Before I start on this topic, most of the points that I mention here are acquired over a period of time through various sources on the Internet and some personal experiences. Since I don't remember the sources to quote them right now, I am implicitly acknowledging all of them in this blog.
Social networking makes it easy to keep in touch with our friends, but it also blurs the distinction between public and private lifes of an individual. I have seen many people who are not concerned about various privacy issues that could raise because of social networks. Here I discuss some of the privacy issues and various do's and don'ts:
Number one rule is to check your privacy settings. The default settings are NOT good enough for your privacy protection. Default settings are often "Everyone" or "Friends of friends" but you might want to customize it as either "Only me" or "Only friends".
Never crib about your boss or school or lectureres (or anyother third person for that matter) on the networking sites. You might not be a 'friend' to your boss and your privacy settings might only restrict for your friends but your friends might not have a strict control and your comments might be seen by people you dont expect.
Never update invitations to parties as status messages. People who are uninvited might feel bad.You might be developing enemies unknowingly.
Think before tagging. These days many companies are doing their background work on social networking sites to find your personality. Don't upload photos which are not appropriate and don't tag them.
(Esp. If you have a bad past) It is recommended that you have a different name on your social network. Usually many people (in India) would have an alternate name. Use your alternate name for creating social networking sites so that people who know you can easily find you. As a rule, your social networking site should not be google-searchable but your professional network (like LinkedIn) should be google searchable.
These days (not in India) courts are giving judgements based on the social networking updates/comments. So, beware before you do any inappropriate comments. [This is not an exaggeration. It is true]
You might feel good if your friends wish you on your birthday. But birthday is generally used for resetting passwords (of your banks) and similar transactions. So, DONT update your birthday on social networks. Social networks only need to know your age and it is sufficient to reveal only your age.
Never accept friend requests from unknown people. We have seen spamming from this unknown friends in orkut.
Remember that you would have a control on your updates but all your comments are on others pages.You might not remember them so becareful while commenting on others posts.
(In India) don't publicize your private life with your bf/gf.You never know how things are going
to turn out to be.
In computer security, there are mainly two kinds of attacks: Passive & Active. Out of these two, a passive attack is tough to deal with because you don't know who is listening to your traffic and analyzing it. Similary, when you doing an update/comment on your network, everyone of your friends (and your friends of friends) are going to read it. So, be careful about revealing sensitive information. A naive example could be updating your first school, which is often a security question to reset your password.
Reveal as less information as possible on your social network to enable people to find you. No need to add all the schools/colleges/offices that have worked/studied with.
Never update about your travel plans. With the help of google street view, people could easily plan to break into your house sitting in their home. There were cases of such kind of burglary.
On a similar note, avoid location based services as much as possible. You might not want to be tracked about every location you visit.
Never share any kind of passwords even though they might think there is no important information in your account. Your account might have your birthday, security questions and other sensitive information which is enough to crack your e-mail password.
Never send any passwords,credit card information through chat, email or messages. They are not as secure as you think. These messages are sent in clear. If you are using wireless networks, then it becomes very easy to listen to every byte that you sent out of your communicating device.
You might think that you can delete your account if something wrong happens. With this social networks, you never know who is doing a passive attack.
Think twice before allowing access to any apps. There were cases where personal information has been sold by these apps to advertisers. We are already getting lot of spam in our account, don't think that spam is harmless.
It is good if you can read the privacy policy before signing up. Facebook, initially had a copyright policy of owning all the photos that were uploaded in their site. Now, it is changed. But it is always good know the policy.
P.S: This blog is dedicated to a 'private' person.
Social networking makes it easy to keep in touch with our friends, but it also blurs the distinction between public and private lifes of an individual. I have seen many people who are not concerned about various privacy issues that could raise because of social networks. Here I discuss some of the privacy issues and various do's and don'ts:
Number one rule is to check your privacy settings. The default settings are NOT good enough for your privacy protection. Default settings are often "Everyone" or "Friends of friends" but you might want to customize it as either "Only me" or "Only friends".
Never crib about your boss or school or lectureres (or anyother third person for that matter) on the networking sites. You might not be a 'friend' to your boss and your privacy settings might only restrict for your friends but your friends might not have a strict control and your comments might be seen by people you dont expect.
Never update invitations to parties as status messages. People who are uninvited might feel bad.You might be developing enemies unknowingly.
Think before tagging. These days many companies are doing their background work on social networking sites to find your personality. Don't upload photos which are not appropriate and don't tag them.
(Esp. If you have a bad past) It is recommended that you have a different name on your social network. Usually many people (in India) would have an alternate name. Use your alternate name for creating social networking sites so that people who know you can easily find you. As a rule, your social networking site should not be google-searchable but your professional network (like LinkedIn) should be google searchable.
These days (not in India) courts are giving judgements based on the social networking updates/comments. So, beware before you do any inappropriate comments. [This is not an exaggeration. It is true]
You might feel good if your friends wish you on your birthday. But birthday is generally used for resetting passwords (of your banks) and similar transactions. So, DONT update your birthday on social networks. Social networks only need to know your age and it is sufficient to reveal only your age.
Never accept friend requests from unknown people. We have seen spamming from this unknown friends in orkut.
Remember that you would have a control on your updates but all your comments are on others pages.You might not remember them so becareful while commenting on others posts.
(In India) don't publicize your private life with your bf/gf.You never know how things are going
to turn out to be.
In computer security, there are mainly two kinds of attacks: Passive & Active. Out of these two, a passive attack is tough to deal with because you don't know who is listening to your traffic and analyzing it. Similary, when you doing an update/comment on your network, everyone of your friends (and your friends of friends) are going to read it. So, be careful about revealing sensitive information. A naive example could be updating your first school, which is often a security question to reset your password.
Reveal as less information as possible on your social network to enable people to find you. No need to add all the schools/colleges/offices that have worked/studied with.
Never update about your travel plans. With the help of google street view, people could easily plan to break into your house sitting in their home. There were cases of such kind of burglary.
On a similar note, avoid location based services as much as possible. You might not want to be tracked about every location you visit.
Never share any kind of passwords even though they might think there is no important information in your account. Your account might have your birthday, security questions and other sensitive information which is enough to crack your e-mail password.
Never send any passwords,credit card information through chat, email or messages. They are not as secure as you think. These messages are sent in clear. If you are using wireless networks, then it becomes very easy to listen to every byte that you sent out of your communicating device.
You might think that you can delete your account if something wrong happens. With this social networks, you never know who is doing a passive attack.
Think twice before allowing access to any apps. There were cases where personal information has been sold by these apps to advertisers. We are already getting lot of spam in our account, don't think that spam is harmless.
It is good if you can read the privacy policy before signing up. Facebook, initially had a copyright policy of owning all the photos that were uploaded in their site. Now, it is changed. But it is always good know the policy.
P.S: This blog is dedicated to a 'private' person.
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