As part of Safer Internet Day 2022, Kent academics share their expertise and tips on keeping ourselves and each other safe in the digital sphere<\/p>\n
It has been said that in 2020 the world moved online. Two years on and, although we are no longer confined to digital spaces, our digital presence is ever increasing.<\/p>\n
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When you visit a website, what do you want the organisation running the website to know about you, and to share with other organisations? What do you feel comfortable having others \u2013 friends, family or others \u2013 share about you online? These are questions of consent. Digital consent is one of the most important considerations of using the Internet:\u00a0what do you want to share about yourself online?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We recognise that giving genuine and informed consent is increasingly difficult in a world where requests to \u2018accept Terms and Conditions\u2019 and \u2018Privacy Policies\u2019 are constantly showing up on our screens, so we asked the experts for tips to help us protect our information\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Who can see it?<\/strong><\/p>\n If you have social media profiles, think about how they are set up: who can see them? Are they public, or private? If you want a public profile, consider what you post: what would future employers, friends or colleagues think?\u202f What information can people take from your profile about you and use elsewhere?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What do they want to know and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n Consider what types of information you are prepared to give to websites and services. Terms and conditions and privacy notices can be overwhelming and opaque, but it\u2019s worth trying to think: what information might they be collecting about me? Why? What can they do with it? If you\u2019re not comfortable with sharing the information, don\u2019t. You can limit information collection by rejecting cookies (small pieces of code on websites that track your website usage), or go further by moving to more privacy preserving technologies:\u00a0Duck Duck Go<\/a>\u00a0for web searches,\u00a0Signal<\/a>\u00a0for instant messaging, or\u00a0Brave<\/a>, or a\u00a0VPN<\/a>\u00a0to limit the amount of information you are providing about your activities online.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sharing about others \u2013 ask first!<\/strong><\/p>\n Do you have boundaries for online sharing? Do your friends and family know what they are? People who have information about you \u2013 photos, videos, stories \u2013 may feel very differently about how widely these should be shared. You won\u2019t be able to find this out if you don\u2019t talk about it, and it is harder to try and take down something that has already been shared online than to stop it being posted in the first place.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Online information \u2013 have you thought about\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Worried you may have already over-shared online? Take back control!<\/strong><\/p>\n You can\u2019t take back control if you don\u2019t know where your personal information is; make a note of your online accounts and delete them when you don\u2019t need them anymore.\u00a0All online platforms have privacy controls for you to use. Study them and use them. You\u2019ll also find that some platforms even provide the ability to do privacy or security \u2018check-ups\u2019 \u2013 do take this opportunity!\u00a0You can choose to use more privacy-friendly alternative tools, using\u00a0Brave<\/a>, for instance, as your default web browser.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Want to know more about safe digital sharing? How to share with consent and be mindful of future use, what to do if you\u2019re a victim of revengeporn and more; check out our blogpost on Consent in the Digital Age: Sharing Images and Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n With contributions from: Sarah Turner, PhD Researcher in Cyber Security, School of Computing; Dr Virginia Franqueira, Lecturer in Cyber Security, School of Computing; Dr Paraskevi Triantafyllopoulou, Lecturer in Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, Tizard centre; Dr Gareth Mott, Lecturer in Security and Intelligence, School of Politics and International Relations; Dr Mu Yang, Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing Analytics, Kent Business School; Professor Shujun Li, Professor of Cyber Security, School of Computing; Dr Jason Nurse, Senior Lecturer in Cyber Security, School of Computing.<\/p>\n Written by Filipa Paes, third year student.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
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