Privacy Settings: Don't blame your tools for your work results

Articles regarding privacy evaporation, and blaming the phenomenon on social networks, makes for lots of readers. But the reality is, the social networks are seldom to blame for the embarrassing and often dangerous positions people put themselves in regarding online information sharing.

A review of privacy settings can virtually eliminate the risk of unwanted sharing. Like anything else, users need to make sure they understand the powerful tool of a Twitter or Facebook account before they begin using it. Yes, you have to read.

Linkedin, Facebook, Plaxo, Twitter, Myspace and others actually provide some of the best methods for perserving personal privacy, when they are utilized properly. In fact, many use these services instead of standard email because they mask your IP address to the public, and are capable of offering just the information you want to be presented to the public at large. They also allow you to cut off or prevent communications from any user with a simple click.

Don't Blame Facebook for the Erosion of Online Privacy - Business - The Atlantic

To review your privacy settings and your overall presentation, have a trusted friend or a personal privacy consultant go through your social networking membership page, and provide feedback. A professional can tell you what information can be gleaned from your entries, which is critical in protecting yourself online.

2 in 5 Employers Admit Eliminating Candidates Due To Facebook Profile

Creditors have already admitted to screening you on Facebook, now its employers. Half of employers now admit to screening your facebook profile as part of the hiring process.

COMPLETE STORY from CareerBuilder.co.uk

What if they have the wrong person? Search for friends by your own name, and see how many pop up. Could you be confused with them? What if one of those other people with your name decides to pretend to be your facebook profile, to improve their chances of getting a job, or even credit?


A new Facebook application can make sure your profile checks out as yours, and that nobody else's can pretend to be you. Identify.nu, a service of the Consular Chamber of Commerce has created a global platform whereby members provide passport copies to consular officers anywhere in the world, who then verify and legalize a copy of the passport for upload to identify.nu secure servers in Denmark. The member always owns and can delete the data.

COMPLETE STORY - FACEBOOK APPLICATION

Members can trade passport identification with other members, and can authorize social networking interfaces like Facebook and even Gmail to display certain criteria, such as the name, age and confirmation that a full passport copy including passport photo is on file and can be provided to other members when authorized by the identified person.