Privacy and Social Networks

[-Serenity-]

The privacy irony: more or less about social networks

 

Over the past few weeks, I've been to a number of events and conferences where the privacy of social media users has bubbled up in discussions. I'm not one of those people who blurts out "but what about the privacy implications" every time I go somewhere with people in the media or technology industries. But I have started to think a lot, and be concerned about, how much information there is about me online and how that information might be used.

 

During one of the presentations I gave about blogging recently, I got quite an unusual response from the audience. I took their photo and uploaded it flickr, tagged with the cell location data, using zonetag. I then went to the photo on flickr and used the blog this button to publish it into a blog I use for training purposes. I then went back to the flickr page and added a link to the blog post, then clicked the link to visit the page on the blog. After this, I showed them the visit in statcounter which reveals not just where visitors come from if it's via a link on a page, but also quite granular detail like their and someone exlaimed, "How can you do that? Is that legal? I mean, how can they just let people do that?!"

 

I don't think this particular individual was naive. I think MOST people don't realise that every action they take, every search they do, every click, every second they spend online is recorded somewhere and, often, mined for details that will tell website owners more about their customers and their behaviour.

 

Yesterday I decided to do some non-scientific research. I looked at 10 randomly (not randomly generated, I just clicked different profile links on my friends list) selected facebook friends to see what information they display on their profiles. Here's what I found:

 

* Full Date of Birth: 8/10

* Day of Birth but not year: 2/10 (eg. the remainder!)

* Hometown: 6/10

* City or Town of Current Residence: 10/10

* Full Name of Partner: 6/10

 

That's a lot of information that could, potentially, be used to apply for an account or identity document, find out where someone lives, respond to the sort of questions usually asked by banks and credit card providers who want to verify your identification over the phone or online, etc.

 

But sometimes this information is really useful for legitimate purposes. Hardly a week goes by when I don't get a message from a friend who saw something I said on one of the various social networking sites I use and, aside from kind words and such, this has often led to what I often think of as the ultimate measure of a social network's usefulness: I've landed a free coffee or beer out of my participation there.

 

Just last week I was reminded of a good friend's birthday and was able to drop by with a bottle of wine and a card on my way home from work. This week I've noticed, on his profile, that his wife is having her 30th in a few weeks time. Last month, had you looked at either of their profiles, you would have also seen the date of their wedding, her maiden name, and lost of wall posts from friends who would be attending. That's all really useful if you're their friend. And there's the rub.

 

To get the most from a social networking service you need to disclose personal information and the more you disclose, the more you are likely to benefit. If you and those in your network disclose more, you'll probably find it easy to remember social events and birthdays, easier to land a job through your friends and their contacts, easier to find a last minute date without asking someone who is busy, etc. But the irony is, although disclosure of information leads to greater gains, it also increases the danger that someone you don't know will find and use that information in dangerous ways.

 

Yesterday, after my little research project, I removed a lot of information from my facebook profile (and got messages from a dozen people who were concerned by the terse messages facebook puts on your profile when you do!). I've also started going through my list of friends and sending friend detail updates to everyone in the hopes that this will help me weed out the people I know and trust from the people I've more randomly added as friends.

 

And if you want to send me a birthday greeting next year but are in doubt as to the date, drop me an email and I'll send you a reminder closer to the day.

 

Source

 

Watch this video too.

 

Are we sharing too much information on the internet? What about social networks like SOL? I know that many of us make a habit of sharing our daily wiles and worries. Are we sharing too much and putting ourselves at risk? Or are we gaining even more by doing so?

[Caano Geel]

Serenity, in answer to your question, yes and no, but your mainly gaining by doing so. p.s. how's the jet set life going?

[-Serenity-]

^I'm back... but it looks like everyone is away today. Or did they get on each other's nerves about being present online 24/7? LoL. Virtual life is great people... embrace it .

[Ibtisam]

^^Good to hear you are back. I don't know about anyone else, but I had deadlines today, and for once I gave in my work early (it is not due till 6 o'clock!)

 

As for the topic, There is far too much information about each one of us floating about, what we like, dislike, shopping, what we read, what sites we visit. I like to change computers often and my virtual names and date of birth and address, views, personalities are hard to keep up with.

 

So all of you who think I’m student in London, who has terrible Somali and an annoying habit of flooding SOL are so so so……….

[Naden]

Are we sharing too much information on the internet? What about social networks like SOL? I know that many of us make a habit of sharing our daily wiles and worries. Are we sharing too much and putting ourselves at risk? Or are we gaining even more by doing so?

I think we are being forced to share so much vital information. What is a mystery still is who is collecting this information and what they intend to do with it. I find that identity theft to take your last 15 dollars out of an account is less of an issue than a giant database shared by marketers and governments alike.

 

I have a dispute now with PayPal who've hijacked some of my money out of the blue. To give it back, they've requested every piece of vital information short of a blood and hair sample. Outrageous :mad: I will be damned if I give them anything more than I foolishly have at registration.

 

Social network sites are a little different but information is still being collected without a clear understanding of who has access.

[Blessed]

^Whaat? :mad:

 

I never felt comfortable with Paypal, thank god I've cancelled my account. :rolleyes:

 

I think that there's already alot of information about you out there anyway, without the cyber social networking websites. How many times did you get junk mail on something that you are into and wonder how they got your info.

 

Always remember to tick that box.

 

 

As far as blogs, facebook and even SOL are concerned you can controll the amount of information you share and with whome. It's all about using it to your advantage without over exposing yourself.

[Naden]

^ They won't let me close the account and won't give the money back. It's my own damn fault for not doing more research and checking out all the lawsuits against them.

[Blessed]

^B*stards! Is that legal? I closed mine because I wasn't using it at all.

 

I think, they close it after a year o no activity, anyway.

[Jacpher]

^I tried to register it few week ago in hopes of getting skype phone service but my bank didn't complete the transaction. It drove me crazy why the payment failed on every attempt. A week later I filled up my car tank at a gas station and the card denied. A quick call to the bank fixed everything. They said your card was blocked due to activity outside the country. Someone tried it multiple times at such amount. Luckily they did that otherwise I could have ended with Paypal and Skype.

 

I don't think too much into the info gathered by these social networking sites. You can control what you choose to post or share with complete strangers or virtual friends. Major search engines Google being the first could give you nightmare what they collect and keep forever.

[Zafir]

Naden, Have your credit card company do the fighting for you. or perhaps try saying all those previous charges were made with out your consent and have them conduct and investigation of some sort. Madaxa isku wada gali all of them.

[Naden]

^ Zafir, I've called the credit card company and will probably entertain joining a class-action lawsuit against them in Floria now. They're bandits and no one is doing anything about it. I got suckered and I'm 2 grand in the hole. One of those very painful life lessons.

[Nephissa]

^^ Hope that never happens to me. I'm still trying to get my $$ back from a bank that didn't give me the $$$ when I made a withdrawal from the ATM... bills were all crumpled and I was missing $20. :mad: .

 

What is SOL's privacy policy with respect to all the different personal info? Sell it to Jerry Springer and the Enquirer?

 

In this day and age it is sooooo easy to get any info on anyone you want anyway.