#UOSM2008 - Topic 2 - Summary

This topic has been extremely interesting to research and even more interesting to read about other people’s experiences with managing online identities.

From what I have read the concept of having multiple online identities is a very common occurrence amongst the student population. Everyone seems to have at least one type of profile or another. Key topics of conversation included the idea of managing your online identity as a whole by having a variety of services that reflect your personality online. By using a consistent name and (pp) profile picture you can establish a presence on the web relatively quickly, and almost brand yourself from there. The benefits of having this might be professional in the form of getting a job from a well-managed LinkedIn profile, or gaining something as simple as a 50+ likes status!

Discussions also leaned towards privacy concerns, in particular company’s gathering/mining information about online users, and then selling this information to other companies. The data protection act and online fraud springs to mind, however legally there is nothing technically wrong with this, only ethical concerns. I believe that ethical concerns as opposed to legal ones will start to play a bigger roles in the coming years with regards to online identifies.

Security concerns for the individual were also raised; having multiple accounts all connected to the Internet with similar passwords is a huge risk and can result in many of your online identities being compromised at once. This is more and more common, as services such as Google have the option of signing in onto multiple services. For example my Google account is linked to my Flickr and Sound Cloud accounts, as well as G-mail, Google drive and Google calendar. So theoretically if someone guessed my Google password they would have access to all these services at once.

Fortunately for me Google provides a two-step verification process, which involves texting the me when there account is being used on a new computer. This helps prevent the issues I mentioned above. For anyone who’s interested this link can help

http://www.google.com/landing/2step/?utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-sk&utm_medium=ha

In conclusion I think there is plenty more discussion to have on this topic, the lack of knowledge that users have on privacy issues is discouraging and I’m sure the line between legality and being ethical will continue to blur.

#UOSM2008 - Topic 2 - Discuss the arguments for and against having more than one online identity.

Definition

“An internet identity is a social identity that an Internet user establishes in online communities and websites. It can also be considered as an actively constructed presentation of oneself.” [2]

Introduction

“I’ll drop you a text later….no wait Facebook, no Twitter, no Skype me ahh never mind just send me Snapchat xoxox” – A intoxicated fresher!

As referenced in my last post our time spent interacting with the online world is increasing. This means more usernames, more accounts, more passwords and more platforms to share from. This is great we are getting services for free. But we have to ask ourselves what are they getting in return, what is their purpose for providing us with these great services free of charge.

For

With new Internet services popping up everyday, it is inevitable that we as users are going to build up a variety of online identities that we can contribute and share from. This can be seen as a good thing, ‘its good to share’ – Mum and Dad! But where should we draw the line?

It’s definitely useful to have online identity as you don’t have to login multiple times. [1] It speeds up process that we take for granted e.g. Gmail login. Logging in is almost seems old fashion especially by digital residents.

By having an identity we can promote the positive aspects of our lives and downplay the areas we are not so happy with. LinkedIn is a great example; it allows users to promote themselves and show off all their achievements to date, therefore making them more attractive to potential employers.

“The best things in life are free” – Coco Chanel

Against

The issue with having so many online identities is that you cover a variety of Internet services, thereby giving away information about your private life. You have your usual suspects such as Facebook and Twitter covering social aspects. But then there are others, e-mail client’s such as Gmail, which is linked to Google maps so our location is linked as well! Nike sports bands are linked to our phones to share with our friends how fit we are. This is all-fine and provides useful services, and will make our lives easier when swapping between services.

However commercial companies are building up profiles of you based on your combined internet interaction and forming a profile of you which they can then sell.[1] With no direct financial gain to the individual.

This is a difficult subject to analyze. If your school/university sold your details onto a third party, you would be extremely annoyed as well as it being a breach in the data protection act. [3]

On the other hand if Facebook sells your age, location and interests to a marketing agency, so that they can market relevant products to you. There is not a lot you can do, as you have posted that information to the Internet and to the public, anyone has access to it now.

“There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.” Robert A. Heinlein

http://www.splitreason.com/

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It’s also concerning in social situations when rather than talking to people in the room around them, they would rather get out their smartphone and check their Facebook. I believe that people should very much be in the moment, and should not be concerned about what there other groups of friends are doing, when they have live social interactions around them.

Personal Experience

From my use of social networks in terms of Facebook usage there seems to be an image for young people and even some adults that if its not on Facebook it didn’t happen. This is a strange concept as yes it’s great to relive the memories of someone’s birthday the night before, but I don’t need updates of every time you’ve left the house!

Summary

In summary, I believe it is essential to monitor and constantly evaluate what information users are posting to the Internet. Even this blog post when published will be affiliated with my name. I would urge readers to look at what they have posted today and whether they would tell a stranger on the street what they have said online and share relevant media with them? Or would they prefer certain content to be kept private, and out of the public eye?

References

[1] http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/internet-technology-matters/privacy-identity

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_identity

[3] http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/contents