Protecting your privacy like a pro - #3

Clearing your cookies and browser history regularly

Did you know that lots of websites collect your personal information? They track what you do, what you search and what you are interested in. They can then use or sell this information to ads are targeted to your interests. You can stop them by clearing your cookies and browser history.

 In Chrome:

Click the Chrome menu --> Select Clear Browsing Data --> make sure there is a tick next to Cookies and other site and plugin pata --> Click Clear browsing data.

In Safari:

Click the Safari menu --> Select Preferences --> Select Privacy --> Click Remove all website data.

In Firefox:

Click the Firefox menu --> Select Preferences --> Go to Privacy --> Click Clear your recent history --> make sure there is a tick next to Cookies --> Click Clear now.

Protecting your privacy like a pro - #2

Why is it important to protect Personal Information?

Your personal information can be used in many ways that might hurt you. Some examples include

• Identify theft, when someone collects your personal information to pretend to be you. At school this could be using your social media account to post horrible things that look like they are coming from you. At home it could be someone pretending to be you and changing the passwords on your bank details so you can't access your money and they can. They could even use your identity to commit a crime that you are blamed for, and it can be very difficult to prove that you didn't.
• Stalking, if someone collects some of your personal information they can use it to collect more. After that it is very hard to avoid them if they want to bully or threaten you because they can use your information to find out where you life, where you go to school, what clubs you belong to, where you like to hang out, and who your friends are.
• Your reputation. It might seem like a good idea to share that compromising photo between friends on Snapchat now. But in a few years time it is possible that future employers will be check your social media profiles and you might not get a job you want if they don't like what they find. Share things in person, but not online - online if forever.

Protecting your privacy like a pro - #1

What is Personal Information?

Personal information is anything that can be used to identify you, which could include things like:

• Your name
• Your date of birth
• Your address (or previous addresses)
• Your email address
• Your phone number
• You social media ID/s

Even sharing less obvious things can be a bad idea. Things like:

• the name of your school, or 
• what footy club you belong to

There are going to be times when you have to share some of this information (for example when you open a bank account). Each time you do share it ask yourself: 

• do they need this information? 
• how are they going to protect my identity? 
• should I use made up information to protect myself? (for example, social media doesn't really need to know my correct date of birth - perhaps use 1st January and the correct year, or if you want to use the birthday reminders use the day and month and use a different year)