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TIPS FOR PROTECTING PRIVACY ONLINE
From the Office of Information Technology Policy
of the American Library Association
(With many
thanks to the Federal Trade Commission, Center for Democracy & Technology,
Electronic
Frontier Foundation, and LearnTheNet,)
Before you reveal any
personally identifying information, find out how it will be used and whether it
will be shared with others. Will you have a choice about the use of your
information; can you choose to have it kept confidential? If you can't figure
that out from reading a web site's privacy policy, or if there isn't one, you
may want to think twice about providing personally identifying information.
Clean
Up After Yourself: Delete History, Cache, Cookies, and Temporary Internet Files
As you browse, your
cache stores Web sites you have visited so that your browser can store them
locally instead of going to the Web site. Copies of all accessed pages and
images are saved on your computer's memory. This helps to speed up
your browsing on a private computer, but can also allow your habits to be
tracked on a public one.
You can delete most of your online
trail by simply going to the "Preferences" folder in your browser and
clicking on the "Empty Cache" button. Sometimes this option is in the
"Advanced" menu of the browser preferences. In Internet Explorer, go
to "Internet Options" from the "Tools" menu and click on
"Clear History". To make sure you get everything, before you walk away
from a library computer, use the "find" menu, click files or folders,
and search for "cookies" and "temporary internet" files.
Erase everything the computer will let you erase in both files.
In the library, few users will have personal
information in the browser's "Setup", "Options" or
"Preferences" menus, so their privacy will be somewhat protected.
Home users and library staff who do not share computers may wish to use
pseudonyms or otherwise decline to provide personally identifiable information.
Libraries may also wish to use an IP address in the
browser, rather than "XYZ County Public Library," so as not to flag
the visitor as someone with Internet access at the library.
Do not give your password to
anyone. This includes parents, children, spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, best
friends, tech support, and everyone else! Protecting your password is not about
trusting another person, or not trusting them, it's about responsible use of
the Internet and other library and computer resources.
Update your password on a
regular basis – several times per year. Do not use easy-to-guess passwords like
your name, hometown, birthdate, or the names of your family members or pets. If
you have to write the password down in order to remember it, keep it somewhere safe
and private. NEVER post your password near the computer.
Websites that collect personal data may allow you to
decide whether whether you want to receive e-mail or other marketing offers
from them, and whether or not they can share your personal data with other
companies. Typically, the user checks or unchecks a box on a web page, either
agreeing to this or refusing to allow personal information to be shared.
Members of the Trust-e and BBBOnline seal programs are required to offer
consumers the opportunity to opt-out.
Parents
and caregivers need to make sure that children know why privacy is important,
and how to protect theirs. Children should never give out personally
identifiable information online – including name, address, phone/e-mail, school
or team names, or any other information that might let someone identify the
child or pretend to be someone the child knows. Set clear rules, explain why
you have them, and enforce them. Make sure that children understand that these
rules apply anywhere they use the computer – the library, school, home, friends
houses.