Protecting Your Identity on Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites are the latest phenomenon to sweep the Internet, but as much fun as they are for you and for people everywhere, they can be an easy way for scam artists to steal your identity. Sites like Facebook and MySpace are filled with people who may not realize that they have given out too much personal information to strangers and that they could be looking down the barrel at a fight like they never thought possible. Let's take a look at a few basic things you can do to protect yourself on social networking sites.
Be careful what you post about yourself
The trap with social networking sites is that you have to post some personal information to "socially network" with people who have similar interests. The key is understanding where to draw the line. Telling the world your favorite music, movies and books is perfectly fine, but going any further than telling people your first name and your city with that information is dangerous. Keep your personal email address personal, and don't reveal your age or address to anyone. Your immediate friends know that information, so there is no need to broadcast it to the world. Moreover, it's important that you don't post pictures of your home or workplace. A street number or a company logo in the background of a photo can help unscrupulous viewers to find out where you live and work.
Watch those passwords
Lots of people tend to use the same password for everything. It's dangerous, however, to use the same password for your social networking site as you do for say your bank or credit card account. An identity thief could crack a single password and have access to every single one of your accounts.
Use the features provided
Most social networking sites have built in protection features both in the profile section and throughout the site itself. Simply setting your profile to private is a good first step.
Be able to identify traps
One of the most difficult things to do on many social networking sites is to differentiate between the ads and actual parts of the site. The designers spent hours flawlessly integrating third party banner ads and other advertising into the site so that it appears to be part of the main Facebook or Myspace site. While you should be cautious giving out your personal information to anyone, you really should avoid giving it out to companies that use pop up ads or banner ads. Once you can tell the difference between the main site and the leeches that are after your personal information, the safer you will be.
Be prepared to wade through the spam
As soon as you sign up on one of the many social networking sites, you can expect to start receiving spam emails at a somewhat alarming rate. Some of these mailings will be legitimate and some will be from third party advertisers who may or may not be offering a legitimate service. Make sure you understand that you will likely be receiving both kinds of email and that you should read all of them completely before you act.
Other ideas like integrating CAPTCHA technology can help too. CAPTCHA stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart." It's a challenge-response test that you can put on your message service and friend request form to figure out if the person responding is human or a machine. Computers can't read those secret letters and numbers in the box, and it will block submissions from spambots. By setting a CAPTCHA on your message service and friend request for your profile, you will greatly cut down on the spam you receive, because the spammer will have to do it by hand, something most won't even consider.
Use common sense
Social networking sites are all about meeting new people and opening yourself up to new experiences, but that doesn't mean you have to be careless about it. If someone asks too many personal questions, chances are, they aren't out to make friends, but out to shake you down. You don't want to approach every possible friendship with suspicion, but you do want to be on the lookout for behavior that is out of the ordinary. Staying on your toes is all part of daily life on the Internet. As soon as you adopt this behavior model, the Internet becomes a much less scarier place to live, work and play.
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