What do you think the connections mean on the lightbeam map

Assignment Help Computer Engineering

Reference no: EM133370994

Step 1 Lightbeam Installation Instructions

If the computer you are working with has the Firefox browser please skip ahead to the next item in this list [Launch Firefox]. Otherwise, visit www.mozilla.org and download Firefox. You only need the computer version. There is no need to install onto your other devices for this lab.
1. The installer will download and ask you to run it. Allow the program to install when it asks for permission.
2. When prompted to import settings from another browser choose the "Don't import anything" option.
3. You can choose to make firefox your default browser if you wish but it is not required for this lab.
Launch the Firefox Web Browser.
In the upper-right corner of the browser window click the 3 Horizontal Line menu button and choose Add-On's.

In the Add-on searchbox type Lightbeam and press enter. Lightbeam for firefox should be displayed in the search results. Click the Install button to install it.

Do not open the Lightbeam tab yet.

Step 2 Using Lightbeam

Lightbeam is a Firefox add-on that watches the connectivity between sites that you visit and generates a real time visual report on the sites that are collecting information about your browsing activity. In this lab we will visit a number of sites and then view the results of the Lightbeam report.

Using Firefox visit the following sites in the order below. Do not sign into any accounts you may have with these sites unless specifically instructed to. You can open new tabs or not, either way will work.

1. search for a random product and click a few links
1. click through a few "news" stories on the main page. Make sure you visit at least one "Sponsored" story.
1. search for "Lightsaber kitty"
There should be a YouTube video listed. Go ahead and watch part or all of the video.
If you have a Facebook account, go ahead and you can sign into any other account you have such as twitter or Instagram or just visit the main page of one of those sites.
1. Click through a few links, posts or stories
2. LOG OUT of this site if you are on a shared or public computer!
Lastly, visit the IRS website at irs.gov.

Step 3 Lightbeam Results

Now that we have visited a few different sites to simulate real world usage of of the internet let's take a look at what Lightbeam saw.

Click the Lightbeam icon in Firefox. It's just to the left of the menu button and looks like

Lightbeam will show you a map of the pages you visited with their interactions. Your computer may look different than the example below because of your history especially if you have previously used Firefox. Look at the map. You can zoom in and out to examine the results. Does it concern you that the IRS might know what you are shopping for and that you like silly sci-fi cats? How about all of the sites potentially being able to identify you through social media?

Take a screen shot of your Lightbeam results and paste it into a Word document called Lastname_Privacy_Lab.doc (or .docx)

Step 4 Do Not Track

Most modern browsers allow the user to tell websites they do not wish their information to be tracked. To see how this effects Lightbeam we will clear out our data and repeat the experiment.

On the left side of the Lightbeam window, click the "Reset Data" button and confim you wish to reset Lightbeam.
In the upper-right corner of the Lightbeam is a Tracking Protection button. Set Tracking protection to ON. If it was set to On for your previous session then select Off now to test it's use the other way.
Go back to Step 2 above and visit all of the sites the same way you did previously. After completing the visit to the IRS website view your Lightbeam data and take a new screen shot.
Paste your screenshot into your word document below the first one.
After completing the Privacy and Security Lab please create a new post with your thoughts on what you discovered in the lab.Write a paragraph discussing the following:

What do you think the connections mean on the Lightbeam map?
Are you more or less concerned with your browsing privacy after completing the lab?
What effect if any did turning on the "Do Not Track" option have?
What ideas do you have for how you can protect your privacy online?

Reference no: EM133370994

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