Our Office has created a new video with tips and advice on what to consider when you are posting information online. Most of us understand that there are no do-overs online – the words, pictures and videos you post can follow you forever. And while you can’t control everything, we’re hoping this video will help you control what you can. Check it out!
Tip #5: SEXTING: NOT WORTH IT
Sexting means sending sexually explicit messages or sexual images, primarily between mobile phones.
According to Common Sense Media, young people may send these kinds of messages for a variety of reasons, like responding to peer pressure, showing off, or just showing someone that they like them.
Recent media reports suggest it may not be as big a problem as experts once thought. But for a school of 1000 kids, that’s still about one hundred kids potentially putting themselves at risk.
Remember that photos and messages can be widely shared and remain online forever. And think about the emotional or reputational damage that can come from having intimate photos of yourself go to a friend who can become an ex-friend and forward them to everyone you know or even people you don’t know.
Our advice on this is easy – don’t send sexual messages or images across the Internet. The risks and consequences are just too great. And it’s just not worth it!
Stay tuned for Tip #6: Understand new online features before you use them.
Tip #4: Know who your real friends are
Take a minute to think about the number of friends you have on your favorite social networking site. Would you say that, on average, you know these friends:
1) very well?
2) well?
3) somewhat?
4) not at all?
In the real world, we are generally selective about the company we keep and the personal information that we share with them. However, when using social networking sites, too many of us forget to think before we click.
Accepting a new friend means more than just a click of the mouse. If you haven’t set up different privacy settings for different lists of friends, you are giving that person access to all of your personal information.
Many of us have social media “friends” that we would more likely consider acquaintances in real life. Now, take a moment to think about the information that they can see about you. If you are revealing details about your life that could potentially be twisted or used against you – which could be details about a relationship, or even a simple expression of your feelings towards someone who turns out to be less of a friend than you thought – you really need to think about who you are allowing to view that information. For example, when you write something as simple as “off to a ski chalet for the weekend” as a status update, that may signal to a thief that there’s nobody at your home all weekend, making it an easy target. This is an extreme case, but the same principle holds true for other, less extreme scenarios. Maybe you announce that you’re going somewhere, and someone you don’t want to see makes sure to bump into you there. In the end, the more you share, the more information that is out there for others to use – potentially in ways that you hadn’t thought of.
We aren’t encouraging you to avoid social networking sites. We do, however, want you to be aware of the potential risks when posting information, and encourage you to take a few precautions to fully benefit from the positive aspects of these sites. This may mean taking a second thought about the information that you post online. It may mean taking another look at your privacy settings, which may have changed since you last checked them. If you are very active on your social media pages, maybe you should only let your real-life friends see your page, limit what some friends can see within your page, or limit what you post.
Go over your friend list frequently, and restrict access to friends who are no longer in your ‘inner circle.’ While you can always delete friends, it’s best to avoid going through that trouble in the first place by being careful when accepting a new friend request. Consider only giving your real friends access to content that you consider private – someone you don’t really know doesn’t need that information anyway!
Stay tuned for Tip #5: Sexting – don’t do it!
Tip #3: What you post on the Internet is not private – and what you can do about it
Consider these two real-life examples, which illustrate how un-private things can be online.
1. Last year, a teen at a Canadian high school e-mailed a photo of herself to her best friend. It was a personal photo and it was clear she didn’t want it shared. Later, the two girls got in a big fight, and the second girl printed a bunch of copies of the photo and taped them all over the school the next day.
2. A few years ago, an American sports reporter was changing her clothes in a hotel room. A creepy guy was spying on her and filmed her. He ended up posting the videos online. Even after suing him, the videos continued to circulate online, although most have computer viruses embedded into them.
For further evidence that what you post on the Internet is not private, consider this line from the privacy policy of one of the most popular social networking sites out there right now:
“We cannot guarantee that only authorized persons will view your information. We cannot ensure that information you share… will not become publicly available.”
