A team of Penn State researchers is reminding policymakers, industry and citizens that satellite data, left unchecked, can be as dangerous as it is useful and as threatening to national security and civil liberties as it is helpful to the national economy.

People may be more willing to hand over their private information to a machine, rather than a human, because they view machines as more trustworthy and less apt to have designs on their data. That could lead to positive — and negative — results, according to Penn State researchers.

While fitness trackers and other satellite data-enabled devices might be great for health and fitness, these and other technologies that use information from private and government satellites may cause huge problems for people and policymakers, according to Penn State researchers.

Little things can mean a lot online. Researchers suggest that adding small computer graphics, called icons, that imply crowd size and connectivity can lead people to disclose more information — often very personal information — online.

Penn State researchers Vasant Honavar, Timothy Brick and Ariana Winder will look at important issues surrounding data use and privacy that will be discussed at this month’s "Science on Tap" event. They will explore how organizations can better navigate the health data conversation and partner with all stakeholders to provide better prevention, diagnosis and treatment for everyone, and how people collectively move towards better understanding and transparency of who owns what and how is it being used.

Older people like some aspects of Facebook, such as keeping in touch, monitoring other's updates and sharing photos. However, other seniors listed privacy, as well as the triviality of some posts, as reasons they stay away from the site. Improving privacy settings and alerts may be a way for social media companies to tap into a growing senior market.