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Googling Strangers: One Professor’s Lesson On Privacy In Public Spaces

NPR: “Charlotte Lehman could hear the man reading his credit card number out loud from across the Starbucks.He was speaking to a companion, but his voice carried over the music to where Lehman sat. Surrounded by a dozen or so people, the speaker also divulged his phone number a­­nd home address. After that, all it took for Lehman to identify him was a quick Google search. She was able to find the man’s full name, what he does for a living and his professional website. She even heard him sharing a password. Lehman, a third year law student, wasn’t Googling the stranger for fun. She was on a homework assignment from her professor — to “de-anonymize” someone in a public place. Kate Klonick, assistant professor of law at St. John’s University, where Lehman studies, says she gave her students the task as an optional assignment for spring break. The goal: Try to identify a person based solely on what they reveal in public, including anything displayed on their clothing or bags, like a monogram or a school logo…”

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