In other words, even if you have made your privacy settings very restrictive, this particular social networking site can’t guarantee that only your “friends” will actually see your personal information. It’s the same with e-mail or anything else you post online: just because it goes to one person doesn’t mean it’s going to stay with that one person.
Whatever you post can be copied, pasted and transmitted anywhere else on the Internet. Sometimes they can also be saved onto hard drives, printed out or e-mailed to anyone else.
So if you decide, 15 minutes later, or next week, to take down an embarrassing picture or comment, it might be too late.
So, what can you do about this?
First, if you don’t want something shared, don’t post it online.
Second, always think carefully before you post something, keeping in mind that everything you post could become public and could be permanent.
Third, restrict your privacy settings. Every social networking site has privacy settings and you can use them to take some control over who sees what you post. It could be everyone, or you can restrict it to specific groups and individuals.
In a nutshell, always remember that whatever control you have online, it’s only at the front end. If a friend copies your picture or comment and sends it around to other people, there’s nothing you can do to stop it. This is why it’s so important to always think carefully before you post anything.
Stay tuned for Tip #4: Know who your real friends are.
Tip #2: Putting your online rep to work for you
No matter your age, it’s always important to prepare for your future. That doesn’t necessarily mean sketching out a detailed plan, plotting a detailed path from high school to a particular college or university to the perfect job, etc. That’s a lot to ask from anyone. Some of us know exactly where we want to go and exactly how to get there. Others may want to keep their options open.
Whether you have planned your path or are trying to decide what to do, there’s one thing you definitely don’t want to do; anything that will limit your choices or close doors. Put another way, while weighing your options, don’t do anything that might limit them.
Your online identity is a reflection of how people see you. And let’s face it: some of the personal content that people post on the Internet isn’t always flattering. Some people (including employers, teachers, neighbours and parents) search online to check people out.
Now, that’s not necessarily a good practice for a company to follow. The information they find may be out of date or easily taken out of context. But you can’t control a company’s screening methods. You can however, control what you post, and what you post can either help or hinder you in making a good impression.
If you carefully think about what you post, you have the power to ensure that people who decide to check you out online will only see what you want them to see.
That’s what privacy is, in a nutshell. It’s about being in the driver’s seat and preserving your ability to control your own personal information.
The next 10 blogs will cover specific topics that will provide you with the tools and information to make your own decisions. The topics will include: privacy and the Internet; knowing who your friends are; sexting; geo-location; cyberbullying; online impersonation; online snooping; mobile devices; and behavioural advertising.
Stay tuned for Tip #3: What you post on the Internet is not private – and what you can do about this.
Tip #1: Take the time to shape your online rep
Do you spend time shaping your appearance because you care how people see and think of you?
It’s no surprise if you do, as most of us care about our reputations.
But how much time have you spent thinking about your online rep?
Once you have an online presence – whether you have a place where you share photos or videos or post comments – you also have an online rep. What we do online is judged by others in the same way as if we were sharing space in a classroom, cafeteria or party. In other words, what we do online means as much to our reputation as what we do offline. In some ways, it may be even more important. That’s because social networking allows people to check each other out before they even meet. So, you can see how managing your online reputation is just as important as managing your reputation in person.
You can shape your online rep by taking time to think before you post.
Nowadays, it takes only seconds to snap a photo and upload it or post a comment online. Indeed, expressing oneself to hundreds, or even thousands, has become that easy. But it can be nearly impossible to permanently delete a photo or comment once it’s posted. While you may be able to delete it in one place, there may be cached versions or copies stored elsewhere beyond your control. Digital storage is cheap and computer memory is plentiful. And, unlike people, the Net never forgets.
So, take care of your online rep by taking the time to think before you click. Think twice about every piece of information before you post it. Make sure you really want it online, because once it’s there, it’s likely there for good.
If you take the time to shape your online rep, you won’t have to worry if people check you out online and pass judgment when you’re not around!
Stay tuned for Tip #2: Benefits to communicating online: putting your reputation to work for you
Series Introduction
Canadian teens are online more than ever before. After all, it’s a great way to stay connected with friends, play games, watch videos, and update yourself on the people and issues that you care about.
