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PROTECTSTUDENT'S PRIVACY

DATA PROTECTION: A STUDENT’S GUIDE TO PROTECTING THEIR PRIVACY

There are a large number of issues that students can be faced with when dealing with the issue of ensuring that their personal data remains private and out of the hands of untrustworthy parties. From data tracking by large companies that monitored activity of students who use their services. This information was used to sell targeted ads to the students. Parents are unable to do anything about this as due to an arrangement between the company and a large number of public schools. Though Google has acknowledged that it tracks data in order to improve its products as said in a blog post that defended its practices and that the data it collects is sesecure, privacy advocate groups remained anxious, warning that many school administrators are unaware of the amount of information that has been collected or how the data may be used. Large social media companies are also involved in data tracking and they use that data to tailor advertisements towards students.

DATA PROTECTION: A STUDENT’S GUIDE TO PROTECTING THEIR PRIVACY

There is little that can be done due to these companies spending large sums of money on lobbyist that block regulation. In addition to concerns regarding what these large companies are doing with student data, there is also the risk of collected data being leaked or stolen with one incident of data leakage occurring on December 2nd 2014 where students who had applied for a Student Assistance Fund Grant during a certain time period described in the article had their grant applications posted online during the weekend. There are a number of additional privacy risks for students online, such as young people’s willingness willingness to publish personal information on social media and Cyberbullying from other students publishing personal information about another student. Students may also lose information due to people hacking into their personal accounts on a website and releasing their personal information. One of the largest issues surrounding student privacy online is the fact that data is being kept either by large social media companies or other organisations that either use data for unethical purposes, or are prone to security breaches that result in the publication of personal information.

DATA PROTECTION: A STUDENT’S GUIDE TO PROTECTING THEIR PRIVACY

In addition to this, students who give their personal information either to peers or to complete strangers online put themselves at risk of their data being released publically online. Since these risks exist, there are a number of steps that students will need to take in order to ensure that their personal data is safe and to minimise the risk of sensitive information about them being released online and being available to the public. Steps that students can take may include the use of a password manager, disabling GPS and WI-FI on mobile phones, be thorough when reading the access privileges for apps and make good judgement based on them, avoid displayingdisplaying your date of birth and telephone number, make it difficult for people to find you on social media, separate your work and personal presence on social media, make your connections encrypted, changing your privacy settings on Facebook and Twitter, along with collaborating with others in demanding that all countries focus on implementing the International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance.

PROTECTING YOUR ACCOUNT WITH A PASSWORD MANAGER

By making use of a password manager, you can easily create unique passwords for every account that you use for different websites. By having a unique password for every account, you are insuring yourself against the risk of multiple accounts being hacked should a security breach occur with one account. By doing this, you can minimise the risk of losing a large amount of valuable data because even if one of your accounts is breached, then at least your other accounts will be secure as they will have different passwords, meaning that the perpetrator will not be able able to use the password from one account to access your other accounts. Password Managers are easily accessible and are available across all platforms. Some may be low cost while others are completely free. PC Magazine has a list of recommended password managers that you can use. Notable examples that were editor’s choice include Dashlane, LastPass 4.0 Premium and Sticky Password Premium.

PROTECTING YOUR ACCOUNT WITH A PASSWORD MANAGER

Alternatively, students can make use of two-factor authentication which locks down all social media accounts so that when they are logging in with their accounts, they will need to use a special code that the website will text to their mobile phone. Services of two-factor authentication can vary, some will require you to use the special code for every time you log in, while others will only ask for the code when a new web browser or device is using the account. An overview of the two-factor authentication services that are available is provided by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The The key advantage in using two-factor authentication is that it acts as an additional defence against others getting access to your account. Even if they have a password for your account, they will still need to know the code which is texted to your phone. This also means that you will know if someone is trying to access your account, so it is recommended to change your password if you receive a code using this system and you have not made any attempts to log in.

