Online Safety Assignment

CS 102

60 pts., due Sept. 27

Answer each of the following:

1. Find It Online: The Online Personal Privacy Act of 2002 distinguishes two kinds of personally identifiable information (PII): sensitive PII and non-sensitive PII. How are these two types of PII treated differently under the law? Give seven examples of sensitive PII.

2. Find It Online: Browse one of the online archives of Urban Legends, and pick out the funniest or most improbable urban legend you can find. Do you think this rumor caused anyone any damage or was it completely harmless? Are most of the urban legends you saw harmless bits of folklore? Did you see any that looked like they might have been dangerous?

3. Take A Stand: Many people are initially shocked and annoyed when they discover that their web browser is storing information about them in files and delivering those files to Web servers on demand. How do you feel about the concept of cookies? Are they a fundamental violation of personal privacy or a useful device for personalized services?

Your answers will be evaluated using the following criteria:

• Proper spelling and grammar.
• For ``Find It Online'' problems, correct answer and citation of online source(s). Describe and give examples where appropriate and/or illustrative.
• For ``Take A Stand'' problems, solid, thoughtful support of your position with citation of a few online sources which appropriately inform your position.

Use Microsoft Word or another word processor to write your answers and then e-mail them to kelliher AT DOMAIN goucher.edu, but only to that address, by the beginning of class on the due date. If you use a word processor other than MS Word, you must send the document formatted and saved in Rich Text Format (a .rtf file). A 10% penalty will be applied for each day the assignment is late. After two days I will no longer accept assignments.

Tom Kelliher