I received this post to my Wall, “I fellow Kama’aina from Radford HS (not from Punahou or Iolani) wrote a really wonderful post about MyDataisMyData. Mahalo, Amy Jussel!” I don’t know if you knew it, but I grew up in Hawai`i-Nei and attended Saint Louis School and became Student Body President and wrestled and was a “Ranger” in JROTC and even visited Washington for the Government-study course, CLOSE-UP! Well, Saint Louis ’88, is the answer. Other than making me super-nostalgic, Amy Jussel wrote a really fantastic piece on MyDataIsMyData on her blog, Shaping Youth, “My Data is My Data:” Putting Choice Back into Social Media:

My Data is My Data.org is a plug-in for those of us who are not so wild about social media hubs tracking our every move for data-mining purposes like the infamous Facebook Beacon controversy I wrote about in those two posts.

Believe me, the irony doesn’t escape me that the development of this useful plug-in to bring ‘choice’ back to the internet from vested interests and corporate coffers is being sponsored by a MySpace meets CraigsList style-ad community called FlugPo. (as a name generation gal, I have to ask myself, where DO they get these names?!)

I love it when technologists and advertisers trump their own kind, offering solutions-based freebies that kids and parents can ALL benefit from in open-source good-guy style…

I’ve officially joined the My Data is My Data Facebook group to see where this is headed in the privacy/preferences arena. We’ll see. Created by Chris Abraham of Abraham Harrison (who also started ‘Facecrook’ to warn folks about the Beacon balderdash) the FB group is promoting customization of preferences to suit YOUR agenda, not the advertisers’.

Hmn. Sounds good to me…

You’d think Facebook would ‘get it’ that we want to control our own data…

…Especially after they got a strong bracer from 50,000 of us in 8 days using their own mobilization tools to tell them we were ticked about being blindsided, sending our friends our purchases and preferences without our permission.

Yet…after a few (forced) ‘mea culpas’ in the press, and shifting to an ‘opt-in’ format, Facebook still snoops, spies, tracks, and harvests our info on the back end (albeit much more stealthily) saving the info for gawdonlyknows what’s next…

Yep. I’m hoping this new My Data is My Data plug-in has some chops.

Granted, the last freakin’ thing I need is another free ‘toolbar,’ but it sounds like a logical, user-driven way to put the control of your private information back into your own hands with all kinds of alerts, notifications, and ‘cookie’ choices, (alas not the chocolate chip kind) to customize your digital footprint beyond the ‘all or nothing’ approach.

A little pop-up box warns, “you are trying to navigate a FB collaborating website, would you like to continue?” and the user can change preferences or turn off or on cookies accordingly. Seems fair.

My first instinct is to globalize it into a ‘yeah, what about Google and all the REALLY big search engine info-collectors…how can this be applied universally?’ dialog…

What about Double-Click? Double-Fusion? And every other integrated mega-mogul marketing play that’s out for kids’ eyeballs?

Even those of us who LOVE social media mobilization, HATE being sold out and commodified, especially without asking. And that’s not even counting the issue of kids! The arrogant gall of techno tools shipping data to ad partners on an “opt-out” or saturated eyeball/urban wallpaper basis is bound to have backlash…(if not from the parents, then from youth themselves!)

Guess THAT might fall into the policy arena on a much larger FCC and FTC privacy scale…

Or not. Those watchdogs haven’t been barking much…

Though today, the Center for a Digital Democracy (CDD) and members of the Children’s Media Policy Coalition, (specifically American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children Now, etc.) called the feds on their lax-n-loose policies…asking the the FTC ‘powers that be’ to get with the program and update themselves regarding online behavioral advertising and the sorry state of self-regulation in the youth arena. Yay.

