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?