Paranoid much?
Just don't put shit on FB that you care if other people see. It's still a useful tool for communicating and sharing with your friends. Idc if you use it personally, I just don't much agree with arguments that it should be avoided at all cost because it involves putting "personal" info online. If the terrorists want to know what games I'm playing or that I ate a burrito for lunch, I don't give a shit.
- Forum
- General Discussion
- Your digital footprint
I guess this is useful for like reminding people of what might happen, but this guy is crazy.
For the average person, facebook is fine. Like Zef said there isn't really a downside to posting your everyday life online and most people understand that you shouldn't post anything online that you don't want people to see, that's just common sense.
The only thing I would warn people about is that if you are looking for a job it is very common now adays for employers to check social media sites before hiring people. If two candiates are equal in all respects but one has pics of them wasted at a party on facebook or has some racist remarks on twitter, who do you think they will hire?
For the average person, facebook is fine. Like Zef said there isn't really a downside to posting your everyday life online and most people understand that you shouldn't post anything online that you don't want people to see, that's just common sense.
The only thing I would warn people about is that if you are looking for a job it is very common now adays for employers to check social media sites before hiring people. If two candiates are equal in all respects but one has pics of them wasted at a party on facebook or has some racist remarks on twitter, who do you think they will hire?
Everything you put online is there forever, you will never be able to take it back. Once you understand this, it really isn't a big deal to keep yourself protected. However, being smart is not a cornerstone of modern society, so lots of people get themselves in trouble. They may or may not have deserved it per say, but most of them brought it down on their own heads, so I have a hard time feeling sorry for them.
Like Zef said there isn't really a downside to posting your everyday life onlineBriganna
http://gizmodo.com/5636025/robbers-used-facebook-to-see-when-people-werent-home
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Aiya
Aiya
Cairstiona Senkei Full Events Access replied
779 weeks ago
I am an education major, and one of the things that came up in class was an article about a woman (teacher) who lost her job because her friend posted a picture of her at a bachelorette party on FB, obviously intoxicated. She didn't post it, and didn't know it had been posted, until she received notice of disciplinary action. Someone at the district had been put in charge of searching for people online, and there she was.
People who work with kids are understandably held to a different standard, but I guess my point is that while you can control yourself, you can't control everyone else. A lot of young people have serious cases of diarrhea of the fingers, and don't have anything like the same idea of privacy, so I suspect we are going to see more and more issues rather than less and less.
People who work with kids are understandably held to a different standard, but I guess my point is that while you can control yourself, you can't control everyone else. A lot of young people have serious cases of diarrhea of the fingers, and don't have anything like the same idea of privacy, so I suspect we are going to see more and more issues rather than less and less.
All I want for Christmas is maid service and bourbon balls!
Four things from me (I have to have an opinion about everything, right?!):
1) Don't post anything on the web that you would not want at least 1 person to see - agreed!
2) Generally speaking, the "problem" posts / accounts I see are those of people younger than those on these forums. It seems to me that most people from say… 15 (maybe 17?) or younger right now are regularly throwing things out onto the web that could get them into trouble later.
3)
4) Generally, if you haven't worked closely with it before, I think most people still underestimate just how much you can expand on someone's profile with pretty minimal initial information.
For example, I just went to google to see what I could find out about two people in Senkei, for shits and giggles. All I know going in is the following:
A) First name
B) General area of residence (e.g. mid-west / south-east / north-east U.S.A.)
C) General age range (within 5 years)
D) First name of a relative with the same last name (e.g. father, child, spouse), or full name of a friend (who I assume lives within 100 miles of them)
Given 15 minutes I now have:
A) This person's phone number and home address
B) This person's work phone number and address (*building phone number, not including extension)
C) This person's date of birth
D) This person's educational history (what high school/college they went to, what their majors and minors were, how long they were in college, at least 7 courses they took and when)
E) The phone numbers, home addresses, dates of birth, and work addresses of at least three friends or relatives living in the same area
Two quick things: (1) most of this is public information, the internet has just made it much easier to access on a broad scale, and (2) you could really do this without the starting information; just pick a random first name and general area of residence and see how far you can go. Generally speaking, this will get you a whole bunch of information, but nothing dangerous unless you can glean some choice tidbits as well, like where and when this person tends to eat, shop, or bank. But given the information above, you can now somewhat reliably find out:
A) Where this person grew up (including everywhere this person used to live, and when)
B) This person's mother's maiden name
C) Where this person went to elementary school
There's more, but… if we stop there, do you see a pattern? Each piece of information builds on itself, and eventually you can usually find some link to "private" information (like an SSN or driver's license number) as long as you can verify that all the information you've gotten so far is for the same specific individual. Government sites (at least in the U.S.) are pretty good at keeping this info away from the public, but some are better than others, and some "non-essential" sites gather and store this information for "unknown" reasons as well.
