Be smart and protect your privacy online

Posted by System | Friday, June 05, 2009

Did you know that 11% of potential employers will search online for information about you before offering you an interview?

With this in mind, it may be worth considering whether you are taking the right steps to protecting your privacy online. Many of us use social networking sites without giving a second thought to the ways in which our information could be used by others.

I have an account over at Last.fm; a great website for music lovers. Users download the Last.fm player which then makes a note (the official lingo is “scrobbles”) of every single song which you listen to on your computer. The website then uses this information to compile lots of lovely charts (music geeks love charts), detailing your most-listened-to songs & artists, and music is then recommended to you based on your listening habits.

Essentially I now have access to an online library detailing every song I have listened to online over the past three years. More importantly, it's not just me who has access to this information. Anyone who visits my profilecould in theory see that on the 8th December 2006, I was listening to a Kinks Best Of album. Moreover, Last.fm are owned by media giant CBS who by default also now own and have access to this information.

I'm not particularly bothered about who knows which music I have listened to or when, and the fact that I was listening to The Kinks on 8th December 2006 is hardly of interest to anyone, least of all me. It is, however, worth pausing for thought about how a detailed profile could be built up of me if this data was to be cross-referenced with other online sources, such as my Facebook, Ebay, Twitter and email accounts. In theory if all of these services were to be owned by the same company in future, a very accurate profile of my online activity could be built up and used to market products directly to me through multiple channels. It's unlikely at present that all of the websites above would be owned by the same corporation, but you get the idea, and with Google's ever-expanding portfolio, it’s a possibility.

This blog post isn't a call to abandon all social networking activity, because these websites do offer a great deal of benefit to many users - but just to pause for thought about whether you know just how much information you are giving away, free of charge, and to whom.

There are two areas for consideration: firstly, the issue of real people finding your information online (e.g. a future employer or parent), and secondly, of corporations owning your information and potentially using this for their own gain. If you aren't keen on either of the above, then the following points might be of use next time you’re online:-

1. My name is what? – Don’t use your real name. Many people instead use a pseudonym which features consistently across all of their social networking accounts, meaning that online friends can easily find them, without knowing their full name. For extra security, create a different username for every website you use. If a potential employer searched online for your real name and found pages of abusive forum posts, the chances are they would think twice about that job offer. Of course, the nicest thing to do is not post abusive messages in forums, but if you just can't help yourself, then don’t use your real name.
2. Big Brother might be watching you – Many employers have (and regularly utilise) the ability to read your emails and view your browsing history. Bear this in mind next time you search for “funny pictures of cats” during a Wednesday afternoon boredom slot, and don't send personal emails from your work account.
3. It takes two, baby – Email addresses, that is. Many online offers or website registration forms require an email address. Keep an email address separate from your personal one, which can be used for confirmation emails, emailing unknown parties, and which will then receive any of the subsequent spam and boring newsletters. Only give out your personal email address to people you know, to protect your privacy.
4. People are (sometimes) strange – Just because you have been talking to someone online and may feel as though you “know” them, remember that for all intents and purposes, they are still a stranger. Online acquaintances are a different creature to “real-life” friends. Although someone may seem like the most genuine person online, try to remember that they might not be as they seem. I don't wish to encourage people to be suspicious of each other, but try to be sensible when speaking to people about your life, your home and contact details.
5. Lock, Stock and...Lock – Ensure that when buying online, you always use a website with a secure certificate (SSL), as your card details will be encrypted when transmitted, making this the only safe way to buy online. Look for the padlock icon in your browser to make sure that a site is secure.
6. Read the small print – By law any website collecting information about you must feature a Privacy Policy, so be sure to read this before signing up for any social networking websites, so you know just who your data is being passed on to.
7. Remember that images can easily be copied – So don't post any precious images online which you don't want anyone to be able to download. It is possible to add a “Watermark” over a picture, which will deter people from saving the image (see the images on I-Stock for an example of this). You can also implement a feature which prevents users from right-clicking and saving the image, but anyone with moderate technical knowledge knows how to get around this and save the file, so it’s not foolproof.
8. Never reply to spam emails – Not even the ones from a Nigerian Royal Heir with £45 million just waiting to be deposited into your bank account, honestly. You could be opening a can of very irritating and time-consuming worms.
9. Home security – It is easy to piggyback on somebody else's unsecured wireless network, but note the key word in that phrase: “unsecured”. Anything you visit on an unsecured internet connection could potentially be viewed by anyone, so this is not a wise choice, and don't even think about viewing your online banking on this type of connection.
10. Remember that “Delete” isn’t always forever - Information which you have shared online will probably still exist, even after you have deleted it. The “Restore deleted thread” feature in the personal messages section of Facebook is a great example of this. Bear this in mind if you are discussing something with confidential or legal implications, and remember to be good!