VIP Class Notes (Vicki)

Vocabulary

privacy – 隐私

private – 私人的

relationship – 私人关系

status – 状态

relationship status – 婚否

detail – 细节

leave – 留下

social media – 社交平台

display – 展示

opinion – 观点

connection / network – 人脉

snap – picture 照片

random – 随机的

stranger – 陌生人

cookie – 插件 / 饼干

pop up – 弹出

stay – 保持

platform – 平台

visible – 可见的

default – 默认设置

onus – 责任 responsibility

boundary – 边界

confine – 包含

errant – 错误的

tracking – 监测

personalize – 个性化

session – 时段

certain – 一些

block – 屏蔽

maintain – 保持

invest – 投资

tech – 科技

instead – 替代

record – 记录

leak – 泄漏

agency – 中介

Some of us like to keep some things private – maybe we don’t want people knowing about our relationship status, our age or where we live – because these details are personal. The problem is, everywhere we go online, we seem to leave a digital footprint.

On our social media accounts, we often display things like our opinions, connections and holiday snaps. The issue is, how do we stop everybody seeing everything? Maybe we don’t want a random stranger knowing our favourite type of coffee. And cookies – there was a time they were just something nice to eat. Now they seem to be popping up on websites. So how can you stay more private?

There are some steps you can take. First, on your social media accounts, check your privacy settings. Many social media platforms allow everything to be visible by default, and the onus is on you to set your boundaries. And limiting the amount you share isn’t only confined to social media. There are many sites out there that help you to share documents – so a good tip may be to not put anything too private, like passwords, on there. One errant click may send it to the wrong person.

Finally, cookies are designed to improve your browsing experience by tracking and saving information about your visits to a site, helping to personalise your sessions. Deleting your browsing history may help, but there are certain apps which can block them if you don’t feel comfortable.

So, if you want to maintain your privacy online, maybe only share things you’d be happy with a stranger seeing – and if you don’t feel comfortable with cookies, you might decide to invest in some tech to block them. If that’s not enough, just don’t accept them and visit another site – and why not have a yummy cookie to eat instead?