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The intersection of geolocational apps and social media has produced…virtual graffiti.

At several American universities, students with cellphones are tagging campus landmarks with comments and labels using location-aware apps like Foursquare. Some universities have found ways to teach through tagging:

“At North Carolina State University, meanwhile, a new library service shows smartphone users historical pictures of campus buildings based on where users are standing, including a snapshot of the first freshman class, from 1890, when the agricultural college’s hot mobile technology was horses.”

And students have found, er, innovative ways to tag spots around campus – one of the deans at the University as at Dallas discovered his office had been tagged in Foursquare with the comment “Watch out for lame jokes!”

The ability to virtually tag places, things and people isn’t new, but it does create challenges when it comes to managing our identities online – who owns that material? Foursquare? The tagger? The person tagged? Right now, the responsibility is in the hands of the tagged – for instance, look at the care university students take in reviewing, and untagging when necessary, photos of themselves that get posted to Facebook after a particularly spectacular weekend.

Is this likely to change? Probably not – online as in offline, we should all know what face we’re putting forward.

This post, by co-op student Erin Siksay, is cross-posted from our youth blog.

I searched myself online the other day and came up with a profile I had created some years ago, complete with picture and date of birth, name, and e-mail address. So many websites require at least some personal information in order to view exclusive content or enjoy the services provided by the website, it gets difficult keeping track of all the websites I’ve signed up for. Inevitably, some end up being neglected or forgotten. Then, years later, they pop up when I’m feeling bored (and perhaps narcissistic) and searching myself online.

I had the website e-mail me my username and password so I could delete the account (and all of its revealing information) from their server so it wouldn’t appear in the search engine queue. (Luckily I’ve used the same e-mail address for many years). If you find yourself in the same situation but with an unknown or expired e-mail address, you can always write to the moderators or developers of the website and request that your profile be taken down or removed.

You may be selective with what information you put into an online profile, but with lots of profiles online it can become difficult to keep track of exactly what personal information is available on the web. One website might require a postal code, another a birthdate. Pieced together, these separate profiles can reveal a lot about the user. This combined profile can then be used for targeted marketing or even more malicious purposes.

Make sure your profile doesn’t come back to haunt you.

Once again, students from the Encounters with Canada program have selected the winners of our annual student video contest! Here are the winners for our 2009 competition:

The three top video artists in the live action category were:

1^st place: Jeffery Burge, Vanessa Caicedo, Alexandra Georgaras, Gareth Imrie and Fiona Sauder of Canterbury High School in Ottawa, Ontario, with a video titled “Think Before You Click”. They win a $100 gift card and an iPod Touch.

2^nd place: David Borish and Mory Kaba of Glebe Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, Ontario, with a video titled “Friend or Foe”. They win a $250 gift card.

3^rd place: Jennifer Paul from Brampton, Ontario, with a video titled “Too Good to be True”. She wins a $150 gift card.

The three top video artists in the animation category were:

1^st place: Tyler Ford and Matthew Kerr of Osgoode Township High School in Metcalfe, Ontario, with a video titled “Privacy: Think Before You Click”. They win a $100 gift card and an iPod Touch.

2^nd place: Rebecca Kartzmart and Emily Patterson of Osgoode Township High School in Metcalfe, Ontario, with a video titled “Carol the Carrot”. They win a $250 gift card.

3^rd place: Scott Piper of Osgoode Township High School in Metcalfe, Ontario, with a video titled “Privacy Matters”. He wins a $150 gift card.

The three top video artists in the French video category were:

1^st place: Benjamin Dion-Weiss of l’École secondaire publique De La Salle in Ottawa, Ontario, with a video titled “Le réseautage social d’après le Comte Hackula”. He wins a $100 gift card and an iPod Touch.

2^nd place: Stéphanie Lemieux and Emily Vendette of l’École secondaire catholique Embrun in Embrun, Ontario, with a video titled “Le Journal de Lisa”. They win a $250 gift card.

3^rd place: Cosmo Darwin of l’École secondaire publique De La Salle in Ottawa, Ontario, with a video titled “Trouvée & Perdu”. He wins a $150 gift card.

The three top video artists in the Junior category were:

1^st place: Mackenzie Giffen, Chris Johnstone, Chris Nattrass, Curtis Sookhoo and Gabriel Zingle of F.R. Haythorne Junior High in Sherwood Park, Alberta, with a video titled “The Spanish Lottery”. They win a $100 gift card and an iPod Touch.

