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On a private site, how can cross-blog anonymity and privacy be secured?

  1. woos2ala
    Member

    Cross-blog anonymity and privacy
    I have created a private site for my highschool class. I am strictly charged with keeping the site private, and all information shared within is not to go outside the site. I am not understanding the linkages between WP, Gravatar, and other providers, such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.
    I assume the possible linkages and ordinary means of identification are: username, email address, and Gravatar photo. I also assume that information like First Name, Last Name, and Display Name are NOT shared across these providers unless they are expressly entered on Gravatar or other profiles.
    Can any tell me what a classmate must do to keep profile and gravatar info on our site strictly separate from other the accounts? Unique email address? Unique username?
    Thank you, community. Paul

    The blog I need help with is uhigh63.wordpress.com.

  2. macmanx
    Staff

    As long as the blog is Private, you have nothing to worry about there. The user accounts are another matter. Each user is essentially in control over how much information they share about themselves via their Gravatar profile.

    Basically, the blog is as private as you want it to be, and each profile is as private as they want it to be.

  3. raincoaster
    Member

    I'm afraid I have to disagree. You say, " all information shared within is not to go outside the site." You also say the site is going to be full of teenagers. You WILL have security leaks, because of the demographic. Because you have human beings. Human beings are the greatest security leak there is. Sometimes it's intentional, but often it's not. Someone could simply post a link to the blog on Facebook saying "this is where Melissa and I said blah blah blah" and suddenly everyone knows you've got a blog even tho they can't read what it says. They can probably ask someone and find out, though.

    If people want to be as secure as humanly possible, they need to pick a username that has nothing to do with their real names or other internet IDs and get the admin to Invite that username, not their regular one with a Gravatar or WordPress or OpenID account. They need to use an avatar not associated with them in any way. And they need to refer to one another via only their usernames.

  4. timethief
    Member

    I'm with raincoaster on this as I do some mentoring of youth and there's no way they have no concept at all of what confidential means. Even doing as she states above will not prevent leaks.

  5. timethief
    Member

    no concept = any concept
    sorry :(

  6. macmanx
    Staff

    I'll join the "I agree" party too and just add a bit of further clarification to my reply.

    We give everyone the tools to stay private, but we can't hold a gun to our users' heads and force them to use them responsibly.

    Given time, anything posted online could be made available, even by something as innocent as a user copying and pasting the content of a post onto Facebook.

    I'm not saying "don't do this," just suggesting that if you're "strictly charged with keeping the site private," you might want to explain to those who strictly charged you that there are risks involved with anything posted online. Like they say, to error is to be human.

  7. timethief
    Member

    We give everyone the tools to stay private, but we can't hold a gun to our users' heads and force them to use them responsibly.

    No kidding. May I also add this?

    We give everyone the tools to stay SECURE, but we can't hold a gun to our users' heads and force them to use them responsibly.

  8. woos2ala
    Member

    Hi all from originator of question. I don't think this changes much of your good advice, but I should clarify that my high school classmates are now in their sixties. Our primary concern then comes from use of gravatars and gravatar info on other sites that our classmates may subscribe to, inadvertently revealing content about themselves which was intended only for classmates.

  9. timethief
    Member

    Tell them not to enter any data here > Users > My Profile page
    http://NAME_OF_BLOG.wordpress.com/wp-admin/users.php?page=grofiles-editor because what they enter there will automatically appear on their gravatar profile page.

  10. woos2ala
    Member

    Originator again. We have sorta figured out the following: The surest way to use gravatars and maintain personal security, I am guessing, is (1) use a username for our site and gravatar that you do not use anywhere else, like "wingo1963." (2) use an email for our site and gravatar that you do not use anywhere else, like "[email redacted]." (3) use a safe display name, like "wingo1963" or "Paul N Alabama." (4) omit other details, like name, location, etc. (5) use graduation photo or symbolic icon for gravatar image. (6) edit your gravatar at gravatar.com/username to remove unwanted details, like contact information, name, etc. = = = From responders comments, maybe we are getting into the ballpark of understanding.

  11. raincoaster
    Member

    This is all good except 3) do not use any variant of real names or locations, Paul N Alabama is pretty terrible. Skippy the Klingon is great. 5) is bad because photos can be traced and identified. Choose something that isn't a photo of you, not even from the rear. And do not even put into the Gravatar any personally identifying details. If you have to edit them out, you've already compromised security.

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