# **Privacy**

### 1) Web Search
While doing the web search, I surprisingly did not find my face or name pop up as a top search. Here are a couple screenshots of what showed up when I typed my name in on google.

### 2) Intellius
Using intellius, I also was unable to find a lot of information about myself. Even by typing in my phone number, the wrong pinpointed location showed up.
In this photo, none of the results of a 'Katy O'Sullivan' were mine.

### 3) Browser
This part was the scariest for me. Just by clicking on the website Professor Reagle linked to this assigment, it was able to show me information regarding the actual hardware of my computer, most of which I wasn't aware of. It even could tell if my computer was charging or not and what percentage of battery I had.

### 4) My Privacy (google)
I was not surprised when I did my google privacy check and started off with my search activity. I mainly use google chrome as my search engine and do not use incognito mode, therefore seeing all the websites I had visited was not shocking. However, I thought that the location/timeline of my whereabouts would be logged in google maps but it had no information of my location since I had been using this computer. When I went to look at my google privacy settings I noticed that I had location history put on pause. Finally, when I visited my google ad preferences I didn't realise I had ad personalisation turned on. This is probably because I have been using adblocker for quite a while now and usually do not see ads pop up regularly. It thus made sense to me when the personalisation categories were quite limited and some were not really representative of my regular choices.

### 5) Social Networks
Out of the social networks Professor Reagle listed on the assignment, I only use one which is Facebook. I hadn't updated my privacy settings for quite a while so I was expecting them to not really fully protect my privacy. To my surprise, most of my settings were either only modes that were locked for me or only viewable by my immediate facebook friends, which was quite a relief. With just a few more edits I was able to make my facebook profile a little more secure. 

## Response to "Data And Information" by Brian W. Kernighan

According to a poll taken by [Statista](https://www.statista.com/topics/2476/online-privacy/) on Online Privacy in 2019, in the US, 81% of online users felt that their data was vulnerable to hackers. So if most of the population feels this way, why do they continue to put their information out there on social media or use the internet as ways to save sensitive personal data? For whatever reason, too many people place their trust in these small devices, hoping that some sort of security protocol set up by these giant tech companies will be able to save them from hackers and thieves. However, it is clear that despite technology now being able to carry more information and provide better efficiency, it makes it so much easier for those with malicious intentions (or not) to capture our information. Discussing four main ways our privacy can be impeded on; web searches, database information creations, data aggregation & mining and the cloud, Kernighan touches upon how our security on the internet can so easily be penetrated.

In his chapter, Kernighan talked about the web search process from a user and server perspective, reminding me a lot about our discussion in an earlier unit on the Internet 101. In addition to that unit, he also brought up the idea of tracking and cookies. This connection between websites and cookies was solidified throughout this chapter. Most of what he said was not too surprising to me, for we had learned that webpages and the presence of cookies allow for sites to track people and identify their preferences. However, when I did my privacy checks and remembered the adblocker assignment, I wondered how this would apply to me. I very rarely see ads pop up and assume that because I have two adblockers installed, I do, to some extent, have the first line of defense against cookies being implanted on my device. When Kernighan wrote that sometimes tracking was just based on preferences and did not always require cookies, I was not surprised when my google history search and account showed some of my preferences of sites I usually visited.

I was also surprised by his in-depth analysis of Adobe Flash player and Javascript. I would not have expected that these applications that are meant to help me load videos are also working behind the scenes to collect information on me. The most shocking information on Java script was how they can even monitor the position of my mouse and *"monitor places where you clicked even if they weren't sensitive areas like links."* Reading about this was quite concerning and made me not want to update the adobe flash player on my device.

I expected this assignment to show how I put too much information out there. However, to my surprise, I am a lot secure than I expected to be. When I read Kernighan's chapter and completed the tasks for this assignment, I found a few of the topics hard to apply to my life. In addition to rarely seeing targeted advertisements, I also do not utilize cloud storage for personal information and only use it for university-related assignments. However, I will not let this exercise allow me to believe that I am as secure as I ever will be. As Kernighan wrote, even if I only show one identifying a piece of information about myself, it does not mean that hackers wouldn't be able to piece things together and find out more about me. I must continue to be wary of what information I put out on the internet.