Happy New Year
Jan 4, 2010
A few tips to help start of your year on solid ground.
Social Networking Self-Defense
Surfing such popular social networking sites as Facebook and MySpace requires using a few cyber self-defense skills.
Most are aware that they’re opening themselves to marketers looking to mine data and to viruses that spread via site notifications. The sites also post warnings about new threats. What they rarely mention is that con artists and identity thieves can find a wealth of information in the average personal page. For example, what better way to find the most common security password on a bank account ¬– the mother’s maiden name – than by visiting someone’s Facebook page and finding all those cousins on the “friends list”?
An even greater fear is cyber-bullies or worse. Predators looking to meet children have only to find a group organized around a current band or a toy fad to gain access to thousands of people and their friends via their “friends list.”
You can limit online danger by adjusting Facebook’s privacy settings themselves. (They are found in a drop-down menu in the header line of the personal page). Use the site to connect with people you already know, but remove any features that allow you to meet strangers online. Do not allow outsiders to see your photo or their “friends list” – and request others on your friends list to do the same. Disable the features that allow strangers to “poke” or send messages to you.
U.S. legislators have been working with Facebook and MySpace to make the site owners more vigilant about abuses. In 2008, the sites agreed to remove groups whose comments or images suggest they may prey on children, and to review the profiles of users that try to change their age to ensure that they are not attempting to masquerade as children. Earlier in 2009, Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart announced a landmark deal with Facebook to improve how it addresses privacy and shares information.
These are steps in the right direction, but for now, it’s important to remain vigilant. Anything you put online is just as public as the busiest street corner, and you shouldn’t do or say anything that they wouldn’t do in public. It has become common practice for employers and schools to “Google” prospective employees and students, so learning about online privacy is critical. By putting so much personal information online, you can potentially leave a trail of embarrassing moments that could haunt you in the future.
