I don't wanna end up on FailBook...
Thursday, September 24, 2009 by Hazel Gibson
Something which has been worrying me recently (well, actually it’s a worry that pops up every few months and I try and ignore it) is the issue of online privacy. Not so much spyware or hackers but more just the invisible (or not so invisible) trails of data and personal information that I am no doubt leaving behind me as I traverse the internet.
I’ll admit I’m not the most cautious of people – I’m quite happy to register my Facebook account under my real name, on which I display my real age, real workplace and photos that really are me. More and more though I am beginning to see how I could be making a mistake.
I’ve noticed more and more articles popping up on news sites about people who have lost their job or had embarrassing facts about themselves made public through using SNS not very carefully or allowing posts made on messages boards to easily traced back to their ‘real’ selves. A famous example is a woman who wrote a weblog about her workplace and colleagues called Dooce, which was eventually traced back to her. Unsurprisingly, she lost her job, and the slang term “to be dooced” entered internet speak.
Most people now know that potential employers or university admissions boards may try and view a person’s SNS profile in order to get a better impression of the person before they make a final placement decision, and many people have responded by adjusting the privacy settings on their profile page so that embarrassing photos of them drunk on the weekend aren’t made a factor of consideration. However, much more personal information than many people realise is available– phone numbers, addresses, that embarrassingly bad poetry you published online during you emo phase…. Information you put on the net can (and does) last forever.
This has obviously become an issue for enough people to creat a market for such niche companies as ReputationDefender and RemoveMyName. These sites claim to be able to search out and remove all personal data stored in databases and on websites – for a small fee, of course. The fact that these companies even need to exist is quite worrying.
The concern over online also seems to be something which is quite specific to age. I know that my parents are very suspicious of the internet, and for a long time wouldn’t even purchase items from secure sites like Amazon in case their credit card details were hacked. My younger brother on the other hand is perhaps not suspicious enough, judging by his numerous cringe-worthy status updates bragging about his weekend endeavours. I think I fall somewhere in the middle, I want to have a ‘life’ in the online world, so long as it won’t impinge on my activities in the real world! (Or cause me to end up on FailBook!)
I’ll admit I’m not the most cautious of people – I’m quite happy to register my Facebook account under my real name, on which I display my real age, real workplace and photos that really are me. More and more though I am beginning to see how I could be making a mistake.
I’ve noticed more and more articles popping up on news sites about people who have lost their job or had embarrassing facts about themselves made public through using SNS not very carefully or allowing posts made on messages boards to easily traced back to their ‘real’ selves. A famous example is a woman who wrote a weblog about her workplace and colleagues called Dooce, which was eventually traced back to her. Unsurprisingly, she lost her job, and the slang term “to be dooced” entered internet speak.
Most people now know that potential employers or university admissions boards may try and view a person’s SNS profile in order to get a better impression of the person before they make a final placement decision, and many people have responded by adjusting the privacy settings on their profile page so that embarrassing photos of them drunk on the weekend aren’t made a factor of consideration. However, much more personal information than many people realise is available– phone numbers, addresses, that embarrassingly bad poetry you published online during you emo phase…. Information you put on the net can (and does) last forever.
This has obviously become an issue for enough people to creat a market for such niche companies as ReputationDefender and RemoveMyName. These sites claim to be able to search out and remove all personal data stored in databases and on websites – for a small fee, of course. The fact that these companies even need to exist is quite worrying.
The concern over online also seems to be something which is quite specific to age. I know that my parents are very suspicious of the internet, and for a long time wouldn’t even purchase items from secure sites like Amazon in case their credit card details were hacked. My younger brother on the other hand is perhaps not suspicious enough, judging by his numerous cringe-worthy status updates bragging about his weekend endeavours. I think I fall somewhere in the middle, I want to have a ‘life’ in the online world, so long as it won’t impinge on my activities in the real world! (Or cause me to end up on FailBook!)