PRIVACY ISSUES!
Do you have a private life online?
Last week we talked about identity issues and what kind of information such as; age, religion, relation, political preference and photos, you put on your social networking site. But, did you ever think of ‘who’ has access to all this ‘private and personal’ information?
My conclusion last week was that we do not have to take life too serious when it comes down to the information on social networking sites. Moreover, we should make our own choice whether to trust or not to trust people and their information on their social networking page. It made me even a little bit more Liberated then I was before. But now, after some research about privacy, I slightly Lost this feeling…
The beauty of social networking sites is that we can communicate and share information with each other. However, when looking around on Hyves and Facebook this week, I was surprised about the amount of ‘private’ information people post on their profile. Especially, some people on Hyves put some very personal information, like photos of pregnancy tests and the ‘growing’ belly, dead and relational problems, on their personal profile.
Did you know that all this private and personal information is visible for the entire world? Moreover, did you know that even the social networking sites share your own personal information with third parties?
Facebook for example has been in the news several times related to the privacy of their members. In January 2011, the news website NU.nl published an article. Everyone could view all photos of others on Facebook, even when members had protected their photos. It was very simple via manipulation of the photos’ URL. In addition, according to Pers, Facebook also makes other personal information public for third parties. Now, Facebook is again in the news concerning the privacy of their members. Recent, Spits reports that Facebook continuous with sharing telephone numbers and addresses of their members with third parties. The information will be made public for application and website developers from for example; text-messaging and calling services. According to Facebook, members can easily prevent this from happening by adjusting the privacy setting. However, in practice these settings are difficult to find.
Putting information about pregnancy and a new born child seems nice and cute, but is it really wise to do so? Moreover, do you really want the whole world to know everything about your private life? I would not want to; before you know the whole world knows everything about you. Even people, who you do not want to know, have accesses to your personal information. My advice would be, although it is not as easy Facebook claims it to be, adjust and protect your privacy settings. Maybe you think I am exaggerating, but do you really want to share your personal information with the rest of the world?
Talk to you next week!
Click here for some tips to ‘protect’ your privacy!
Or, watch these videos about privacy and social networking sites:
