List of ideas for safe blogging – reminders for adult learners and blog users

• An educational blog should not allow personally identifiable information such as name, gender, age, home address, e-mail address, phone number, picture, credit card information or passwords.
• Consider adjustments to the privacy settings on your blog, including how your blog is visible from search engines and who can access and post on your blog.
• Other ways to keep your identity safe in cyberspace include: making sure your computer is secure using updated malware software and an updated operating system, don't use your real name in your e-mail address, don’t use any personal details in an online profile, be wary of clicking on email links that ask you to log in, change passwords, or provide personal information – knowing they may be “phishing” attacks, and also be very careful where/how you send e-mails, texts or IM’s that contain your telephone number or real name.
• Consider important password safety: select passwords that are difficult to guess, containing numbers, symbols, and upper and lowercase letters, don’t share passwords with anyone, and consider using a password manager such as RoboForm (Windows only) or Lastpass (Windows and Mac). These and others are programs and Web services that let you create a different and very strong password for each of your sites, but you only have to remember the one password to access the program or secure site that stores your passwords for you.
• Read the privacy policies on any site you use or reference. Indicators of quality policies include: being easily found and having a link from pages where personal information is solicited.