Internet Safety and Privacy 101

Stanthropical

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If you're involved in various forms of social media, chances are that somewhere, some of your private information has become public—although not necessarily in plain format—it could be snippets of seemingly harmless personal content which could be used like puzzle pieces from here and there to assemble a full picture.

Where could those pieces be found? Silly Facebook "quizzes," and apps, newsletter sign-ups, phone apps, email registration, fake raffles, shopping lists, poorly chosen user names, public events websites, career networking profiles, websites which have been targeted by cyber criminals, even poorly secured financial institutions... This list hardly includes everything out there.

Some of the ways to protect yourselves are fairly simple and limiting photo sharing is a good place to start. Many images can be "reverse searched" which may lead to a personal profile which wasn't intended to be seen by weirdos. Avoid sharing any image which you may have shared within your personal content such as personal Facebook profile, school photos, career profiles, etc. Photos of common objects which have been uniquely decorated to suit your taste/needs could lead to your personal content as well. If you've accidentally shared one of those pictures with a potential creep, kill it with fire—delete it from all personal profiles, from your devices (so you're not tempted to share it in the future), from anonymous profile websites and deny its existence. Disabling geotagging (GPS location information embedded into images) is a good way to protect your location as well. Geotagging can be disabled in your phone's camera/privacy settings. Some websites which use image re-formatting remove GPS info, some don't. It's a good idea to disable the feature if you frequently use your phone's camera to share images in public, regardless of the image content.

Do not share your personal email (one you use for banking, personal profiles, work, etc) with anonymous individuals and websites.
Do not share personal messenger accounts to interact with anonymous individuals via anonymous websites.
Do no share personal phone numbers and personal messenger numbers with anonymous individuals via anonymous websites.
Do not share names of places/events you regularly visit (such as restaurants, local events, schools you're enrolled in, places you've worked at, etc), dates you may have visited them or will visit them.
Do not discuss your line of work.
Do not discuss past residences in your past.
Do not discuss vehicles you drive and property you own. Even unique pets you may have.
Anyone you develop trust for is liable to share any information you've divulged, should you experience a fallout with them.
Disable geotagging (GPS info attached to photos) in your mobile device.

You can always create additional and anonymous emails, messenger accounts and social profiles to interact with anonymous users. Such accounts can be dumped and burned without that content haunting you in the future.

Ignoring/blocking persistent personal information trolls is a good way to shield yourself as well. Such troll's goal is to provoke you into inadvertently sharing personal information, no matter how minuscule, which can later be pieced together to assemble a profile leading to your personal content.

Be smart about your content. There is no real need to share personal information with anonymous individuals on anonymous and public websites.

And last, but not least, don't mess with people who can seemingly extract information out of thin air you breathed around them. Those people are uniquely gifted and will wreck your sanity.

PS: While keeping your appearance private is a good idea, using some else's stolen photo is unacceptable. You're violating someone's privacy which may come with multiple ramifications.
 

megs233

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If you're involved in various forms of social media, chances are that somewhere, some of your private information has become public—although not necessarily in plain format—it could be snippets of seemingly harmless personal content which could be used like puzzle pieces from here and there to assemble a full picture.

Where could those pieces be found? Silly Facebook "quizzes," and apps, newsletter sign-ups, phone apps, email registration, fake raffles, shopping lists, poorly chosen user names, public events websites, career networking profiles, websites which have been targeted by cyber criminals, even poorly secured financial institutions... This list hardly includes everything out there.

Some of the ways to protect yourselves are fairly simple and limiting photo sharing is a good place to start. Many images can be "reverse searched" which may lead to a personal profile which wasn't intended to be seen by weirdos. Avoid sharing any image which you may have shared within your personal content such as personal Facebook profile, school photos, career profiles, etc. Photos of common objects which have been uniquely decorated to suit your taste/needs could lead to your personal content as well. If you've accidentally shared one of those pictures with a potential creep, kill it with fire—delete it from all personal profiles, from your devices (so you're not tempted to share it in the future), from anonymous profile websites and deny its existence. Disabling geotagging (GPS location information embedded into images) is a good way to protect your location as well. Geotagging can be disabled in your phone's camera/privacy settings. Some websites which use image re-formatting remove GPS info, some don't. It's a good idea to disable the feature if you frequently use your phone's camera to share images in public, regardless of the image content.

Do not share your personal email (one you use for banking, personal profiles, work, etc) with anonymous individuals and websites.
Do not share personal messenger accounts to interact with anonymous individuals via anonymous websites.
Do no share personal phone numbers and personal messenger numbers with anonymous individuals via anonymous websites.
Do not share names of places/events you regularly visit (such as restaurants, local events, schools you're enrolled in, places you've worked at, etc), dates you may have visited them or will visit them.
Do not discuss your line of work.
Do not discuss past residences in your past.
Do not discuss vehicles you drive and property you own. Even unique pets you may have.
Anyone you develop trust for is liable to share any information you've divulged, should you experience a fallout with them.
Disable geotagging (GPS info attached to photos) in your mobile device.

You can always create additional and anonymous emails, messenger accounts and social profiles to interact with anonymous users. Such accounts can be dumped and burned without that content haunting you in the future.

Ignoring/blocking persistent personal information trolls is a good way to shield yourself as well. Such troll's goal is to provoke you into inadvertently sharing personal information, no matter how minuscule, which can later be pieced together to assemble a profile leading to your personal content.

