Protecting and Addressing Harassment

Staying Safe Online: Protect Your Privacy Before Harassment Occurs

Protecting academic freedom is core to UC Merced’s mission. As academia becomes increasingly digital, the line between public scholarship and personal privacy is growing ever more blurred. While online visibility is part of an academic’s career, it may also introduce the threat of online harassment. For scholars engaged in high-profile or controversial work, this exposure can attract unwanted attention that may escalate into harmful or even dangerous behavior.

Taking proactive steps to safeguard your digital identity can greatly reduce your risk of online harassment. Below practical guidance is provided to empower you to take control of your online presence before problems arise. These strategies will not only help you protect yourself but also help foster a safer, more resilient academic community. 

For information about UC Merced’s commitment to free speech and academic freedom, visit: cci.ucmerced.edu

• Delineate professional and personal online information
  • Establish separate online profiles for professional work and personal use.
  • For professional accounts:
    • Review professional online profiles (university, Google Scholar, ORCID, social media, etc.) and remove or limit personal contact details (e.g., personal phone numbers, home address, private email).
    • Avoid posting photos or personal information that could reveal your location, family members, or home environment.
    • Audit your public CVs and bios to ensure they do not include unnecessary identifiers (e.g., date of birth, names of children, or home address).
  • For personal accounts:
    • Consider using aliases and/or unique usernames for each social media platform or account 
    • Use online searches and services to scrub unnecessary personal information from databases 
    • Adjust privacy settings on social media to control who can view your posts and profile information.
    • Review platform updates every few months; social media platforms often change their privacy policies and settings.
    • Delete or archive any accounts that are no longer in use.
    • Maintain a strong and unique password for each account. 
    • Enable multi-factor authentication on your accounts for additional security, as available
    • For more detailed guidance, consider visiting the Prepare page and associated subpages of PEN America’s Online Harassment Field Manual.  

• Review digital presence on digital media (other than social media)
  • Using a search tool, search for and uncover publicly posted information about you
  • If sites you do not control have content about you, submit a request for removal to the host. 
  • "Opt-out" and "delete" your data being collected and sold by data brokers.

• Know Your Rights and Resources
  • Confirm no personal information is provided in the UC Merced Directory or your faculty profile. (There should not be.) To edit Directory content, including office number, photo, etc., login to the Directory, bring up your profile, and click the edit tab. To revise your faculty profile, contact your Chief Administrative Officer. 
  • Understand your privacy rights under relevant data protection laws; UC Merced’s Campus Privacy Officer, Eric Kalmin, is available for consultation. 
  • Secure your university devices and accounts against intrusion or impersonation with the support of UC Merced’s IT and cybersecurity teams. Contact helpdesk@ucmerced.edu or (209-228-4357 (HELP) 

• Conduct a Personal Risk Assessment
  • If you work in a field that often attracts public attention or controversy, consider conducting a brief self-risk assessment:
    • Think about who might target you, why, how (e.g., threat modeling) and tailor your privacy strategies accordingly. 
    • What information about you is easily discoverable online?
    • Do you have a response plan in place, if you’re targeted (e.g., who to contact, what to document)? Visit 'Addressing Harassment' to support planning.