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Kroll in Identity Theft News

A Few Social Networking Privacy Tips

April 27, 2008
The Associated Press
By Martha Irvine

A few ways social networkers can help protect their privacy:

  • Provide enough information for your friends to be able to identify you — but not so much that someone could use information to steal your identity. There's no reason to include your entire resume, from education to work history.
  • Consider making your profile private so people you don't know can't "scrape" information and images from it.
  • Even if your profile is private, remember that your information and photos also can be accessed by third parties through your friends — and through applications developers on such sites as Facebook and MySpace.
  • Remove social networking applications you're not using and check out the creators of those you do install. If something seems suspicious, report it.
  • Don't use the same password for social network sites that you do for online accounts that have banking and credit card information.
  • Check for updates on privacy policies on various sites you use.
  • Never assume that anything you post online is completely private. Trust your instincts. And remember that, ultimately, responsibility for the information, photos and video you post is yours.

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project; Adrienne Felt, University of Virginia; Kroll Inc.
Martha Irvine is an AP national writer. She can be reached at mirvine(at)ap.org

 

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