Check the Web Before you Wreck Yourself!

In one of the first in class meetings of our New Media course we talked about privacy on the internet, which from my point of view is a very important topic. We agreed on five basic rules that should be followed in order to avoid being tricked online. For this cause we used an approach where the rules were agreed upon in groups first, then compared in newly formed groups and finally discussed within the whole class. This method is quite effective, I think, as it condenses the thoughts of every group member to create a revised and concrete outcome. This networking approach already gave a prospect on how lots of the tools for online cooperation are working.


In a first step I want to try to figure out what possible dangers linger when working and navigating on the web.  I am certainly not talking about computers that blow up and physically harm their user or instructions for building atomic bombs that can be found online. Apart from the obvious dangers associated with passwords, bank accounts and the usual scams like e.g. “buy your heart pills online”, the unconscious user faces more subtle problems. By providing every single detail about your personal live in a social network like schülervz or facebook for example, you open up opportunities for manipulation. Following this line of thought it would be very easy for a child molester to send messages to a schoolchild which are targeted at its desires or needs.

Another scenario could be that someone loads up an image of teenager partying which shows you in a, let’s say not very decent way. Instantly any registered user can look at the picture and knows what the person did in his or her free time. The problem is, that most of the users thinks, that only friends look at their pictures. But what if, let’s say, the boss of the company you just applied for, checks out the pictures?


When working with pupils in particular, it is absolutely crucial that the teacher informs them about possible dangers that occur when roaming about in today’s internet. I don’t only mean the protection against phishing (link) or other web-related crimes but also the social sphere. Most of the kids and even a number of grown-ups are not fully aware about what they divulge in social networks or in forum posts. Looking at this issue, the problem is, that often kids are involved in something that the parents often cannot entirely comprehend or at least have not made sufficient experiences with which would allow them to warn their children about the corresponding obligatory security in the digital world.



Because of the reasons mentioned above we have to look out for a growing number of intrusions in our personal life, which start at cyber-bullying and end at the cracking of one’s bank account. Seeing this it is important to state that the dangers increase by number as new ways of communicating and spending your money online constantly evolve opposed to the knowledge of the users that can’t keep track with this immense velocity of the digital age. I recon, it is not only the older generations that lack knowledge about most of the data related processes that happen while surfing but also young people who are frequent web users.


This all might seem a little anti-social networking and slightly paranoid, but I think with respect to the recent accusations of facebook regarding its use of user data and the issues  related to google street view my claims are justified.
 Apart from that I look at the internet as a pool for information and maybe also as a platform for entertainment, and not as a way of communicating. Which does not mean that I am against emails or discussion boards related to important topics (e.g. forums for hobbies or computer problems). Its just that, what is the point of me telling the whole world what my feelings are, who I dated when and what my personal desires are? I hold the opinion, that these things should stay in the private sphere. Another point in this discussion is that people loose the sense for talking to real life conversational partners, with whom they have to interact often  taking more than 30 seconds.