Privacy & Confidentiality

When discussing privacy and confidentiality in relation to social media sites, you often find the LACK THEREOF. This specifically comes into play with sites like FourSquare. For those who are not familiar, FourSquare is a social media network where you can "check in" to places and  you receive awards/badges for checking in the most. One can earn the title of being the Mayor if they have checked in more than anyone else.

There are a few articles about how dangerous it is to check in to a place and have other social media sites accessible by the public. After discussing this with a group of friends, I have found a simple scenario of how one might con you into a situation you should not be in.

John Doe (a stalker and con artist) sees that Jane is attractive and has checked into the bar he is sitting at. Sees her full name and does a search for her on Facebook. Here, he can see an album from 2 years ago about her trip to Italy with friends and sees that she is a party girl who enjoys taking shots. Next, he notices she has a brother named Chris and she attended Fort Hamilton High School. Another in. Now he knows where she went to school and a sibling connection. This is basic information that is usually accessible to the Public. Pending the rest (relationship status, current job, status saying why they are at the bar) he can gather enough to lay the ground work of a super interesting guy who has a lot "in common" with her. Now he can strike up a conversation, mention he went to that school, say he was friends with her brother in college, throw in that he just got back from Italy, and would like to buy her a shot. BOOM. Jane feels like she meets Mr. Right meanwhile he is simply trying to make her Ms. Right Now.

Social Networking privacy issues have been in litigations since they have began. Identity theft, stalkers, divorces, and criminal work all have used these sites for their advantage and unfortunately in this world - there is not much one can do about it. In Facebook's case, you can have extremely strict guidelines on who can see what on your page. You can make yourself unsearchable and hide specific posts and pictures from specific people. They have created all of these settings with your safety in mind with hopes that people think twice about "putting it all out there". I, for one, have certainly used precaution when posting anything a future employer can see or my family can see. You should too.....