Much of what the Internet knows about you, it knows from social media. Are you aware of how much you’ve shared? Make sure your content and settings protect your privacy and security, and reflect the public and professional persona you wish to project.
If you’re an instructor, you also need to consider how you use non-IU platforms (such as blogs, social media, wikis, and survey tools), and what your students are posting there.
Browse through your social networking site profiles and delete any information that you now realize goes too far.
Remove your home address (list just your city, if anything); your birthdate (if you can't live without your "friends" wishing you well on the actual day, at least take out the year); and undo any indications of which "friends" are your actual family members.
Keep in mind that older posts that once seemed fine may no long fit your professional identity. Your oldest posts and photos and posts in which other users feature you may still be visible and searchable if you haven't set your privacy settings to hide them.
From the National Cybersecurity Alliance: Want to view or change your privacy/security settings, but don't know where to find them? Learn how to update your privacy settings on popular devices and online services.
Instructors at IU are faced with a multitude of tools (e.g. collaborative workspaces, chat rooms, blogs, wikis, and podcast/video sites) that offer potential for engaging students in learning. When such tools are provided by IU, instructors can be confident that relevant policy issues have been addressed as part of the implementation. However, there could be a number of privacy concerns when an instructor chooses to use a non-IU online tool in instruction.
The Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning highlights three major risks to consider when using third party tools:
Risks exist when university information is stored in tools or cloud services not provided or contracted by IU. Most instructional situations face three major risks.
Additional details are available at Third Party Services: Legal and Privacy Concerns
More resources on Cloud Computing in general, and other uses of such tools, are available.
