I want to continue my discussion from last month one of the biggest threats to your right of privacy - you.
If you have a Facebook account you probably get 10-15 requests a week from your Friends to answer or play games or contests that require some personal information to be input or revealed - the most famous and pervasive application was the "25 Things You Don't Know About Me" which took the Facebook community by storm over the spring and summer.
Notwithstanding that fact that you get to know random, irrelevant and mostly inane 'facts' about your friends and friends of friends, what is more insdious is what you reveal to them and the world at large. Since most cases of identity theft are commmited by people that the victim knows well or has some relationship with, it is not improbable that you may have 'friended' that person on Facebook as well. Now that they know what your first dog's name was, or favorite grade school teacher, or that you eat peas with a fork, that insight allows them to glean little bits of info about you that helps build a case of identity theft. Think about all of the websites that ask either passwords or security questions for credentials. You supply very similar information as the answers, and in many questions also provide your own questions - some which mirror the ones asked by that Facebook application iself. Perfect fodder for ID thieves....and most valuable because it comes right from the source.
So think before you surrender little pieces of your personal life for what you may think to be only harmless and transitory amusement (and for free!). It may have some very long-lasting and unwanted repurcussions.
Al,
ReplyDeleteI think you have brought a particularly an important point. Taking something from my previous response to your earlier blog. Security, Convinience and functionality are constituents of any system and should be present in appropriate ways. Man is the weakest link in the security system developed by man. You have mentioned an example of Facebook but there are numerous such example availble. One such example is LinkedIn. We tend to put all the personal information and unknowlingly become a victim of identity theif or end up letting the world know where you have studied, which companies you have worked and what kind of work you do and so on.
Well it is a business networking site and good tool for prospective employers but it does goes beyond a bit according to me.
We need to be careful what we upload in such sites as we never know when it would hit back and when that happens, it would be really hard.
I think we were better off with the older technologies, at least my idendity was safe with me.
regards,
Vaibahv