Is Your Facebook Profile at Risk of Cyber Crime?

At the RSA Security Europe Conference, individual privacy was at the forefront of people's consciences

. It was argued that communication has changed forever and this will have a negative impact on people's levels of privacy. In times past, conversations were typically carried out over the phone or face to face. Now, most correspondence is carried out via email and/or online. This creates a copy of all correspondence.

Deleting an email does not necessarily bin it. The recipient or sender will still have a copy on their account. Not surprisingly, huge data centres have made it easier than ever to save online conversation. It was argued that inexpensive technology and ever increasing memory capacities mean that storing and collecting data is now far more possible than it was some years ago.

You may be asking why it would matter, but private data means money. Having access to a lot of private personal data will often mean companies can make more profit from advertising. On an everyday level, this is routinely seen while registering for anything new, with those 'tick here if you do not want to have any correspondence from our company'; this occurs offline as well. Furthermore, how many users read the terms of agreement and privacy policies for the programs we download or the sites which we use? It might end up being surprising to examine a few of them and understand precisely what the website can do with your collected data.

Facebook has routinely been derided for the complicated privacy settings and not being transparent. It is totally feasible for people to read almost all the info on somebody's profile if they have not enabled specific privacy options. While the safety conscience amongst us will be sure to set our privacy settings appropriately, many people don't realize they are even exposing themselves to potential identity theft and Internet crime. It is not merely enough to argue that it is their own problem if their privacy becomes compromised. Additionally, organizations shouldn't desire to deceive consumers on purpose so as to facilitate simpler data collection.

Google was also under lots of political and social criticism with regard to its unauthorized gathering of private data when collecting data as part of its StreetView service. Google essentially listened in on people's wi-fi connections and saved personal and private data. Google's blas response upset loads of users and several national governments were drawn into the debate challenging the legality of Google's actions.

The more personal information an organization has on you, the more they can charge marketers in order to target users. If an organization knows you are female, aged between 30-40 and have five kids, well then advertisers will pay more since they can target their advertisements more efficiently. If an advertisement gets targeted at the proper demographic then the advertisers will get more results. Marketers are willing to pay a premium because then they would be able to target you with toy, home improvements and kitchen advertisements, compared to advertisements for weight lifting or extreme sports (although these are big generalizations).

Thus, it is important to always ensure that you read terms of agreement thoroughly. Whenever you register for anything you are signing a contract. It would be horrible to think one speedy registration for a website could result in anything bad some years down the line. Always read the small print well, it may sound clichd but it just might save you. Furthermore, you should also always have safe online safety practices. Having a safe password is a great step but you could also try a password keeper which would enhance your safety! You can save your passwords online to a site and keep them safe and secure.

Is Your Facebook Profile at Risk of Cyber Crime?

By: Culon Cheng

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