Advocacy for security and privacy

Your actions, your security, your responsibility...

However, as the use of social media has increased, so has the possibility of data breaches. As more information is posted online, the risk of hackers, corporations, and criminal intruders mining your data in ways that compromise your privacy is increasing. In rare circumstances, your data is even taken outright.

My advocacy is for online platform security and privacy. This is a public awareness campaign aimed at empowering kids, parents, and professionals to protect themselves from the dangers they may face on digital and social media platforms. The campaign will target parents and professionals, repeating themes on how young internet users may make the most of new technology and surf the web while being fully aware of the hazards and dangers that may not be immediately apparent to them.

The campaign's goal is to provide parents and professionals with enough knowledge to feel confident in advising their children to be safe online. The major lessons also include refraining from being harmful in online messaging, reporting cyberbullying, and being aware that what is published becomes public domain permanently and can be used to damage the individual or others. A person's public profile is also determined by their digital footprint, which is based on information available on the internet.

This also urges internet users to say 'no' when requested to do anything on the internet and to not feel terrible or frightened if they halt a conversation thread or decline a friend request from someone they don't know. False profiles that show they have mutual friends are also harmful since they appear more trustworthy. To avoid cyberbullying, it's a good idea to keep personal information secrets, such as your phone number and email address, and to become familiar with and use privacy settings.

If you are a victim of this type of abuse, it is strongly advised that you do not retaliate, but rather cease engaging with the individual, preserve a record of all incidents of abuse, including copies of emails and messages since content can be removed, and immediately notify the appropriate authorities.