Take Charge of Your Privacy

This week is the first-ever Choose Privacy Week.  The new civic engagement initiative is launched by the American Library Association to spark a national conversation about privacy rights in a digital age.  The wired world gives us unprecedented access to information, but it also facilitates violation of consumers' rights. Online marketers trade, sell or real-time auction off their customers’ personal data.  Online information brokers collect data from public records, semi-public records, and by tracking Web surfing habits to make personal data freely available on the web or for a small fee.  View a List of Online Information Brokers.  Opt-out options may be complicated or not exist. Facebook provokes ire for its recent changes in handling members’ personal data without their consent.  It’s time that we educate students to think critically and make informed choices about their privacy. 

The North Seattle Community College library has created a book display and is showing a video on privacy issues to raise students’ awareness of the rapid erosion of privacy rights, particularly in the social networking environment.

  North Seattle Community College Library

                                               privacyrevolution.org

Tell your Senators and Congressmen to adopt policies that protect privacy, join the crusade. For more information and resources, visit privacyrevolution.org and Privacy Video Gallery.  

Jennifer Wu

North Seattle Community College Library