Lesson: Why Care About Internet Privacy?

Conversation

Answer the following questions. You might be asked to write them down or answer them out-loud.

1. Did you know that all of your internet data can be tracked? What's your point of view about it?
2. Do you think it is ilegal to do it?
3. What problems might happen with this internet spying?
4. If the internet is free shouldn't everything be open to the public?
5. Would you have any problems if someone tracked you on the internet? If so, which?
6. Do you know anybody who has been tracked before? How was it?
7. What information do companies usually want by tracking your internet?
8. What do you think about the Amercian government being judged for internet tracking around the world?
9. What kind of information do you think the US government is trying to get?
10. Are they going to have any advantage with this information? What?

Vocabulary

Look at the vocabulary below. Take time to explore the links for their definitions in English and their translations to Portuguese. When you are done, make a sentence with each word. Ask your teacher if you should write them down or say them out loud.

• ?r=75&src=ref&ch=dic d | t - absolutely
• d | t - privacy
• d | t - meaningless
• d | t - steam
• d | t - tons
• d | t - transaction
• d | t - shiny
• d | t - effort
• d | t - extension
• d | t - related
• d | t - protect

Video

Watch the following video but DON'T read the transcript yet.

After watching the video do this listening exercise.

Reading practice

Read the following transcript then do the associated reading comprehension exercise.

Transcript:

--->>>

I heard a saying that “If you're not paying for the product, then you ARE the product”.
Absolutely, its absolutely true.
That's Alan Henry from LifeHacker.com. So, first off, Alan, why should we care about internet privacy?
Every time you click from one website to another, you click on a link to go to the next page – that's information that people are collecting about you. That kind of information that you may think is meaningless is the steam that powers a lot of companies.
Oh, so, if I don’t want my personal info to be used by other people to make tons of money, what can I do?
The first step is really for people to understand that transaction that they make when they get something shiny and new that's free. So when you sign up for a new account at whatever service, read the terms of service at least as much as you can. What is it that you're giving up?
Could you give an example, like what if I sign up for a photo-sharing site?
Well congratulations, those photos are now owned by that company and they can be used in advertising efforts, even if those are photos of you and your family.
Oh, ouch! Ok, so what can I do about this?
If you're okay with Facebook and Twitter and Google and these other companies knowing these things about you, then that's fine. If you're not okay or if you want to control when they get information and when they don’t, there are a number of browser extensions like Disconnect and Ghostery. All these browser extensions give you control over whether or not the sites that you visit collect information about you and send them to other related companies.
Ok, then! My information is important and I'm going to protect it as best as I can.

Writing practice

Write a couple of paragraphs expressing what's your point of view about internet tracking. Make sure to use words you learned from the text and try to make it as long as you can.

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