the dangers on the web, so I'm curious as to who or where you learned about all this from. I assume you've taken EECS 485, which was my first exposure to this kind of knowledge, but maybe you can talk a little bit about that and maybe give advice to readers as to how they could protect their own data or where they should refer to. One thing that I thought you could improve was your conclusion. You talked about some really interesting findings and changes to your behavior, which you described within subparagraphs. For example, when you wrote about how you found your compromised passwords and accounts on the dark web and ended up changing your existing ones. You could bring this up in your conclusion, and maybe address how you've changed or plan on changing your practices when using the web.
Great job!
- Jason Pi
Hi Rachel,
I was also really impressed by your research and documentation. I find it hilarious that you looked up people that shared a name with you and tried to reach out to them because you had the same name. The funniest one was the person blocking you on Instagram. I also thought you did a really thorough analysis of looking for yourself on different search engines - Google, Bing, Yandex, and DuckDuckGo. The website that showed you had an email attahed to two accounts with compromised data is terrifying. All in all, this was a good writeup. If I could recommend one or two things, I would try to proofread through this - I spotted a couple of typos ("While this the data I care most about" for example). Also, maybe elaborate on why that data is the most important to you. Does it play more of a roll in your identity? Some of the things Facebook labelled you as were crazy to read about.
- Jacob Polson
