While there's still a significant disconnect between what parents believe they are doing and what children perceive to be the case, both groups can agree that online privacy is a major concern, according to a new study.
The study shows that online privacy and security are major concerns to people online. 56% of respondents felt they just didn't have enough or any online privacy and 97% felt that online privacy was very important. So what can you do to better protect your own privacy? You can become a strong advocate for your own information. Resist sharing it with vendors or online stores. Find ways to browse or shop anonymously. Remove cookies from your browser from time to time. Don't log into websites unless you need to add or send information, and this should include social networking sites.
Use search engines to see what information is out there about you. You'll be amazed at the various tidbits just floating about in cyberspace, such as education, home address, political contributions and of course, thanks to Google Earth and other sites, a photo of your home. And if the photo is like the one of my home, I can even figure out the day of the week and approximate time of day the photo was taken. Why? Because my garbage cans are still in the street but emptied and there are few cars in sight. Not really of interest to anyone but I was shocked that that level of detail was out there. For the record, the photo must have been taken on a Friday around 10:00 a.m.