COMP 380-003           Computers & Society            Spring 2008

Privacy in the Information Age

Assignment is to be completed by each student individually

1. To give you an appreciation for how much information--and the kinds of information--that are reachable via the Internet. (Remember that this does not  include most of what private companies or government agencies have stored about us in private databases.)
   
2. To learn about the many different kinds of tools you can use to find said information.
   
3. To understand how assumptions/deductions can be made about a person based on his/her electronic alter ego.
   
4. To glean your reaction to what you find.
   

1. Be sure your document includes your name and the title:  "Privacy Assignment."
2. Please name the file that you send as "YourLastName_Privacy."  For example, if I were submitting a word document, the file name would be Pozefsky_Privacy.doc.  Following this convention significantly simplifies file management for us.  The file can be of any type that is convenient for you:  MS Word (2003 or 2007), PDF, RTF, or HTML.
   
3. Using as many different tools and methodologies as you can muster, try to find out as many different facts as you can about me, Diane Pozefsky.  You may use any tool or technique that you wish as long as it is done over the Internet.  For example, in-person interviews are not acceptable.
   
4. Your document is to be structured in two parts.  Section 1 will be the results of your research and Section 2 your analysis of that information. 
   
5. In section 1, you are to list all of the facts that you found, and, for each of those facts, describe the methodology and location you used to find it.  You may not include facts you learn only from my home page or or curriculum vita (which is linked from my home page), unless you also found them elsewhere--be specific. In addition, you may include the information that you would have had access to if you were willing to pay a fee; include what that service fee would have been in each case. 
   
6. Section 2 is to be a well structured, coghesive essay covering the following three topics:
   
1. Write a few paragraphs about what you (or others) might deduce from the facts that you found--deductions that were not explicitly listed as facts. 
   
2. Describe the risks that came to mind as you found this data.  For example, were you allowed to try to guess my password(s)?  Would you be able to register as me in order to obtain some service?  Were you allowed to contact my friends on Facebook and ask them questions about me?
3. Finally, end your paper with a paragraph or two that describes your reaction to what you found.  Were you surprised?  Dismayed?  Why?