Working with data privacy and protection this week was eye opening for me. I could not believe how much information we put out into the world without looking at who has access and what is being accessed. I spend a fair amount of time online, I love my social media and netflix time, and when I am prepping for teaching I am googling topics and looking into different online tools that may make the lesson a little more interesting and engaging. With all of this online time I never realized how much personal information I was sharing and how I was putting my privacy at risk.
One of the activities for this section was to download and use Lightbeam, a Firefox addon that shows you who is accessing you and your information while you browse the internet. I don’t typically use firefox so I just browsed a couple of my usual sites for a short period of time, but I was shocked by how many third party sites were connecting to me through what I thought were very safe and protected websites.
One of the websites I use the most is Google. I like to use the search engine and its tools like drive and docs. I use my Google account to log on to many other websites because it is so easy and convenient. Because I love using google services and would like to learn more about using Google Classroom with my students, I decided to take a closer look at their Terms of Service (TOS). I was surprised that the TOS and privacy policy were not actually part of the same document, they are on different tabs completely. The TOS states pretty typical information about using the services like how you have to comply with them, they reserve the right to stop, change, or add services and policies, they have the right to access and analyze any information and documentation that the user creates, saves, uploads, or shares through their services including emails, and they can use, modify, reproduce, share, publish etc. property that is on their services.
“When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content.” (Google Terms of Service, 2017)
While I feel that Google has a pretty typical TOS, I didn’t realize before this unit that my intellectual property doesnt always stay mine when I post it, especially with Google services. I love collaboration and working with others to share ideas and build new and innovative creations, but knowing now that others can just come in, take and modify my ideas is a little unsettling. I wonder how younger students would feel knowing that their work and ideas could be taken and shared with people and corporations that they don’t know.
Google Terms of Service – Privacy & Terms. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://policies.google.com/terms