Week 6 - HON 1515

I don't know about the rest of my classmates, but I found the internet search assignment we did this week to be my favorite activity so far!


Last Tuesday and Thursday we launched our "Privacy and Anonymity" segment of the course.  Naturally, my classmates, professors, and I were all curious about just how much privacy we had online.  None of us are major celebrities (singers, actors, professional athletes, etc.), so it didn't really occur to us that there would be much information about our personal lives on line.  Boy, were we wrong!


Everyone in the class got a partner to look up online, and the mass of information found on each other's partners was incredible.  People could find relatives, house locations (including pictures of the house), cell phone numbers, club and sport activity, birthdays, academic achievements, and the list goes on.  I would have never thought that there was such a large amount information about myself or any of my classmates online.  After all, who exactly would want to know all of that stuff about our lives?


I searched myself as well and found so many things documented about my years competing in auto racing and about my dad, who is a television commentator for Speed Channel.  Apparently, according to one racing site, my racing status is now "presumed retired" because I have not raced in the past two years.  I laughed at the fact that I could be "retired" at the age of 18.  I also found it a little unnerving when I located a blog post where a racing fan talked about my success in a particular race and then watching me walk around the pit area afterward talking on my cell phone.  No wonder celebrities freak out when being watched or followed, I felt pretty awkward after reading just that one article.  I especially didn't like finding ugly pictures from my middle school years online.  I can hide the hard-copy versions of those pictures when I'm at home, but I don't know how to get rid of them online (unfortunately).


This week has made me really realize how easy it is for anyone to find information about anyone else online.  I am really excited to continue with this topic on Tuesday.  I am anxious to find out more!