Nutgraf

After my last screed about how there’s no such thing as online privacy, I got more wound up about this subject. Many of us are willfully ignorant about the deals we make with various companies every day. Each day that you surf, blog, shop online, check e-mail or conduct acts of commerce or socialization digitally, you are selling your personal data. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that every time you use a credit or debit card you are creating a trail of data for the marketers to follow.

1) Know the deal you’re making.

Every site you use has (or should damn well have) a comprehensive privacy policy and terms of use document posted prominently. Any site that doesn’t consider this important enough to post does not deserve your custom. Here’s the tricky part – it is incumbent upon you to read them. When you visit their site, you are bound by their rules. No, they prolly can’t take your first born just because they said they could in their policy, but do you really even want to have that discussion? And you might be consenting to virtual cavity searches, giving up way more information than is strictly necessary and making yourself vulnerable to scammers and thieves. Is Farmville really worth it?

2) Remember that your data is their currency.

And why do they have such complicated policies? Because your data is valuable. Content is provided to you free of charge, but the providers you deal with have to make money. They’re not charitable entities, and even the warm, fuzzy nonprofitty types make deals to keep the lights on. Make sure their deals are deals you can live with. Know what you’re parting with, how they’re using it, and where you draw the line.

3) Don’t do things of which you’re not proud.

Since we’ve already established that there’s no such thing as online privacy, the only solution is not to treat it like a mystery spot where there is no memory and no consequences. Any anonymity you think you have is cursory at best. If someone wants to hold you responsible for your actions, they can. And the funny thing about digital media – it is preserved forever. If you had any idea what kind of information is held about you in marketing databases, you’d drop your teeth (as my mom used to say).

4) On the other hand, how much does it really matter?

Are you really any more conspicuous than anyone else online? And is your digital hiney hanging out in any really notable way? Kind of like the principle of herd immunity when it comes to vaccinations, there is some safety in numbers. Unless you’re the slow wildebeest who gets nabbed at the watering hole. Which would truly suck. Every time the Office of Personnel Management loses a laptop and compromises thousands of Social Security numbers, we are reminded that there is no real security, so we should just relax. In fact, OPM has a pretty swanky privacy center, no doubt created in response to their big, embarrassing breach last year.

5) Know your sources and your recourses.

I shouldn’t have made this one last only because it is a good principle to live by in general. And honestly, it has a nice ring to it. Know where you stand and the motivations of the people/entities you’re dealing with. Critical thinking will stand you in good stead online, in school, at work, at home and anywhere else.

• Don’t do business with companies that look shady, that you haven’t heard of, that don’t have a high online profile and that don’t Google up nice and fresh-smelling.
• Don’t use stupid passwords. See Twitter’s list of banned passwords, for some bad ideas.
• Read privacy policies and About Us pages, and keep a low profile on places with which you don’t wish to be affiliated at, say, work.
• Keep a vigilant eye on your statements and credit report (get your free report every year – make sure you know what’s in there!). Start any credit report request from the FTC.gov Annual Credit Report page to be sure you’re not going through a commercial trap.
• Know the policies of your credit cards and financial institutions, and keep copies of that contact information somewhere you can get at if your wallet disappears.

Comments invited:

What did I miss? Any experts I should talk to? How do you protect yourself online?

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