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6.3 Other Actions You Can Take to Protect Your Privacy

• When you purchase anything online or use
a website that requires you to enter any
financial information, make sure that web-
site has a URL that begins with ht t ps : //
(a secure website). Such websites may also
have a padlock icon at the bottom of the
page.
• Never click “Agree” or “OK” to close a
window. Instead, click the “X” in the corner
of the window or press Alt+F4 on your
keyboard.
• Be careful of “free” music and file-sharing
programs. Make sure you understand
Britt/iStock/Thinkstock
what conditions or additional software are
With two thirds of all e-mail being spam, it’s nec-
included with the free program.
essary to find ways to avoid these unsolicited and
potentially dangerous messages.

Privacy on Shared Computers

When you use a computer at work or at a public
library, make sure you have permission to use it Jupiterimages/Stockbyte/Thinkstock
for your intended purpose and remember that the Despite the possible threats online, the
computer owner has the right to access all data and Internet is a great place to learn, shop,
information on that computer. To ensure privacy, and connect with people around the
even on your own personal computer, two good world.
rules of thumb are to never share personal identifi-
cation information or financial information in an e-mail and never write anything you would
be embarrassed to have someone find and read later. As the old saying goes, “It’s better to be
safe than sorry.”

Dealing With Spam

E-mail is the most popular form of online communication, but not all electronic messages
involve subjects you want to read about. The computer security software company Kaspersky
recently reported that 66.76% of all e-mail messages in 2014 were spam (Vergelis, Shcherba-
kova, & Demidova, 2015). Spam is an unsolicited and undesired or illegal e-mail message.

Not all spam is a computer threat. Many of the e-mails categorized as spam are legitimate and
legal advertisements for products and services. However, they are e-mail messages that you
did not request or are for products or services you may not want, and they intrude on your
privacy. Their biggest threats are that they fill up your e-mail inbox and take a great deal of
your time to review each time you check your e-mail. These spam e-mail messages arrive
daily often because marketers have sold your e-mail address to third parties, who use these
addresses to search for new customers.

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