So what's the best part? This person didn't post any of that information on the web.
"tl;dr" / "in before the flames": I guess my point here is that yes, it's part paranoia, but it's also part lack of control. You really have to take everything with a grain of salt and generally assume that anyone capable of gathering what I would call "a dangerous level" of information about someone else has the moral / ethical or legal responsibility to not use it for malicious purposes. That may or may not be reassuring, but it's pretty much all we've got at this point, right? ;)
After all, you don't need to have "a dangerous level" of information about someone to stalk them, harass them, or case their property from the safety of your own home.
P.S. It also helps if you aren't like me, and actually use different user names and passwords for each "important" account online, that do not match any of your passwords for "not-so-important" accounts. Many membership sites encrypt authentication information so that hosts cannot access it, but I'm not sure if I can even say "most" at this point. If you use the same password for say… a forum and an email account, or worse, that really is a security hole waiting to be explored.
1) Don't post anything on the web that you would not want at least 1 person to see - agreed!
2) Generally speaking, the "problem" posts / accounts I see are those of people younger than those on these forums. It seems to me that most people from say… 15 (maybe 17?) or younger right now are regularly throwing things out onto the web that could get them into trouble later.
3)
People who work with kids are understandably held to a different standard, but I guess my point is that while you can control yourself, you can't control everyone else.CairstionaWhat she said. I'll be the first one to admit that I know a few people who would have no qualms about posting college or post-college photos of me in… let's say "socially awkward" situations. I will never run for public office.
4) Generally, if you haven't worked closely with it before, I think most people still underestimate just how much you can expand on someone's profile with pretty minimal initial information.
For example, I just went to google to see what I could find out about two people in Senkei, for shits and giggles. All I know going in is the following:
A) First name
B) General area of residence (e.g. mid-west / south-east / north-east U.S.A.)
C) General age range (within 5 years)
D) First name of a relative with the same last name (e.g. father, child, spouse), or full name of a friend (who I assume lives within 100 miles of them)
Given 15 minutes I now have:
A) This person's phone number and home address
B) This person's work phone number and address (*building phone number, not including extension)
C) This person's date of birth
D) This person's educational history (what high school/college they went to, what their majors and minors were, how long they were in college, at least 7 courses they took and when)
E) The phone numbers, home addresses, dates of birth, and work addresses of at least three friends or relatives living in the same area
Two quick things: (1) most of this is public information, the internet has just made it much easier to access on a broad scale, and (2) you could really do this without the starting information; just pick a random first name and general area of residence and see how far you can go. Generally speaking, this will get you a whole bunch of information, but nothing dangerous unless you can glean some choice tidbits as well, like where and when this person tends to eat, shop, or bank. But given the information above, you can now somewhat reliably find out:
A) Where this person grew up (including everywhere this person used to live, and when)
B) This person's mother's maiden name
C) Where this person went to elementary school
There's more, but… if we stop there, do you see a pattern? Each piece of information builds on itself, and eventually you can usually find some link to "private" information (like an SSN or driver's license number) as long as you can verify that all the information you've gotten so far is for the same specific individual. Government sites (at least in the U.S.) are pretty good at keeping this info away from the public, but some are better than others, and some "non-essential" sites gather and store this information for "unknown" reasons as well.
So what's the best part? This person didn't post any of that information on the web.
"tl;dr" / "in before the flames": I guess my point here is that yes, it's part paranoia, but it's also part lack of control. You really have to take everything with a grain of salt and generally assume that anyone capable of gathering what I would call "a dangerous level" of information about someone else has the moral / ethical or legal responsibility to not use it for malicious purposes. That may or may not be reassuring, but it's pretty much all we've got at this point, right? ;)
After all, you don't need to have "a dangerous level" of information about someone to stalk them, harass them, or case their property from the safety of your own home.
P.S. It also helps if you aren't like me, and actually use different user names and passwords for each "important" account online, that do not match any of your passwords for "not-so-important" accounts. Many membership sites encrypt authentication information so that hosts cannot access it, but I'm not sure if I can even say "most" at this point. If you use the same password for say… a forum and an email account, or worse, that really is a security hole waiting to be explored.
(Avatar Copyright 2008 John Joseco and Jamie MacKenzie)
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Max Senkei Members replied
780 weeks ago