2^nd place: Trevor Aiello, Connor Bergersen, Chad Bullock and Lochlan Thomson of F.R. Haythorne Junior High in Sherwood Park, Alberta, with a video titled “A lesson In Privacy”. They win a $250 gift card.

3^rd place: Matthew Craner, Scott Deshane, Madison Gilchrist, Joe Matishak and Graeme Wyatt of F.R. Haythorne Junior High in Sherwood Park, Alberta, with a video titled “The Phone Number Test”. They win a $150 gift card.

We also recognized seven teachers for their enthusiastic participation in the contest. They were:

• Crystal Getschel, of F.R. Haythorne Junior High in Sherwood Park, Alberta, with 26 entries.
• Majed Mattar, of Osgoode Township High School in Metcalfe, Ontario, with 21 entries.
• Professor Kaduri, of Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, Ontario, with 15 entries.
• Grant Holmes, of École secondaire publique De La Salle, Ottawa, Ontario, with 11 entries.
• Carol Shaw, of Woodstock Collegiate Institute, Woodstock, Ontario, with 8 entries.
• Kevin Shae, of Sir Robert Borden High School, Ottawa, Ontario with 6 entries.
• Stephen Willcock, of Canterbury High School, Ottawa, Ontario, with 5 entries.

Each teacher will receive a $250 gift certificate at Indigo Books and Music to use for personal use or for the school they represent.

The videos will be posted as soon as possible to our youth site. They will also be available on our YouTube channel.

We were thrilled with the number and quality of submissions we received for our second competition. We’ll be launching the 2010 contest in May!

It’s that time of year again: greeting card stores are decked out in pink, red and white, candy hearts are on sale at the end of every grocery store aisle, roses fly off the shelves by the dozen, and Cupid is a-hunting. Jewelry stores proclaim the only way to “show your love for her” is with a diamond, and teddy bears holding hearts and flowers have taken over gift shops.

For those without a “significant other”, the pressure might be on to get out there and find one, especially at this time of year. This is why many people turn to social networking or online dating sites to find potential love interests. It can be easy to “stalk” or “creep” someone’s profile page, their pictures, and what their friends, colleagues, or coworkers have been saying about them. While these public profiles can provide conversation starters (“So I saw you liked Led Zeppelin/Hootie and the Blowfish/The Spice Girls…”), they might lead to an inaccurate judge of character.

On many social networking sites, people remain “friends” with their exes. This can be a difficult situation, so consider being sensitive about what you post. If you’ve just recently broken up with someone, it may not be the most diplomatic idea to post 20 pictures of yourself canoodling with a new paramour—but if you do, remember to adjust your privacy settings to control who gets a detailed look into your love life.

For those who are still searching for love, look no further than your cell phone. There are many applications that have been created to provide the battlefield of love with military intelligence. Mobile dating applications, such as MeetMoi and MIT’s Serendipity, alert potential matches when a compatible mate is nearby. Users provide information about their interests, and these services use GPS capabilities of their cell phones to locate other compatible users nearby, letting you know about that special someone buying a coffee ahead of you in line. These applications, however, may use your personal information to serve up targeted ads—perhaps about flowers or engagement rings.

If your matchmaking efforts have been in vain, you may be tempted to try a novel approach: genetic testing to find your perfect partner. You send a genetic sample, such as a cheek swab, to a company that determines your match with other members based on factors such as immune system genes. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to suggest that romance lies in your DNA, and releasing your genetic information can expose you to serious privacy risks.

Other applications are set in place to find that special someone safely. Funbers is a phone application that allows people to give out an alternate phone number that they can then use to screen calls. If a date went terribly wrong and they haven’t quite got the hint, Funbers allows the user to send out busy signals or out-of-service messages to make it clear. On the darker side, for those who are suspicious of their loved one’s past new applications from BeenVerified and Date Check allow the user to do a background check on their loved one from their cell phone. A better approach to this suspicion might be to simply ask your partner about his or her past. It is very important to trust your partner, but also to respect their privacy!

On Data Privacy 2010 we’d like to take a moment to remind everyone that is the responsibility of both individuals and companies to make sure that personal information is safe.

If you own a company, or work for a big one: in the past, you may have had to ensure that your customers’ name and address information (and in some cases credit card and billing information) were safe. Now, many of you are providing technology and tools for your customers to put increasing amounts of personal information online. Does your company have the systems in place to safeguard this information? Do you give your customers the tools and options to control how their information is used?

