Computer Basics

Today must be identity theft day.  All the major news organizations have articles concerning the issue.  Identity theft is an important issue.  One that must be faced head on and handled correctly.  There is, however, another side to the identity theft issue.  And that is...millions of people throwing away their identities freely each day on social networking sites like mySpace.  It's incredible how much personal information about people and their lives is revealed through postings on these sites.

It was quite clear throughout 2006 that it was not a good year for the protection of personal information.  PCs, laptops, memory sticks seemed to be stolen daily from both government and private entities.  Identity thieves, however, had a banner year.  Identity theft isn't just limited to aggregating personal information from social networking sites but the seeming freedom that people feel while posting on these sites invites the criminal element to take advantage of that freedom.

In years gone by it's always been acceptable to complain about your spouse, co-workers, family or employer while chatting with a friend on the phone or in private.  It's an entirely different thing, though, when that same information is posted for the entire world to read at anytime...now and in the future.  There are organizations like archive.com that archive every web page they can.  I know there are articles archived there that I wrote dating back to 1998!

So what's going to happen to those pics and vids of you proving to your friends that you can chug an entire pitcher of brew?  How would a potential employer consider them?  What about those intimate photos you took with your first boyfriend?  Should those really have been posted in the Newgroups?

How about your family and friends?  Are they going to enjoy finding those things?  Recent stories in the news regarding some discovered photos involving a celebrity should all give us a moments pause and consider what information we put on the web and what the potential effect is going to be in years to come when that same information is "discovered."

The issue is not a new one but it is a bit different in today's networked environment.  When it was chat rooms and forums there was always a bit of anonymity.  While chat rooms aren't dead yet, they suffer in comparison with the access to information that Web2.0 apps bring to bear.

So the watchword must be caution about what you post...not just where you post.

Follow the guidelines for online safety:
Never give out or post your real email address...
Never give anyone online your physical address...
Never give out or post your phone number...
Don't talk about your bank or financial institution online...
Don't talk abut your insurance company online...
Don't reveal when you will or won't be home alone...

These are the basics.  Our personal identities are unique to each of us and when they are stolen and abused that security we once felt is never quite the same.  Have fun on the web...just be cautious what your post and where.