Digital Security Workshop with Mehmet Şafak Sarı

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In the Digital Security Workshop by Mehmet Şafak Sarı, privacy and Google data were discussed today (May 21). The participants were informed what they can do as a starting point for the digital security.

Privacy

Mehmet Şafak Sarı, by mentioning the privacy of the private life, told that "We should not forget that our privacy is our right and it should be protected."

Sarı also told the risks we might encounter in situations which our privacy is not protected:

• Identity theft
• Abuse
• Filter Balloon
• Manipulation with figures

Sarı, who mentioned the importance of the metadata in the digital age, asked what the metadata is and which kind of metadata can found where.

He told about the necessary programs for journalists to protect their metadata in a secure way.

Data leaks in Turkey and around the world were also discussed through the social media applications.

'Google saves our data'

"Google knows what people do and where they go in their daily life," told Sarı and showed the data which Google saves.

"One of the psychical things we should do on digital is to delete our own Google history."

"Google also has your advertisement data. The thing to do for this is to turn off the advertising personalization."

"The data that Google saves about you might fill the pages of a Word file."

What will we do, which software will we use?

In the workshop, the transparency of the applications was discussed and the free software programs were mentioned.

• VPN use: Free but only secure ones can be used.
• Email security: Send end-to-end encrypted emails
• Password security: Create passwords including symbols and numbers
• Use two-step verification: It increases security but does not completely protect
• Use of secure browsers such as Tor and Firefox.

Applications for secure messaging and audio-video call were also mentioned, and applications were downloaded.

The Digital Security Workshop is supported by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and Journalism Media International Center (JMIC) at OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University.

About Mehmet Şafak Sarı

He is a freelance journalist since 2016 in Journo, which is an independent digital platform for media professionals. He is one the coordinators of the Digital Security Project since 2017. He produces content for the Project Website, and organizes events and workshops within the scope of the project. He is also the Managing Editor of the NewsLabTurkey Project since 2018. Besides freelance journalism, he provides digital communication consultancy, web design, graphic design and data visualization service for various people and establishments. He also gives thematic trainings on these fields. His field interests are digital security, personal data, new media and new communication technologies. He graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Communication.

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(SO/TY)