Privacy used to be about locking bathroom or bedroom doors or about best friends promising and managing to keep each other’s secrets. It was about papers and photographs disappearing forever after they had been destroyed and it was about about keeping sacred information hidden if we chose to do so.

Thanks to the Internet, Social Media and new technology such as cameras that embed photos with GPS coordinates, lack of privacy has reached staggering proportions. In the span of two years, my husband’s identity has been stolen twice, my younger son’s friend had her naked photo distributed to her entire school and I inadvertently lost a client by calling her a less-than flattering word in an email and then, duh, sending it to her in error. I won’t even bore you with the credit card and checking account fraud, phishing, computer viruses and Facebook intrusions I have experienced.

It’s a full time job keeping up with the ways losing privacy can harm you. So relax. All you need to do is read and let me do the work!

 

A little bit about me …

 

 

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, I moved to California and became a proud US Citizen as soon as I was eligible. I graduated from UCLA with a BA in Psychology and then traveled to Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan as an International Marketing Specialist for a computer software company. After my children were born, I worked part time in Information Technology, accounting and Commercial Real Estate Sales and I ran a gift business on the side. In anticipation of “empty nest syndrome,” I craved a stimulating career change and tried out a few ‘less than satisfying’ options. That led to enrolling in Marketing and Social Media classes at UCLA where I became interested in the issues caused by the growing use of technology and social media. I created what-is-privacy.com for a class assignment and when that lead to requests for presentations on blogging, social media and privacy, I realized I had a passion for acquiring and sharing this information. I completed the Marketing certificate in March 2013 and I stay abreast of current cyber issues and solutions in eclectic ways.

My goal is to continue to make the cyber world a safer place by sharing my knowledge on my blog and in customized presentations for a diversity of audiences. I love what I do and that makes it easy for me to do it!