I’ve been involved with Social Networking of sorts since about 1990 before the World Wide Web even existed when we set up hosted chats and fan based music content through CompuServe. But I have found out through the years that it’s not such a safe thing to post too much information as the cyber-world is NOT very safe. And now that FB has admitted that they have released MILLIONS of people PRIVATE INFO, well that DID IT FOR ME! And FaceBook is NOT alone –My Space has more than it’s fair share of problems especially a VIRUS APP that will come up when you try to change your settings – DO NOT let this application run (use your own AV APP) and close out of My Space IMMEDIATELY and then clear your CACHE! And keep in mind that BEFORE you got to any website such as a business site – remember that these companies can TRACK your visits as well as the URL’s that are stored in your Browser’s TEMPORARY CACHE! KEEP THAT CLEAN as that’s where most spyware and malware will reside!!
Here are a few TIPS that you should think about! Trust me on this as I just experience a cyber-stalker that was just a LITTLE TOO WEIRD! If somebody really wants to know and/or track your every move – then your social networks will allow them to do it!
1. If you post things that you don’t want anyone else to read – and there’s some things you may post that you think are OK – but they can come back to haunt you – make ALL of your social networks as PRIVATE as you can! Choose your friends, contacts, or subscribers wisely and don’t give out TOO much information!
2. Be careful of who you allow to be one of your friends, read about them BEFORE you CONFIRM or add somebody on FaceBook or other sites There are a lot of people adding new FB pages that are NOT who they say they are! And these people are trying to phish, scam or otherwise get your PRIVATE INFORMATION!
3. BE careful about what you POST – even pictures, etc – FaceBook has EXTREMELY overbroad terms and conditions – anything you post is THEIRS to use however they want – EVEN AFTER YOU DELETE IT!
4. APPLICATIONS on FACEBOOK are DANGEROUS! I’ve been talking about this for YEARS! I do NOT accept gifts, drinks or worse PLAY ANY GAMES! Much less use ANY APPLICATIONS – I refuse ALL APPLICATION requests as there are written by third parties (NOT by FACEBOOK) and the latest breach of security that gave out MILLIONS of peoples private info as well as their LISTS of friends was from GAMES, APPLICATIOINS, etc Those who were using these apps have had their PERSONAL INFO jeopardized and there’s NO TELLING where that info will end up. Once a third party has your information – they’ve GOT to make MONEY and what’s the BEST way to make MONEY? Sell that information to marketing companies or the highest bidder! And do you think that these marketing companies’ data is SAFE? NO WAY – hackers are dying to get into those databases and they WILL FIND A WAY to access that info!
5. NEVER post anything about your location – the last think you want to do is to post “we’ll be on vacation for the next few weeks, can’t wait!” – Might as well put up a sign in your yard – we’re out of town – help yourself!
6. Do NOT post your birth year or the year you graduated – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out your birth year by a year or two. Having a name, address, birthday only means that to totally steal your identity they only need a few more pieces of the puzzle and a good computer person can really dig and/or spoof certain agencies and get the final pieces of the puzzle and jeopardize your PRIVACY and your IDENTITY!
7. Don’t post your original hometown or birthplace along with any information that could allow others to steal your identify. Ever notice how your hometown, high school, or birth place are often your secret password questions? The last thing you want is to let some steal your e-mail passwords or other passwords! If they do, they can even access your banking information!
8. NEVER use the same password for EVERY single account.
9. Be careful about posting WHERE You will be – if you are going out at night – then text your friends where you will be – do NOT post that you’ll be gone that night or that you’ve left you kids with a sitter or whatever – that’s just asking for trouble. You are better off e-mailing from your personal account (NOT FB MAIL) and/or just calling your friends or texting them.
It’s gotten to be a very transparent world and if somebody wants to get more information about you – they can find it! So don’t offer up more than you need to and remember whatever you post is very similar to a DIGITAL TATOO – you can try to remove it – but the scar will ALWAYS BE THERE as once it’s out in the ETHER on the INTERNET then somebody could have saved a screen shot, retweeted what you’ve said, e-mailed your songs or videos to somebody else, etc – So just keep that in mind BEFORE you push the SEND or ENTER BUTTON to POST!!
SAFE SURFING!!
SM @ MSO
