And if that offends you, then it’s most likely you that I’m referring to. You see, the internet has been buzzing lately with all this talk about privacy on the web, and how much information do you really have floating out there for anyone to see. There is a very simple answer to that question, and I know what it is. The amount of personal information about you that is floating out in cyberspace is the exact same amount as the information that YOU put there in the first place. Now, I know some of you are shaking your heads in disbelief but let’s just think about this. The most common information about you would be what? Your contact information. Name, address, phone numbers, etc. Do you have an email address? Then odds are, you have voluntarily given that information to the internet. Many websites that you have signed up with have required that you put in some personal information. Date of birth, gender, etc. Almost all of the information that can be found about you online has been put there by……you. So who is to blame here? Is it the search engine that points people to what they are searching for? Or is it your fault for supplying the info in the first place?
No, not everything is your fault. There are ways to find you even if you have no email, or belong to any social site. For that, you can blame the government, although it’s a bit more difficult to find. Anyone with internet access can find the name and address of any business or property owner just by doing a search for it. That is public information, and that will never change. Finding anything other than a name and mailing address and maybe a phone number is a hard thing to do on the government site, so that’s at least one good thing they have going for them.
The reason for this post, is due to something I’m seeing more and more of, and it all revolves around Facebook. The links that will show you who has been looking at your profile, or a controversial picture, and a few others, make you grant access to your account. And when they have access to your account, what do they have access to? That’s right…. ALL the information you have given to Facebook. One of these scams looks just like this:
Really? Did you really fall for that? Have you ever had anyone come up to you and say they will show you a picture, but you have to show them your license and give up all your friends info as well? No, of course not. Well, that’s the equivalent of what this program does. It doesn’t give you anything in return, but it will hijack your Facebook profile and try to sucker all your friends into giving up their information as well. Because if you clicked on it, then it must be legit, right?
Basically, use some common sense when surfing the tubes of the web. If you are unsure about the site you are going to give your information to, GOOGLE IT! It’s not that hard, and it will save you some aggravation in the future.
If you still haven’t gotten it, maybe I can sum it up with the picture below:
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