How private is the information we post on social networking sites like Facebook? What information is gathered in social networking sites about us? Could the things we share potentially be used against us in the future?
These are questions that we need to ask ourselves especially we actively engage in social networking. Let’s have a look at the following videos:
Despite this controversy over social networking privacy issues, Facebook has still decided (as of 2 March 2011) to change its privacy rules to allow the sharing of users’ phone numbers and home addresses with third party companies (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1361889/Facebook-privacy-rule-change-Phone-numbers-addresses-shared-parties.html). The new rules state that external websites and third-party developers will be able to access users’ phone numbers and home addressed via the permissions menu to which users must agree. In response to a letter written by Congressmen Edward Markey and Joe Barton, who expressed concern over the new Facebook function, Facebook said that it will continue to go ahead with the new function but also make it more obvious to users that their information will be shared.
So… What should we do in response to such an intrusive function? We won’t be able to stop Facebook and other social networking sites from disseminating our personal information to third party companies (unless we stop using these sites completely), but we can take precautionary measures to ensure that our personal information is not liable to misuse.
Firstly, we can take personal responsibility and familiarize ourselves with the Facebook privacy policy. This will help us understand how whatever that we post on the site will be handled, and also how we can modify our profile privacy settings for greater protection. This will also ensure that we will be wiser about the extent of personal information we post on our online profiles. The Facebook privacy policy can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/policy.php.
In addition, we can limit the amount of personal information we post on the Web. Do we really need everyone around us, even those mere acquaintances (not really ‘friends’ per se) on Facebook or Twitter, to know our full contact details, to see all our pictures, to know our whereabouts? Instead of posting everything about ourselves, let’s either restrict the number of people who are able to view our profile, or don’t post anything pertaining to our home addresses, phone numbers and the like, as these are sensitive pieces of information that can be easily mishandled.
For those who are still at a loss as to how to proceed from here, here’s a Facebook privacy user guide for you!
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