Self-regulation is great in theory, but let’s face it, COPPA, schmoppa…

Sure, advertisers are supposed to comply with COPPA but we all know the corporate claws have been out early on, insidiously working fast and furious to blitz tweens and teens with profiling and branding sans privacy protection, before parents, media and the snail-pace of governmental bigwigs even get a whiff of what’s goin’ on. (um, Neopets, anyone?)

Many parents are still at the ‘What is social media?’ stage, much less having any hint of awareness of data-mining kids’ behavioral patterns and online fingerprints.

Talk about a tipped scale of the fairness factor…

Even the kids themselves don’t know the degree of personal data-mining going on…

Judging by our own Shaping Youth tween and teen advisors, they get ticked off when they see their eyeballs are being harvested and sold as fast as those macabre ‘urban myth, donor kidney heists’ where someone falls asleep and wakes up with their organs gone! (ooh, a tub full of ice and kids’ eyeballs, ewww…got a horrific visual there)

On the flip side, when people DO want info tailored to them, it can be perceived as a benefit and ‘value-add’ (e.g. a coupon for a store they frequent, or sale on the same block served to them via their GPS mobile).

It’s all a matter of privacy-security, how ads are handled (opt in/opt out, invasive vs. requested, etc.) who it benefits, and how to engage consumers in the dialog to advocate for themselves, and put the power back in THEIR hands.

My data is my data outlines the FAQ very succinctly and clearly on the whole info-sharing issue, at least as it applies to Facebook.

But again…what about a more global policy here?

I’d like to know who’s capturing MY info in all arenas…ever since I read Nowhere to Hide and Generation Digital I’ve had my awareness at “level orange.”

This news report on CNET yesterday gives a glimpse of prelim industry response in this glib comment, “if you have an agenda to push, remember this phrase, ‘protect the children.”

Hmn. C’mon, now, folks. Be fair.

I’m not a child, but I deserve the right to control MY own information.

And yes, kids ARE in a ‘most vulnerable’ category, no matter how much advertisers want to ‘pooh-pooh’ it…

Besides, the Beacon outcry on FB was an amalgamation of collegiate, adult, teens of all ages, speaking to the “surveillance aspects” applicable to us ALL. Those privacy practices need disclosure for everyone…NOT just ‘for the children.’

That said, here’s today’s (14 pp pdf) from child advocates submitted to the FTC from the Institute of Public Representation at Georgetown University. And, here’s the official FTC filing (37pp) addressed to FTC Office of the Secretary, Donald Clark…

Finally, below is late-breaking news from Congressman Edward Markey’s office with an early-stage reaction to same. Perusing his site, it looks like last week he opened a hearing on virtual worlds too, so this lawmaker could be one to watch as these digital events begin to unfold.

Meanwhile, kids, teens, youth advocates, parents…What do YOU have to say on the data-mining/privacy front?

Is mandatory transparency the way to go? Plug-ins and pop-ups when you’re visiting a site that monitors you? Age-appropriate regulation? Walled-off regions within platforms that are commercial-free and/or non-traceable?

Can the ‘my data is my data’ concept be applied to a larger scale beyond social media applicable to mobile, VoIP, virtual worlds and virtual goods via cookie-setting that puts choice into the user’s hands?

What are your solutions and ideas?

Sound off…As I wrote here, the digital frontier is ‘unwritten’…

No matter what your views are, now’s the time to tap into your own gut instincts and best practices and begin to have your say, before others do it for you!

Visual Credits: eyeballs: WPClipart

Congressman Edward Markey’s comments on the FTC filing today:

MARKEY: NEW ONLINE PRIVACY SAFEGUARDS NEEDED TO PROTECT CHILDREN, TEENS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and co-Chairman of the Bi-Partisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, released the following statement this afternoon in response to the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed principles for industry self-regulation of online behavioral advertising:

“The FTC has appropriately recognized the pressing need for updated online privacy protections for children that reflect the sophisticated data collection and behavioral targeting practices now used widely across the Internet. Without stronger protections, including a prohibition on collecting data on children’s and teens’ online activities, young Internet users may become unwitting targets of the ‘hidden persuaders’ of the digital age. The evolution of online behavioral advertising since the enactment of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act requires a commensurate rejuvenation of privacy safeguards. I look forward to monitoring the FTC’s work in this important area.”