PROTECTING YOUR ACCOUNT WITH A PASSWORD MANAGER

It should be noted that even if you are unable to get access to a password system, you can still create a set of unique passwords by yourself. The best kind of passwords include a combination of upper and lower case letters that are used in conjunction with numbering. The more complicated your password, the harder it is for someone to gain access to your account. One important thing for students to do is to make sure that they are informed of any security breaches on social media websites. If you learn of any such breaches, make sure you change your passpassword immediately, because if the password has been changed, then the security breach is unlikely to affect you.

PREVENT DATA TRACKING ON MOBILE PHONE BY DISABLING GPS AND WI-FI

The GPS and Wi-Fi on your mobile phone track your data for purposes such as detecting the location of your device using cell towers (GPS) and broadcasting concise information related to the mobile phone, apps, location and internet usage. If GPS is enabled, then the location information is much more precise and is available for different entities that can even include your platform prprovide and app developers. Wi-Fi is similar which is why disabling the function prevents the broadcast of personal information. Power management applications are particularly helpful when it comes to remembering to disable Wi-Fi as the apps ensure that the Wi-Fi is disabled whenever the screen goes dark, preventing information broadcast and saving battery life on phones.

MAKE SMART CHOICES BASED ON APP ACCESS PRIVILEGES

It should be noted that when a company offers a free service, then it is likely that the individual is a product. This means that the free service apps will collect personal data in order to tailor advertising towards you. The next time you are downloading a free app, make sure you check the information that it wants to access and decide as to whether or not you should allow them to access this ininformation.

MAKE YOUR DATE OF BIRTH AND PHONE NUMBER HIDDEN

One thing to avoid on social media websites is displaying full details related to your phone number and your date of birth. Both are key pieces of information that are important for the verification of your account, so students should make sure that nobody knows their phone number or their date of birth.

MAKE IT HARDER FOR PEOPLE TO FIND YOU ON SOCIAL MEDIA

In order to maintain your personal privacy, it is best to use unique usernames and email addresses for each website that you join. The majority of online email providers allow this by adding extra letters to your current email address. The main advantage of additional anonymity on different social media websites is that you will make it more difficult for strangers to search your name on social media and find youyou. The use of a unique email address also makes it easier to know where you are receiving spam, thus making it easy to know where the spammers found your email address.

MAKE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS PRIVATE

In order to maintain your personal privacy, it is best to use unique usernames and email addresses for each website that you join. The majority of online email providers allow this by adding extra letters to your current email address. The main advantage of additional anonymity on different social media websites is that you will make it more difficult for strangers to search your name on social media and find youyou. The use of a unique email address also makes it easier to know where you are receiving spam, thus making it easy to know where the spammers found your email address.

SEPARATE YOUR WORK AND PERSONAL PRESENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

If you have a work email account, make sure that the account is used exclusively for work purposes. The reason for this is that your employer has the right to access the email account that you use for work. The best thing to do in this instance is to have a separate email address for private purposes. To expand on the idea of making it harder for people to find you on social media, it is best to have multiple social media identities multiple social media identities for different purposes. The Guardian recommends three different categories of social media identities which include work, very private and publicly personal. It should be noted that the contact list of each social media identity should be as varied as possible. This step is quite notable as keeping all your personal information isolated to an isolated social media account is a good wagood way to avoid having an employer seeing information that one may not want them to see.

COLLABORATION IN PROTEST

Each of these steps can vary in their usefulness in terms of protecting your private data. However, it is not enough to be forced to take measures for preventing large entities and individuals from taking personal data and using it for their own means. According to The Guardian, everyone should demand that all countries implement the International Principals on the Application of Human Rights to Communications and SurCommunications and Surveillance. These are a set of 13 principals that create an evaluative framework to assess the surveillance practices in terms of the human rights obligations.

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In conclusion, it is clear that in today’s world of heavy surveillance and data collection, there is a huge risk of student information being taken and used for unknown purposes by large entities. There is also the additional risk of student information being stolen by other individuals who have hacked their accounts, either as a form of cyberbullying or to expose certain ininformation about the student in question. As a result, numerous actions need to be taken in order to ensure that students are able to use the internet, knowing that their data is secure. By taking each step, students will be able to avoid or reduce the risk of incidents where their data is stolen and used without their prior consent.