This week in Principles of Computer Security class we learned about the different ways websites collect information from you while you are browsing. One of the most common ways are by storing cookies onto your computer.
Before this lesson I never knew what cookies where and how computers used cookies, but after reading http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cookie1.htm "How Cookies Work" I now know that cookies are not program but are just a simple text file that allows the web server to store information on your computer and then later retrieve it. The information is stored as name-value pairs which then help the web site determine how many times your computer visits a site and stores your user preferences such as the weather info for your specific city. The database is only able to store things you have selected from the site, such as pages you viewed from the site or information you have given to the site in online forms, etc. All of the information is stored in the site's database, and in most cases, a cookie containing your unique ID is all that is stored on your computer. This technology is also used for other things such as for online courses. To take an online course you need to allow the school site to store a cookie on your computer so that they will know each time that you log in. If they did not have cookies they wouldn't have an effective way to track "attendance".
Now with my new computer savvy I decided to enable a prompt on my computer so I would have to allow my computer to collect the cookie data to ensure that I wasn't storing tons of unnecessary files on my hard disk. I guess I didn’t think this through enough because I had no idea each site can have 10-20 cookies it seems trying to retrieve data. From not only the site you are visiting but third party sites who want to store cookies. After 10 minutes I became annoyed at all the constant prompts and blocked all cookies entirely. This wasn't such a great idea either as surfing on the internet is virtually impossible without cookies being enabled. It really limits your browsing choices and sites that will allow you on them. One of these sites being Google. I couldn’t log into my blog account (which I obviously need) without enabling the cookies. Instead of logging me in it gave me an error message stating that my "Browsers cookie functionality was turned off". So I had no choice but to enable my browsers "cookie functionality". So after everything I finally learned you really have no choice but to browse with cookies. The best thing to do is to accept all cookies and delete them regularly.
Digital Citizenship is the norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use. This includes nine elements digital access, digital commerce, digital communication, digital literacy, digital law, digital etiquette, digital rights and rsponsibilities, digital health and wellness and digital security Here are a few exapmles how of some of the elements have affected me in my daily life as a student,a worker, and just in every day life.
Digital Etiquette
Digital Etiquette ( the electronic standards of conduct or procedure) is very important on the job. When replying and or writing emails you have to remember that even though you are not face to face you still have to conduct yourself with the same business etiquette you would use in a face to face encounter. Writing things in bold or changing font color to red is the same as yelling or screaming. In business e-mail it is always best to choose your words more carefully to reflect your intent and tone rather than rely on formatting for emphasis. It is so easy to come off as blunt, terse or demanding if you do not take the extra little effort to make sure you are perceived as cordial. At my job we write emails daily to communicate with other parts of the company whether it be right there in the building or sending an email to customers in California or Latin America emails are important. All emails pertaining to a customers acconts or anything having to do with products shipped to a customer is printed out and filed electronically for viewing of everyone one in the company. They do this so to keep as proof in case any issues where to arise they have written proof of the correspondence stamped with date and time this is undisputable evidence. So in these emails you have to ensure you use the utmost business etiquette. Watch this video for the do’s and don’ts of digital ettiquette in all areas.
Digital Literacy According to Wikipedia Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organize, understand, evaluate, and analyze information using digital technology. It involves a working knowledge of current high-technology, and an understanding of how it can be used. Digitally literate people can communicate and work more efficiently, especially with those who possess the same knowledge and skills. I have a very busy schedule working full time and having a four year old going back to school was something I felt I just didn’t have time to do. I decided though that when I did go back I would enroll in online classes so I’d be able to go to school around my schedule. While I’m cooking dinner I could listen to the power point presentation for international business, when my son goes to sleep I can take that American Frontier test on the last five chapters that’s due 11:55 midnight or nights I cant sleep I can get up and finish that blog for my Computer Security class. To do all these things and be successful you not only need to have a great multi tasking ability’s but you also need to have a certain degree of digital literacy. So digital literacy has affected my college life greatly because without it I wouldn’t be able to take a full semester online. Ten years ago it was kind of looked down upon because going to school wasn’t the traditional way. But now many highly accredited schools offer online classes in all areas of study. But know due to people becoming more computer literate the line between face to face and online has becoming next to transparent.digital technology.
Digital Commerce
Digital Commerce (buying and selling items electronically) has become very popular. My favorite site to “shop” is amazon.com you can literally shop thousands of items while sitting at home. The ability to be able o buy without waiting in lines or having to waste gas to go to a store yet still get all the great deals is very appealing to the everyday shopper. According to eMarketer forecasters predict that after two years of subpar growth, 2010 US retail e-commerce sales (excluding travel) will climb by 12.7% on volume of $152 billion. http://www.emarketer.com/Report.aspx?code=emarketer_2000672. With so much money being spent there dishonest people looking to take advantage of this fact, using phisiing software, whaling, spoof or other hacks to obtain your information. Not only are people trying to obtain your information so are dishonest companies. My mother used a online service to receive diet information and coupons for dietary products. The service was $4.99. My mother thought it was worth it as some diet drinks are worth anywhere from $30 to $40. Six months later she noticed a reoccurring charge on her bank statement she never noticed before for $39.99. It turns out when she bought the membership for the original site there was a check box that was automatically checked to be signed up for an additional service to get diet tips from a so called “expert”. Other things were entailed in the package(weight tracking and recipe info) but it was hardly worth the $40 they were asking MONTHLY. Be wary of all boxes at the end of purchases offering free magazines or free memberships sometimes they may be worth more than your purchase.