Related Shaping Youth Posts on Internet Privacy/Kids’ Concerns:

Facebook: Can You Hear Me Now? Your Peepin’ is Creepin’ Me Out!

Dare to Share? What’s Your Beacon Story?

Related Posts Elsewhere:

Digital Natives/Harvard Law: Deleting Facebook (vs. Deactivating It )

Charlene Li’s Close Encounter with Facebook Beacon (Groundswell/Forrester Rsch)

Rough Seas Nearly Sink Facebook’s Beacon (CNET)

Lessons from the Beacon Backlash: iMediaConnection

Facebook Beacon Backlash Leads To Apology & Opt-Out Option: Laughing Squid blog

Although I am not certain any of the following actually happened, I am going to regale you with some of the boorish stories I have been sharing with friends for years. They are all St Louis School JROTC Rangers stories. In High School, I was in JROTC and a member of the elite club called the Rangers.  And the JROTC Rangers do exist:

JROTC RANGER TEAM

The JROTC Ranger Team is a six man cadet team that competes in various physical competition with other JROTC units that include: Physical Fitness test, Rappelling, Rope Bridging, Endurance/Obstacle Course, 12 mile Team Run, 1,800 meter swim, First Aid, Terrain/Land Navigation and Tug-o-War.   The team trains daily during Period 9 from 1435 to 1545 hours and selected weekends.

Contact LTC Charles Lee or 1SG Jimmy Akuna

Our public claim-to-fame is that we wore spit-polished-and-bloused jump boots and a black beret with a red and blue, school colors flash. I wore an official yellow-on-black Ranger patch on my shoulder and strutted around school ever Thursday with my chest in the air. We were so proud that we ignored the fact that we were despised by both our fellow JROTC colleagues who were not part of our club and the student body at-large. We considered the former to be jealous and the latter to be ignorant.Our private claim-to-fame was that we disappeared into the subtropical forests of the Northwestern shore of Oahu every weekend, every Spring Break, and during many of the other holidays and long weekends. Disappearing was always very important for us because the simple field trip form that our parents signed for us allowed us to be officially part of the training of weekend warriors during the mid-eighties.

We teens were used as Opposing Forces, known as OpFor, against the gentle field exercises practiced by the U.S. Army Reserves and the National Guard. We were only between two to four fire teams of five young men, but we were very well and insanely motivated. Our call was, “motivated, dedicated, hua! Rangers!” We were afraid of nothing much because we wanted to kill the enemy and because we really thought it was a game. Had no insight into the import of these little war games on old East Range.

On Friday afternoon on Saturday morning, we Rangers would collect upon Kolaipuhaku at the top of the oval driveway, ready with our Alice packs, our field jacket, our BDUs, our ponchos, our web gear, and our two-sided 30-round banana clips filled with 5.56mm blanks and lashed together with olive green duct tape.

As we awaited the white school bus with the dark tinted windows, we stood there in rank. Oftentimes, since we would deploy immediately upon arriving at the base, we would stand in-line and jump up and down. Our team leaders and our officers would weave between us, checking us for noises. We got taped-down and cinched up. We lost the loose change, and we stowed our house keys. We stowed our precious black berets and donned our floppy-brimmed boonie hats and pale green caps, the ones with the cats eyes sewn into the back.

When the bus arrived, we filtered in and some of us would crash and other would flip through their team movement and tactic manuals, memorizing L ambush techniques and the best use of cover fire, as one does. Since I never did the whole camp thing, I am feeling that this is about as close to that as I ever got. For sure, I wished I could have trained for this all summer. During the summer we did train, but it was much more casual an involved parties and the beach and girls and Boone’s Farm apple wine and Mickey’s big mouth and peppermint schnapps. But that’s another story.

