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    Categories: Culture

How do you protect your privacy online?

Lately, online privacy has been a hot topic for Internet users. The Federal Trade Commission held hearings about online privacy in relation to behavioral, targeted advertising, and Facebook took a lot of heat for its Beacon platform that broadcast people’s off-site purchases to friends without their permission. But many surveys show that people don’t care as much about their privacy as the experts do. So I’m wondering: Is online privacy a big issue for you, and if so, how do you keep your information more private online? Do you clear your cookies, the identifying information that gives a trail of your web surfing? Do you use fake user names and personal information when you register at a site? How do you protect your privacy online, and how much do you care about it? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and I’ll run the best ones in a future Your Take Roundup.

Mark Glaser :Mark Glaser is founder and executive director of MediaShift. He contributes regularly to Digital Content Next’s InContext site and newsletter. Glaser is a longtime freelance journalist whose career includes columns on hip-hop, reviews of videogames, travel stories, and humor columns that poked fun at the titans of technology. From 2001 to 2005, he wrote a weekly column for USC Annenberg School of Communication's Online Journalism Review. Glaser has written essays for Harvard's Nieman Reports and the website for the Yale Center for Globalization. Glaser has written columns on the Internet and technology for the Los Angeles Times, CNET and HotWired, and has written features for the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Entertainment Weekly, the San Jose Mercury News, and many other publications. He was the lead writer for the Industry Standard's award-winning "Media Grok" daily email newsletter during the dot-com heyday, and was named a finalist for a 2004 Online Journalism Award in the Online Commentary category for his OJR column. Glaser won the Innovation Journalism Award in 2010 from the Stanford Center for Innovation and Communication. Glaser received a Bachelor of Journalism and Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Missouri at Columbia, and currently lives in San Francisco with his wife Renee and his two sons, Julian and Everett. Glaser has been a guest on PBS' "Newshour," NPR's "Talk of the Nation," KALW's "Media Roundtable" and TechTV's "Silicon Spin." He has given keynote speeches at Independent Television Service's (ITVS) Diversity Retreat and the College Media Assocation's national convention. He has been part of the lecture/concert series at Yale Law School and Arkansas State University, and has moderated many industry panels. He spoke in May 2013 to the Maui Business Brainstormers about the "Digital Media Revolution." To inquire about speaking opportunities, please use the site's Contact Form.

View Comments (2)

  • I use cookies only for the session (Firefox) except for secure sites (like my bank). I use fake names for most registrations. I use a disposable email address for many sites and a trash email for others. I do not post any identifying information. I do not participate in Facebook or MySpace. I use DropMyRights for email client and browser. I am a fanatic about keeping Windows and software patched and up-to-date. I use Noscripts.

  • It is a big issue for me. Personal information is property these days and I only give it when I'm convinced it will improve my quality of life. In short, I try to drive a hard bargain whenever confronted with a privacy for convenience exchange. But with so many policies being opt-in by default, it takes plenty of vigilance to even know when you're being probed.

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