Be smart about your content. There is no real need to share personal information with anonymous individuals on anonymous and public websites.

And last, but not least, don't mess with people who can seemingly extract information out of thin air you breathed around them. Those people are uniquely gifted and will wreck your sanity.

PS: While keeping your appearance private is a good idea, using some else's stolen photo is unacceptable. You're violating someone's privacy which may come with multiple ramifications.


Do you think we all stupid that you have put this?
Here ends the lesson
 

TheDalaiDrama

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I don't think it's ridiculous to not have a photo, but I won't let someone judge myself or others when they hide themselves.
 

Stanthropical

De̸͍̺̺̓̾m̶̶̶ͫͫod̶̶̶ͩͩu̶̶̶ͧͧLaᴛ̶̶ⷮo̵̢̦̟͋̾̓r
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TheDalaiDrama

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I will straight up say that yes. Some here, a large amount here, need this.
 

Stanthropical

De̸͍̺̺̓̾m̶̶̶ͫͫod̶̶̶ͩͩu̶̶̶ͧͧLaᴛ̶̶ⷮo̵̢̦̟͋̾̓r
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do u not read it ? some of us have used the net for over 20 odd years which mean was here when it all began, so some of us dont need this.

Some =/= All.

There are over 16,000 registered users here. You surely don't think they've all been on the net for some twenty-odd years, do you?
 

Hollie

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I thought it was a well written article offering a lot of helpful tips and advice both as a refresher to seasoned chatters and especially to the newer younger chatters who may not be quite so savvy and older chatters who ummmm... might not be so savvy either :confused:
As it happens i don't use a mobile to share pictures but many do and such a simple thing like the GPS tracker could well be left on as an over site and in turn to aid a troll with your location. I wonder how many not so much as didn't know about it, but simply have forgotten its on when sending pictures etc......
Good post Stan Thanks :)
 

Shelagh

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A tit bit of information here and there can lead to stalkers, happened to a friend who happened to say she worked in a hospital.......months later she received nasty mail etc.....so I would not say the post was making anyone look stupid it was helpful....just my opinion and as we all know, we are all entitled to one !
 

Stanthropical

De̸͍̺̺̓̾m̶̶̶ͫͫod̶̶̶ͩͩu̶̶̶ͧͧLaᴛ̶̶ⷮo̵̢̦̟͋̾̓r
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We all need a reminder here and there. I myself break these safety rules now and then. Humans being social animals, can't help themselves.
 
L

Levilass90

Guest
Hear hear! Well said. Thank you for posting this useful information!
 

Sausages

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If you're involved in various forms of social media, chances are that somewhere, some of your private information has become public—although not necessarily in plain format—it could be snippets of seemingly harmless personal content which could be used like puzzle pieces from here and there to assemble a full picture.

Where could those pieces be found? Silly Facebook "quizzes," and apps, newsletter sign-ups, phone apps, email registration, fake raffles, shopping lists, poorly chosen user names, public events websites, career networking profiles, websites which have been targeted by cyber criminals, even poorly secured financial institutions... This list hardly includes everything out there.

Some of the ways to protect yourselves are fairly simple and limiting photo sharing is a good place to start. Many images can be "reverse searched" which may lead to a personal profile which wasn't intended to be seen by weirdos. Avoid sharing any image which you may have shared within your personal content such as personal Facebook profile, school photos, career profiles, etc. Photos of common objects which have been uniquely decorated to suit your taste/needs could lead to your personal content as well. If you've accidentally shared one of those pictures with a potential creep, kill it with fire—delete it from all personal profiles, from your devices (so you're not tempted to share it in the future), from anonymous profile websites and deny its existence. Disabling geotagging (GPS location information embedded into images) is a good way to protect your location as well. Geotagging can be disabled in your phone's camera/privacy settings. Some websites which use image re-formatting remove GPS info, some don't. It's a good idea to disable the feature if you frequently use your phone's camera to share images in public, regardless of the image content.

Do not share your personal email (one you use for banking, personal profiles, work, etc) with anonymous individuals and websites.
Do not share personal messenger accounts to interact with anonymous individuals via anonymous websites.
Do no share personal phone numbers and personal messenger numbers with anonymous individuals via anonymous websites.
Do not share names of places/events you regularly visit (such as restaurants, local events, schools you're enrolled in, places you've worked at, etc), dates you may have visited them or will visit them.
Do not discuss your line of work.
Do not discuss past residences in your past.
Do not discuss vehicles you drive and property you own. Even unique pets you may have.
Anyone you develop trust for is liable to share any information you've divulged, should you experience a fallout with them.
Disable geotagging (GPS info attached to photos) in your mobile device.

You can always create additional and anonymous emails, messenger accounts and social profiles to interact with anonymous users. Such accounts can be dumped and burned without that content haunting you in the future.

Ignoring/blocking persistent personal information trolls is a good way to shield yourself as well. Such troll's goal is to provoke you into inadvertently sharing personal information, no matter how minuscule, which can later be pieced together to assemble a profile leading to your personal content.

Be smart about your content. There is no real need to share personal information with anonymous individuals on anonymous and public websites.

And last, but not least, don't mess with people who can seemingly extract information out of thin air you breathed around them. Those people are uniquely gifted and will wreck your sanity.

PS: While keeping your appearance private is a good idea, using some else's stolen photo is unacceptable. You're violating someone's privacy which may come with multiple ramifications.
 
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