Activity 1 Anonymous account

 

Activity 1: Anonymous Accounts

Anonymous accounts

Confidentiality and online security are considerations when working in an online environment. 

The internet has profoundly changed society but we are only beginning to develop the tools and 

strategies for examining the effect. 

Increasingly the task for educators is to prepare people for a world where digital citizenship is a 

fundamental fact of life. 

Most people use the internet both for personal and for professional purposes. It is important to be 

able to keep those usages separate. Using anonymous accounts can be part of an effective strategy 

for maintaining confidentiality and personal privacy and managing your social graph. 

Web-proofing
While many of the risks and hazards tend to be sensationalized in the mainstream media, it is

important to be aware of "web-proofing" strategies to avoid problems. One of the most basic 

principles is "security through obscurity" and the use of anonymous accounts. Learning to tap

into the best of Google while avoiding exploitation or endless distraction and annoyance is possible. 

For example, customizing a search engine. 

The first activity is to establish a new, anonymous, web-based Google account specifically for this 

course. Your account will give you access to a wide variety of Google products and services that 

we will use throughout the course. You can also use this identity to access any of the other web-based 

applications we will explore.

When you set up your Google account for this course do not use your real name. Use a generic alias

that does not give clues about your name, age or gender and one that will not attract the attention 

of web search engines. You can use a series of letters and numbers in combination, 

for example, "abc222@gmail.com". 

We will be using a number of online applications that will require a user name, a password, and 

an active email account. Please select an alias for your user name and a password that you will be

able to use in multiple accounts. 

The best way to determine if your alias meets the course requirement for anonymity is to Google it.

A truly anonymous account should return no search results. 

You can set up multiple Google accounts for other purposes and use your real name later if you like, 

but for the purpose of this course, we will only use anonymous Google accounts set up with an alias. 

Accounts that do not conform to this protocol will not be reviewed for grading.

Use your new class GMail account to send a message to drglengatin@gmail.com 

You can leave the email subject blank but include your real name in the body of the message.