Are you on Twitter, Facebook, My Space, Reunion, Classmates? If so then take a look at what I can get on you! I can sign up, become a friend of yours, stalk you, your friends, it's endless. Your bosses can snoop on you and you've just basically put a target on your back.
This post CLICK HERE by PC World is very good advice, however the best advice for privacy is to stay OFF the grid, off the social networking sites. Your real friends are people you see in real life and have emails to so that you can send messages and pics in private. What's the purpose of using your real name and posting your life and job online anyhow? Brownie points? To show off to past classmates "how well you're doing". To me, it seems arrogant to say the least. If you're not a celebrity getting paid big bucks to have your privacy violated then why on earth are you violating yourself? Think about that for a minute.
Common sense says don't post drunken photos, naked photos, photos of yourself doing drugs etc. But for heaven's sake you're posting your spouse's pics, your kids, your friends. Do they have a say in what you're posting? Do you realize it would take me a few minutes to locate you down to your front door with the info you post? So please people, realize that it isn't smart or necessary to post your life online. Think your info is gone when you delete it? Think again my friend. Info is cached. Go look up something on Google. Clicking main link may come up empty, but look below at the button that says CACHED underneath the site's description. Bingo, there's the old site, pictures and all. Are you using photobucket for images? For that matter any free service? They can be copied by anyone, they can be photoshopped and re-posted to ruin your reputation.
A woman browsing Craigslist saw a photo of her son being used in an adoption scam. Imagine her horror! She apparently posted a pic of her son on a social networking site and exploited the poor child unknowingly.
Kidnappers. Need I mention that if a criminal learns who your local friends are, your best friend, he/she can approach your child and name-drop to gain their trust?
Do your social networking under a pseudonym and do not post your real name anywhere.
"But how will people find me" you ask. My answer: Who the hell online really needs to find you that bad? Are you seeking fame? What is it that you want really? Again, your friends are people you know and email. Send them your pictures in private. Refrain from even posting names of pets, because trust me, I've located more people through veterinary records and animal control. Don't post your real name anywhere, don't use your real address, if you can, don't even post your city. It's all about how much you're willing to give up in the name of privacy.
Scary thing is that it isn't only me who can locate you, anyone with a few bucks to spare can pay for a search service and locate you if you're easy to find. I've set up decoy accounts and caught stalkers, and you'd be surprised that often stalkers are often people you actually know. That acquaintance or family member who is all too sweet when they see you in person. Why? Because they're feeling guilty for stalking. You can put trackers on many social networking sites now, that will enable you to see who visits your site and for how long. One of my clients had an aquaintance hit his site over 60 times in an hour. This is more than one page reload per minute. Why? Who cares why, the fact is that they did it in the first place.
So go now and change the details in your social sites. Pick a handle, don't use your name. Put fictitious info in the first name, last name and address fields. Don't put your location or change it to something far away. Never put your real birthdate. More later... in the mean time, clean up your cyber trail.
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