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. Do you think the Internet is a safe environment?
2. Did you know that your Internet data can be tracked? What's your point of view on that?
3. What problems might happen with internet data tracking?
4. Do you use a lot of free services on the Internet? Which ones?
5. Do you have any important information on the Internet that you would not like others to know?
6. What information do companies usually want by tracking your internet activity?
7. What do you think about the Amercian government being accused of internet tracking around the world? What kind of information do you think the US government is trying to get?
8. Are they going to have any advantage with this information? What?
9. What measures do you take to keep your information safe?
10. What would you do if Facebook used your personal photos for advertisement?

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.

DT   absolutely

DT   privacy

DT   meaningless

DT   steam

DT   tons

DT   transaction

DT   shiny

DT   effort

DT   extension

DT   related

DT   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, it's 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 the 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 I can.

Writing practice

Write a couple of paragraphs expressing your point of view on 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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