If you are a user of new and cool technology: in the past a telephone was a telephone, a video game was a video game, a stuffed toy was simply that – a stuffed toy. Today, more and more toys and handheld tools come with the ability to go online. Do you understand how to enjoy your toys and gadgets without putting your personal information at risk?

If you are a parent or guardian, teacher, coach or caregiver: do the young people in your life understand how to use all these new toys and gadgets while keeping their personal information safe? Our office has recently made youth privacy a key priority. Today, we have posted some new resources to the Parents & Teachers section of our youth web site. The resources include information on 12 privacy issues (such as the importance of privacy settings and knowing who your friends are on social networking sites), along with ideas for generating discussion about each issue with young people. You can use these resources to start discussion about personal privacy and the importance of thinking about what you post on the Internet.

Regardless of which group you are in – if you need any information about how to keep personal information secure, visit our web sites – priv.gc.ca and youthprivacy.ca.

Do your loved ones have toys on their wish lists this holiday? A stuffed animal for a little one… a cell phone or a camera for a teen? These days, these toys and gadgets are more than they used to be. Just a few years ago a stuffed animal was something to cuddle with and a phone was, well, just a phone! Now, many stuffed animals come with codes that allow kids to register them online so that they can play games, feed and care for them, and even chat and play with other kids. And many cellphones are phones, computers and cameras, all in one.

And while such toys and gadgets can be fun, we want people to enjoy them without putting their privacy and personal information at risk.

Here are our tips for protecting your privacy as you and your loved ones enjoy your new gadgets and toys. For parents especially:

Understand new toys and their capabilities – It is important to understand the capabilities of new toys and how your children will use them. Speak with your kids about how they will use the toy and, where appropriate, agree on guidelines and limits.

Pay attention to privacy settings and parental controls – Privacy settings on social networking sites control what people see about you. Only allow your friends to see your page, your posts, your photos and your applications. Parents, if you depend on parental control software that is installed on your desktop, remember that. Those controls won’t be in place on new mobile devices.

Remember, with Wi-Fi, children can access the Internet from anywhere in the house – And if their new toy/gadget has Internet capabilities they can also use it to access the Internet from locations and networks outside your supervision and control.

Here are our tips for protecting your privacy as you and your loved ones enjoy your new gadgets and toys. For everyone:

Think before you click – The Internet is a public arena, and photos and comments you post are permanent. Even if you delete them from a web page, they could continue to exist in archived pages, in your computer’s cache or on the computers of other Internet users who may have copied them. If you don’t want certain people to see something, now or in the future, don’t post it!

Pick and protect the perfect password – Your information is only as safe as your passwords. Use different passwords for different systems; make sure they are strong (eight characters or more and a variety of letters or numbers); never share them with anybody; and change them regularly.

Know your friends – Online, you can’t be 100 per cent sure who you are talking to. Don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know in real life.

Protect your identity – Identity theft is a growing problem and the Internet is the least private of spaces. Don’t post or e-mail personal details such as your social insurance number, phone number, home address or birth date.

Be careful on online gaming sites – Online gaming sites are hotbeds of people accessing personal information. Be aware that ill-intentioned people can use information from your profile to establish accounts in your name, or use your stolen identity to access your existing accounts.

Be wary of e-mail or instant messages from unknown people – Don’t open online messages that seem odd or are from someone you don’t know. They could contain a virus or let a hacker gain access to your computer.

Have a happy holiday and enjoy all your new toys!

Are you a good digital citizen?

It seems that almost daily we hear of people experiencing negative consequences when the information they post online is seen by an unexpected audience, whether it be a prospective employer, an insurance company, or a law enforcement agency.  Inevitably, such people express surprise and feel deceived by the technology.  Through public education, organizations like the OPC are trying to ensure that people are provided with the resources they need to make informed decisions about managing their personal information online.

Many such tools were on display at the recent FOSI annual conference.  Those from commonsense media and YouTube stood out for their simplicity and straight forward message. The conference theme “Building a Culture of Responsibility: From Online Safety to Digital Citizenship” strongly resonates with us at the OPC.

We see privacy, or the right to control one’s personal information, as a fundamental part of the larger issue of digital citizenship.  In other words, exercising our individual right to privacy is one part of being an ethical and engaged citizen of the web.

The web provides many opportunities for communicating with friends and family, accessing educational resources, stimulating community involvement, and many other participatory activities.

As increasing numbers of Canadians rush to take advantage of online services and integrate new technologies into our lives, however, we need to step back and consider how we conduct ourselves online and manage our personal information in this rapidly evolving environment.

