Remember, quoting from a source adds interest to your paper—but only when the writer’s words are compelling. Too many quotations—especially long quotations—distract readers and make it difficult for them to follow your discussion. Quote only when you must. If you include too many quotations, your paper will be a patchwork of other people’s words, not an original, unified whole.
SHELLEY FRALIC DON’T FALL FOR THE MYTHS ABOUT ONLINE PRIVACY If you are a Facebooker—and there are 1.5 billion of us on the planet, so chances are about one in five that you are—you will have noticed yet another round of posts that suggest in quasi-legalese that you can somehow block the social network’s invasion of your privacy.1
This latest hoax cautions that Facebook will now charge $5.99 to keep privacy settings private, and the copyright protection disclaimers making the 2
Well, no, it’s not.3
This is a new-age version of an old story, oft-told. No one reads the fine print. Not on contracts, not on insurance policies, and not on social media sites that are willingly and globally embraced by perpetually plugged-in gossipmongers, lonely hearts, news junkies, inveterate sharers, and selfie addicts.4
Facebook’s fine print, like that of many Internet portals, is specific and offers users a variety of self-selected “privacy” options.5
But to think that any interaction with it, and its ilk, is truly private is beyond absurd.6
How can there still be people out there who still don’t get that Netflix and Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, Google and Tinder and pretty much every keystroke or communication we register on a smartphone or laptop, not to mention a loyalty card and the GPS in your car, are constantly tracking and sifting and collating everything we do?7 7
How do users not know that a server somewhere is recording where you are, what you ate for lunch, how often you post photos of your puppy, what you bought at the supermarket for dinner, the route you drove home, and what movie you watched before you went to bed?8
So why do we act so surprised and shocked about the invasion of the privacy we so willingly relinquish, and the personal information we forfeit that allows its captors to sell us products, convict us in court, get us fired, or produce more of the same banality that keeps us logging on?9
We, all of us, are digital captives.10
But do we have to be so stupid about it?11
And the bigger question is this: If we, the adults who should know better, don’t get it, what are we teaching our kids about the impact and repercussions of their online lives? What are they learning about the voluntary and wholesale abandonment of their privacy? What are we teaching them about “sharing” with strangers?12
Worried about future generations not reading books or learning how to spell properly or write in cursive? Worry more, folks, that Internet ignorance is the new illiteracy.13
Meantime, when another Facebook disclaimer pops up with a plea to share, consider this clever post from a user who actually read the fine print:14
“I hereby give my permission to the police, the NSA, the FBI and CIA, the Swiss Guard, the Priory of Scion, the inhabitants of Middle Earth, 15
Yes, it did.16