So, depending on with whom we were training and where, we would either drive for an hour out to Schofield Barracks and East Range or for a stopover in Waikiki in about fifteen minutes.

From there, we would get briefed by a lieutenant who I am sure considered his career over as we fell into his lap, and then we would be shipped out, never to sleep again until Sunday night. In a nutshell, these weekends went like this:

We were dropped off at East Range, received our maps and a briefing, and then we split up into our five-man fire teams. I was the only pigman, or machine gunner, of the entire Saint Louis Rangers, but I have played the part of radio operator with my Prick 77 (PRC-77), of point man, and of pigman. As pigman, I got stuck with the 23-pound machine gun of Rambo fame. And I loved it. As the pigman, I got to have an assistant gunner, who carried extra belts of ammo and an extra barrel. Unlike the M-16, the M-60 runs a bigger caliber ammunition and runs much hotter, especially blocked as it was with a blank adapter. Nothing is better than being on your belly at the elbow of an L ambush in the middle of the night, your pig resting on its bipod and pointing downrange at the headlights of a 3AM caravan of deuce-and-a-half’s, awaiting your commander’s orders to open fire. But that’s another story.

It was very cool for sure, and felt very real. I will make a point of telling as many of the stories as I can remember.

Some of my friends know that I was in JROTC as a boy in my all-boys Catholic School, Saint Louis School.

And some of them even know that I was a JROTC Ranger and that I wore my Class-A Army Uniform with spit-polished jump boots and a black beret. A couple close friends know that when I was in High School I spent every weekend and every holiday out in the boonies as a member of an elite squad of teenage guerillas.

We had an amazing Sergeant Major. I am trying to remember his name and I will. But for now, suffice it to say, he could do anything from his little bat cave which to the outside world appeared to be the JROTC department.

When the other kids were playing tennis, we were doing side-straddle-hops (side-straddle-hop!) and dropping and doing twenty. When the other kids were meeting girls at the local McDonalds we were in BDUs and in the jungle behind the school, practicing silent movement techniques. When the other kids were doing homework, we were huddled in one of the JROTC classrooms, light off, memorizing the silhouettes of ally and enemy tanks, helicopters, and airplanes. We were tested on the turrets of the M1 Abrams versus the new T80s. We listened to the retort on tape of the M-16 versus the more staccato AK-47. We knew how to field strip the M-16 blindfolded.

On the weekends, when other kids were at the beach, getting stoned, or seeing movies with girls, we were in pale green slant pocket Vietnam-era fatigues, we had cammie greasepaint all over our faces, we clutched onto M-16s, and we sat in the back of Scout jeeps, swinging from the M47 Dragon mounted in the back, between our legs.

We were told that our story was that we were a guerilla force, Spetsnaz, and we were dropped, HAHO, way behind enemy lines in order to disrupt the supply channels to the front. We were given M-16s with blank adaptors. We were given blank smoke/bank Claymore mines and told to be OpFor against the weekend best that Hawaii’s National Guard and Army Reserves could offer. And since nobody wanted to associate with us kids on the field, we were basically given carte blanche to do whatever we wanted. We had an entire weekend, a signed note from our parents allowing us on this field trip, boonie caps, and we were armed to the gills with 30-round banana clips doubled-up and taped together.

We were young, fearless, motivated, trained, and between 14- and 18-years-old.

JROTC RANGER TEAM

The JROTC Ranger Team is a six man cadet team that competes in various physical competition with other JROTC units that include: Physical Fitness test, Rappelling, Rope Bridging, Endurance/Obstacle Course, 12 mile Team Run, 1,800 meter swim, First Aid, Terrain/Land Navigation and Tug-o-War.   The team trains daily during Period 9 from 1435 to 1545 hours and selected weekends.

Contact LTC Charles Lee or 1SG Jimmy Akuna