There is a role for every user in the evolution of the web — especially if it is to develop into a space that respects the values, ethics and rights we take for granted in the offline world.

Government, industry and educators must continue public education activities to increase awareness of the potential pitfalls of using technology and to teach individuals how to better protect themselves online.  Regulators have a role in identifying and enforcing standards. Industry must take concrete and early steps to build privacy into their technology.

For individuals, the responsibilities are clear cut.  Take the time to find out how the websites you visit manage your personal information and decide whether this site is appropriate for you. Often, the type of service being offered is a big clue – a site for sharing personal status updates will be specifically designed to broadcast your personal information. If you want to use a particular site but don’t like some of their practices, be vocal about it. Chances are other people agree with you and together you will have a stronger voice in pushing for change.

By taking an active role in protecting your privacy, you will be helping to shape the internet to reflect your values and ethics. That’s what being a good digital citizen is all about.

It’s also the 20^th anniversary of the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention of the Rights of the Child. A significant milestone, this made privacy a basic human right for everyone under the age of eighteen.

Privacy is a right that all young people should enjoy, no matter where they live. With today’s world being so different than it was 20 years ago, this is something they may not think much about. Today, young people are videotaped by security cameras almost everywhere they go. They are asked for their postal code or driver’s license number when they buy a pair of jeans. They can instant message, update their statuses, download music, talk to friends on Facebook and play games on their computers with people all around the world. Twenty years ago, if someone wanted to get in touch with you they had to phone you or send you a postcard!

It is so easy for young people to overlook their privacy rights and why they’re so important. And it’s easy to forget about the risks that are out there if they don’t protect their personal information. These risks can range from nuisance (all those marketers who are looking for people to target their ads to) to serious (from the people on the Internet who are looking for identities to steal, to the predators who are looking for victims). Many of them also tend to forget that when they post comments, photos and videos, online, that information is public and permanent and almost impossible to remove.

So today, on National Child Day, take a minute and remind the young people in your life, in your community, that privacy is their right. Have them look around youthprivacy.ca and click through the pages. Encourage them to find information about how they can have fun online while protecting this valuable basic human right.

A survey commissioned by American academics and privacy advocates reveals that Americans are generally suspicious of efforts to track their behaviour online and to target advertising based on this tracking.

While you might expect older Americans to be suspicious of efforts to track their behaviour on individual websites, and even more so if tracking their behaviour on multiple sites, there seems to be opposition from younger Americans as well. 55% of 18 to 24 year-olds do not want to be subject to tailored advertising – and this number increases significantly if the advertiser is compiling data from a number of sources in order to target.

Interestingly, promises to anonymize the data do not seem to win many supporters:

“Even when they are told that the act of following them on websites will take place anonymously, Americans’ aversion to it remains: 68% “definitely” would not allow it,  and 19% would “probably” not allow it.”

The June/July survey was conducted by telephone interviews with a national sample of 1,000 adult internet users living in the continental United States, using both land line and cellular service.

The report by Joseph Turow, Jennifer King, Chris Hoofnagle, Amy Bleakley and Michael Hennessy is available on the Social Sciences Research Network.

As you might have noticed, we’ve spent quite a bit of time over the past year looking at the privacy issues surrounding social networks.

While we released the report into our investigation of Facebook in July, in recent weeks we have also made public other research we have commissioned.

Last week, it was a report on a series of focus groups examining Canadian’s attitudes towards privacy on social networks. These were originally held in December 2008, and seem to confirm observations made in the U.S. and Europe: the users of social networks will say they are concerned about their privacy online, will argue that they have taken steps to protect their privacy, but will gradually admit that they don’t invest too much time or thought into the process.

This week, we are releasing a research paper that examines the privacy protections available on social networks popular with Canadians: Facebook, Linkedin, Livejournal, MySpace, Hi5 and Skyrock.

This paper, by Jennifer Barrigar, was not meant as an exhaustive examination of these networks’ privacy practices: instead, it should provide users with a general indication of the protection each network provides. It also lists a number of steps social networks of any stripe can take to make themselves more privacy protective and respectful of the information their users make available.

As I note in a foreword to the paper, Jennifer originally finished her work in February 2009. As we all know, many social networks and online services regularly revise their privacy policies and improve the protections they make available to their users. As a result, you will likely find that this paper is out of date in places (say, the Facebook section).

Nevertheless, we are releasing the paper because we feel it is an important contribution to an ongoing discussion about privacy protection in social networks – and on many other online services. Jennifer’s observations serve as a useful reminder to these services that their users are increasingly expecting more from their providers.