Online Privacy is an Oxymoron

Our class looked at the misconception of many adults and teenagers that what one does online is private once the privacy settings are adjusted. We read excepts from Lori Andrew's I know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did and Eli Priser's The Filer Bubble and examined Exif data on photos. As part of the Unit evaluation we asked students to explain why Online Privacy is an Oxymoron...

                                                                       Photo Source: SaFoXy's PhotoStream

                                                                       http://www.flickr.com/photos/77068017@N07/6779368830/

Rob says...
Online privacy is an oxymoron because nothing we post online is private and once it is online it is there forever you Once information about you is on the internet it is near impossible to get  the information off the internet. If an embarrassing picture of you from when you were in college is posted online by a so called friend and they tag you in it. Even though your profile may be private If you are applying for a job you could not get that job as a result of web lining. When the employer does a background check on you they are allowed to check your social networking profiles without any permission because there are no laws to protect the consumer. 

Emily says...

There is no such thing as online privacy. Everything you put online is public in some form. All privacy security options CAN be hacked and wherever you enter information on a website than someone else does see it whether its the person who created the website or someone else who is a product of the website as well.

If you enter in your Facebook profile that you're favorite book is Harry Potter, despite the privacy setting, Facebook still suggests pages for you to like or posts ads on your newsfeed because it knows you're information and its not private. No matter what your privacy is, Facebook knows your favorite book is Harry Potter because you told it.