Protecting your privacy and reputation online

At a moment in our society in which posts on social media can be exploited and turned against their authors, College employees have been asking recently for some guidance about how to handle these kinds of risks. Carleton has gathered suggestions from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Inside Higher Ed, and the public relations agency RW Jones that highlight best practices for protecting one’s privacy and reputation. Individuals will need to make their own decisions about what they are comfortable with regarding their digital footprint, but may find the suggestions useful.

• Limit personal information online. Consider occasionally googling yourself. Remove or hide home addresses, phone numbers, personal email, and family links from any public sites — especially:
  • Whitepages-style databases
  • Alumni pages 
  • Real estate or property records
  • Old blog posts or online bios 
    
• Set personal social media accounts to private. When prompted, approve the setting to make all previous posts private. Consider limiting who can reply to or tag you on platforms like X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, etc.
  
• Remember that anything you post online can be screenshotted and shared widely.
  
• Use a separate email for public-facing work. Avoid linking your personal accounts (Gmail, Apple ID, etc.) to your professional profile. Also avoid linking platforms with each other, such as your Facebook to Instagram or Gmail to YouTube.
  
• Apply caution before posting or reposting online commentary. Ask yourself:
  • Am I comfortable with this opinion/viewpoint potentially being shared with fellow students, colleagues, or with the general public?
  • Have I (or the person I am reposting) expressed this opinion/viewpoint in terms I would be comfortable sharing (or having it shared) with fellow students, colleagues, or with the public?
    
• It is wise to state in your social media bios that the opinions expressed through your account represent your own opinions and not those of your employer. You do not need to name Carleton as your employer.
  
• Consider rephrasing opinions/viewpoints as positive statements about positions you support rather than negative statements about positions you find disagreeable. Some examples could be:
  • “Academic freedom is nonnegotiable.”
  • “Higher ed research saves lives.”
    
• For a more extensive measure, scrub your information from data-broker websites.
  • The Inside Higher Ed article describes options: Data brokers collect and sell personal information. Companies like DeleteMe and Incogni will remove your personal information from data-broker websites for a fee; DeleteMe charges $129 per member annually. For anyone who wants to take a do-it-yourself approach, DeleteMe has published free opt-out guides that walk readers through removing their information from the sites, including Experian, TransUnion, and CoreLogic. Steffen also suggests following the steps outlined in a Data Broker Opt-Out List, a Github project that explains how to scrub your information from data brokers. 

Sources: 

AAUP, Strategies to Protect Yourself Online in the Current Climate

Inside Higher Ed, excerpts from “With Doxing on the Rise, Here are 7 Tips to Stay Safe Online”

RW Jones, Protecting Your Voice: Social Media Safety for Public Scholars