Meet Adam Vance

Adam Vance leads an interesting life. Living in Tampa Bay, Florida he works for WTSP News Channel 10 as a photojournalist. He is a self-described “leatherman” who says when his station needs something done, he is the one they come to. However, what people may not know about are the many challenges Adam has faced in his journey to where he is today. Many of which he does not even remember.

Born in Saigon, South Vietnam during the last part of the Vietnam Conflict, Adam was orphaned as a baby. In April 1975 the United States began an operation to transport as many babies living in South Vietnamese orphanages as possible to the United States in hopes they could find a new life in America. The very first flight of Operation Babylift ended in tragedy when the military airplane carrying the babies crashed in a rice paddy field due to an equipment malfunction. Nearly half of the people on board died in the carnage. Adam, although only 13-months old, was one of the lucky survivors to dismount the plane on that fateful day.

Adam feels as though he has a purpose in life after surviving a plane crash that could have easily claimed his life. The importance of being the best person he can be is not lost on him, even 38 years later, as he lives happily with his wife and children in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Meet Adam Vance.

(VIDEO: Matt Dyer, runtime 2:25)

Activist informs students about privacy and social media

Chris Soghoian, a privacy activist, believes privacy is important in regards to social media. Students gathered on Feb 26 in Gaylord room 1140 to listen to what Soghoian believes are the causes and solutions to the lack of privacy in today’s social media world. The discussion-format seminar drew a near-full audience as Soghoian and Ashley Packard discussed the history and future of privacy. The presentation wrapped up with a Q&A section with audience members.

Anyone who uses Facebook or other social media should be worried about privacy. As social media becomes more prevalent in today’s society privacy may be hard to obtain in the future.  Soghoian explains that social media sites and search engines store information for years. This information is accessible, without limit, to any law enforcement or other government agencies. Not only does this make it easier for law enforcement to gain information, it can be intrusive as well.

“[Information that] would once have taken the FBI to the field to get they can now get on their web browsers,” Soghoian said.

Packard and Soghoian PHOTO: Matt Dyer

Soghoian’s activist techniques range from obtaining official documents through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to smuggling tape recorders into places he should not be.  He also helped create the Do not Track privacy program. Although his activism deals with technology, he says that his research and ideas are about the policies behind the technology.

“I try to make these [issues] assailant and understandable… [it’s] public policy questions wrapped in a thin layer of technology,” Soghoian said.

Despite the decreasing privacy on social media like Facebook, there are some companies who maintain transparency. Twitter and Google are open about the data transactions that they are required by law to complete. These are small steps in the larger progress towards maintaining privacy. Often times in social media people are not given a choice about certain aspects of their privacy. This creates problems for people who are not aware of the privacy concerns in regards to social networking.

“It’s not that the information is being collected, it’s that we don’t know what information is being collected,” Packard said.

Thanks to activists like Soghoian people can be relieved to know that not everyone has forgotten about privacy. However, social media is not going away. Privacy should be a consideration everyone takes into account.  Soghoian urges students who have a problem with privacy policies at their university to try and get those changed. If no one tries to enact change, there will be no change. How important is privacy to you?