In light of the recent privacy issues that have arisen in the past couple of months, and no doubt the past couple of years, what with Facebook and Google+ coming on the social media scenes, there has been much speculation as to what is acceptable online for your own privacy compared to what is unacceptable. I find that most people, myself included, have fell into the trap of the misconception that you don’t need to pay much attention to your online privacy because no one can track it directly to you, or that because the social media sites have privacy guards, that no one can get through them.

Those are often the misconceptions that many people have. However, these are just that, misconceptions. It is amazing to me how many times students, teens even, have posted on their Facebook profiles pictures of them drinking at parties, when they are clearly underage; or when they are in the middle of a group getting high with their pals, and all of their faces are clearly visible. This is the type of thing that people don’t think about.

More and more especially recently companies (employers/potential employers) have asked what the employees Facebook profile is, or even what their username and passwords are. This is just the type of thing that worries me.

I have now been using Facebook for about 3 years, Google+ for a couple of months, Twitter for about 2 years (over a few different accounts), and LinkedIn for about a year and a half. There is something in common that they all have, in one form or another: privacy guards.

The issue with these privacy guards are that they are not foolproof, they are not truly a guard against protecting your privacy. Great, you have your Facebook profile settings so that no one can see what pages you like, and when you like them… but the ads on the sides just said you liked some page that you really don’t want anyone knowing about (for one reason or another). Guess what, those privacy guards were just violated.

What I am getting at here, is that there are numerous privacy issues amongst all social networking sites. However, how you treat them, and what you post can really dictate how much the company (media site) really knows about you. For instance, Google. They just combined their entire company wide product range, for each product had its own privacy policy, and they just combined all of those into one master privacy policy. This is a double edged sword in my eyes. In one hand, you have the fact that Google now is able to take all of the small product based profiles, and combine them into one master profile for you. This is great for them, because they are now able to better tailor their ads to you. Ever notice in Gmail how the ads that are displayed usually have something to do with what is in the email? Tailoring.  Ever search for something, and then visit your email, and see a related ad there? Tailoring. Ever search for something and have search results returned to you? Tailoring.

That last one however, is quite broad. Google Search has been tailored to individual users ever since they came up with the idea and has been gaining traction ever since. The thing about it, is that your search history, from the time you started using it, to the time you started using any of their other products, search has been more tailored than it should be. For instance, they just implemented a social aspect to the search results, where you can see what results are most closely related based on your contacts and Google+ connections. While this may really turn up some great information, usually it is just a way for Google to tailor their ads to you even more, to build the profile on you even more. This can’t come as that big of a shock, seeing as how Google has been tailoring to you ever since you started using their products. This tailoring service can be useful at times, but usually ends up being bad for you in the long run, because all they do is gather more information on you and build their profile on you even more.

 

So why is all this a bad thing? That’s where my personal project really starts. I have decided that in order for me to protect me, my own personal life, to protect my own online identity, I need to make some changes. These changes are listed by the services/companies that they are based on:

Facebook: If you have a Facebook account (and who doesn’t), then they have been doing similar things like Google has been, such as tailoring ads to you. However, Facebook also tailors friend searches to you. They tailor it based on things like: race, gender, amount of connections between you and the person, etc… The real issue I have with Facebook, is that it also has some really mischievous ways…. For instance: if you log into Facebook, and you surf to a site (not from a link on Facebook itself) which has a Facebook social plug-in, if you are still logged into Facebook, then they have just tracked where you went, what you were looking at, and: which other friends of yours have looked at similar things… Personally, I find this scary. It is scary because what if you are looking at something for a research project, and it is something that can be classified as NSFW (not safe for work)? Well, they now know what you were looking at, and then they can start tailoring ads to you that might relate to the site you just visited. Something that scares. So, with that in mind, I have made the pledge to start removing everything from my Facebook profile, including pictures, liked pages, posts, notes, everything. While yes, they technically already have all of that, and by “deleting” your information is really just “hiding” it, it is still a way to stop other people from seeing it, like potential employers, or current employers. These are things that you may want to consider.

Google: Ah, the good ol’ El Goog. Google Search has been very useful for much of everything that I have done ever since I started using the internet. As a result, they have a fairly substantial profile on me, just based on my search patterns. Oh, and Gmail… Well, I’ve used that for numerous accounts over the years, and still do (but I’m stopping), and since they merged all of the privacy policies, they can now merge all of the profiles they have on you. Something that I don’t like, nor appreciate because it still is hindering your online privacy. Something that scares the living crap out of me. And Google+? Well, while it started off as cool, because I was part of it when it was Beta, and it was still invite only, well, all that data was also merged with your profile. Something that can be both good and bad, but mainly a bad thing in my eyes… No privacy….

 

I know that there are many issues with being online, and I know that many people either don’t care enough about it to think and pay attention, or maybe it’s because they just don’t know. Either way, it’s not good. I have come to the conclusion, that for me, the best thing to do is to stop. Stop using Facebook. Stop using Google for everything. Stop allowing companies to track you (not just Facebook and Google). Stop allowing everyone to build profiles about you, which can then be used against you in the future.

My efforts in the coming months will be these (and more may be added):
Stop using Facebook (hopefully entirely, except maybe for family)
Stop using Google+
Stop using Google Chrome (already achieved, and a very painful move at that)
Stop using Google Search (use it less, because Bing and Yahoo[which is Bing] suck)
Stop allowing websites to track me
Block cookies to be placed by third parties (advertisers) (already done)
Block cookies entirely (possible, but hard when you have to login to something)
Stop using Gmail, and use my own website email server for email
Anonymize myself whenever online (using a VPN or TOR, or a combo)
Stop signing up for random things on the internet, which result in spam
For email subscriptions preexisting, cancel them if they are unneeded, or unused
Stop giving Google data about my whereabouts (like on Android or using GPS)

 

These are just some of the things that I will be doing in the coming months. I have already started working on getting my email away from Gmail, but that is easier said than done. And I have already quit using Chrome, which is painful not to use. And I have already been taking some measures to anonymize myself on the web. So, with all that in mind, what do you think? Is it worth it? Is it possible? Have you done anything like this?