Documenting how to behave on the Internet in order to avoid privacy nightmares
Tristan Nitot
I have a project I wanted to launch that could fall under the Drumbeat
umbrella. First, let me explain what's it's about:
I occurs to me that most people give away a lot of personal
information to online services such as search engines, social networks
and various Web apps (including advertising networks). But many of us
do it without fully understanding where this data goes and how it
could be used against us in the future. So my idea was to explain to
people how things work. What is targeted advertising, how do social
networks make money, what is data portability, what are the good
habits to have in order to protect our privacy when on line.
The issue is that we're building the Internet, but very few people
understand the rules of the Net. We do teach our kids how to behave in
the street (don't accept cookies from strangers, look right and left
before crossing, etc.) and we should do the same for the Internet,
except that parents don't know what the good habits (or best
practices) should be taught.
I wanted to do a series of blog posts on the topic (in French, then in
English), then I thought that this could be a community effort (and a
dozen people have already offered their help in France[1]). Then I
thought it would be better if led by an organization (such as APRIL,
the French equivalent of the FSF) then I thought it could make sense
to be a Drumbeat project.
I'd like to get feedback on this:
* Does this idea make any sense as a Drumbeat project?
* Does it make sense, but outside Drumbeat?
* Would you be interested in contributing to such a project?
Please let me know,
--Tristan Nitot
[1]: I also have a proposal to make it a book to be distributed to
kids at school in France.
--
Mozilla Europe - http://www.mozilla-europe.org/
Matthew Thompson
A couple quick thoughts:
1) Check out the privacy icon design challenge?
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Drumbeat/website/projects/privacyicons
It's not exactly the same as what you're describing, but there may be
some interesting overlap. You may have seen this already, but just
wanted to point it out in case you hadn't.
2) Feel free to go ahead and submit your idea here:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Drumbeat/your_ideas
That page includes the template for submitting Drumbeat ideas, and may
help you to refine it and help answer some of the questions you ask
below?
3) Is it a good fit for Drumbeat?
I'll leave it to others to share more thoughts on this one -- the only
thing I'd say is that Drumbeat's focus is increasingly all about
BUILDING, DOING and MAKING. And engaging a community of others to help
build, do and make.
So is there a way you could think more about your idea through that
lens? In addition to reading, is there stuff that the people you want
to reach can help build and make?
Just a few quick thoughts -- will think more about it!
Matt
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Mark Surman
I love this idea, and I think it is a perfect fit w/ Drumbeat.
If we remember, the mission of Drumbeat is to use web technology in new
ways to *understand*, participate and *take control* of their online
lives. (emphasis added)
So, you are hitting on two important fronts here -- the understanding
and self determination sides of online life. And, of course, you're
hitting the idea of reaching out to everyday internet users, which is
the point of Drumbeat.
What I like in particular is that you want to start with children. This
will force us to think outside of our normal techie language. Which is
exactly the point. And then we can go from there!
Two questions to feed the discussion:
1. How would you make this effort participatory in its own right? How
can the ideas we're talking about be shaped, illustrated and spread by
exactly the everyday internet users we want to reach?
2. How can we engage young people in particular to 'bullshit test' our
thinking and messages? They will be honest and really feel they know the
net. Building in very early testing like this would help us really get
to the right issues and messages.
On a practical note, we're gathering Drumbeat project ideas here:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Drumbeat/your_ideas
Would you mind filling out the template at the top and then posting the
link, both here and to the wiki?
We can then work together to discuss and refine. And, when the Drumbeat
site comes together later in the month, we can move the wiki content
there to make sure it has a project profile.
ms
Mark Surman
On 10-01-06 1:04 PM, Matthew Thompson wrote:
> thing I'd say is that Drumbeat's focus is increasingly all about
> BUILDING, DOING and MAKING. And engaging a community of others to help
> build, do and make.
Yes, this is right -- which is a better way of saying my point on
'getting people engaged'.
So, for example, what if the idea of the book was more about giving raw
materials to Grade 6 students to hand or digitally make books to share
with the Grade 1 students in their school?
I am sure we can imagine a million ways (better than mine) to make this
a maker-ish project.
ms
Mark Surman
On 10-01-06 1:04 PM, Matthew Thompson wrote:
> thing I'd say is that Drumbeat's focus is increasingly all about
> BUILDING, DOING and MAKING. And engaging a community of others to help
> build, do and make.
Yes, this is right -- which is a better way of saying my point on
Tristan Nitot
> Hey Tristan
>
> I love this idea, and I think it is a perfect fit w/ Drumbeat.
>
> If we remember, the mission of Drumbeat is to use web technology in new
> ways to *understand*, participate and *take control* of their online
> lives. (emphasis added)
>
> So, you are hitting on two important fronts here -- the understanding
> and self determination sides of online life. And, of course, you're
> hitting the idea of reaching out to everyday internet users, which is
> the point of Drumbeat.
Very cool!
> What I like in particular is that you want to start with children. This
> will force us to think outside of our normal techie language. Which is
> exactly the point. And then we can go from there!
I'm considering doing a version for children, but that may be a
derivative of the initial version.
> Two questions to feed the discussion:
>
> 1. How would you make this effort participatory in its own right? How
> can the ideas we're talking about be shaped, illustrated and spread by
> exactly the everyday internet users we want to reach?
The document would be created by a community in a wiki, just like
wikipedia. That does not make it extremely participatory, though.
>
> 2. How can we engage young people in particular to 'bullshit test' our
> thinking and messages? They will be honest and really feel they know the
> net. Building in very early testing like this would help us really get
> to the right issues and messages.
>
> On a practical note, we're gathering Drumbeat project ideas here:
>
> https://wiki.mozilla.org/Drumbeat/your_ideas
>
> Would you mind filling out the template at the top and then posting the
> link, both here and to the wiki?
I'm on it: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Drumbeat/ideas/UnderstandingTheNet
> We can then work together to discuss and refine. And, when the Drumbeat
> site comes together later in the month, we can move the wiki content
> there to make sure it has a project profile.
Cool!
Thank you very much for the very useful feedback :-)