But, despite the obvious benefits, communicating online can pose numerous risks to your privacy.
Over the past few years, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has engaged young Canadians on privacy issues through presentations and discussions. While it’s true that our Office has a wealth of knowledge about privacy laws and issues, we want to know whether Canadian teens care about their privacy while online and, if so, which privacy issues they are most interested in learning and talking about.
So far, we’ve received great feedback. Many young Canadians have told us that they want to know more about the privacy implications of technology, so that they can make better informed decisions regarding how to protect themselves.
As such, in the coming weeks, we will post a series of 12 top tips on our youth blog to help you protect your online rep. Each will provide information about the impact of online tools and practices on your privacy, and how you can take control to protect your online rep!
It’s World Teacher Day – the day that we celebrate those who spend their days nurturing minds and hearts in the communities that we share.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada thanks you for your long days, your hard work, but most of all, your enthusiasm.
To support your efforts, we’ve developed free educational resources to help you address the important issue of privacy with your students. These resources include:
For more information, visit our website at youthprivacy.ca/en/teachers.html.
We’re about to launch our fourth annual My Privacy & Me Video Contest, and, if you’re between the ages of 12 and 18, we want you to show us what you think about privacy.
We’re looking for videotaped public service announcements about privacy. And not just any aspect of privacy; we want you to explore the privacy issues related to any of these four topics:
You need to work alone or in pairs and your video has to be between 60 and 120 seconds long. It can be live action or animation, in French or in English. (We will subtitle all the finalist videos, so that they can be understood in both of Canada’s official languages.)
Any school may submit up to 10 different videos for the contest. If your school has more than 10 videos to submit, it’s a good idea to hold a competition within your school, so that you get to choose the 10 best videos for our contest.
The winning videos will be featured on this youthprivacy.ca website and our YouTube channel.
Oh, and there are prizes, of course! The best video for each of the four subject areas gets a $350 gift card. Second-place finishers will win a $200 gift card and third-place winners will walk away with a $100 gift card.
The deadline for entries is Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012 at noon ET. Look for more contest details here.
If you want inspiration, check out the winning videos from last year.
Then power up your camera, and let’s see what you think about privacy!
Now that school’s out for the summer, chances are you’ll be making some great summer memories. And we’re willing to bet that many of you have some kind of iPod, camera phone or gaming device that makes it easy to record and share those memories with others. Here are some tips for how to make memories, without regretting them once the summer is over!
Protect your online reputation – You know how easy it is to check someone out online, even if you’re not on their friend list? All you have to do is look over someone else’s shoulder. You can never be sure who is checking you out online, so only post photos and comments that you would be OK with anybody seeing.
Sexting is not cool – Sexting can turn into a very serious situation if you are underage. If you are unfamiliar with this term, sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically – so be careful with those risqué swimsuit photos! Check out http://www.commonsensemedia.org/talking-about-sexting
Know who your “friends” are (http://www.youthprivacy.ca/images/doyouknowjack.pdf) – You meet lots of new people in the summer, at parties, at camps, at summer jobs. People who are on your online friends lists, or who have permission to see things that you are posting online, can often do what they like with your comments and photos. So you should only have people you know and trust on those lists.
Take some time to chill – Summer is a great opportunity to be “disconnected” sometimes, especially if all that texting is stressing you out. Check out http://www.texted.ca/app/en/ for some more tips on texting.
Don’t post that house party as a public event on Facebook – People have done this in the past and thousands of people have shown up at their door. (http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1003077–girl-accidentally-invites-1-500-people-to-facebook-party) Make sure that event you are creating is “private” or, better yet, use e-mail or the telephone to invite people to events.
Keep your passwords personal – Don’t use the same one for all your different accounts, and change them on a regular basis.
Stay away from cyberbullying and tell someone if it’s happening to you – Here are some links for more information:
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/
Protect your physical safety by not telling people exactly where you’re going to be when you’re online – For more tips on online safety check out: