Facebook is such a popular website today that it seems everyone has their own profile. You might think that it would be more difficult to keep in touch with all your acquaintances if you didn’t all have Facebook pages.
Still, there are some dangers that come along with having a profile on Facebook, and some of them can be quite serious. If you’re thinking of creating a Facebook profile, or if you already have one, here are some potential dangers that you should consider.
Facebook is a very socially-oriented site, and as such, it depends on its users to share information and post updates about various subjects. Without the users, there would be no content on the website. Facebook also allows you to enter sensitive information, and you might not realize how easy it is for an outside source to obtain it.
Unless you take some time to thoroughly familiarize yourself with Facebook’s privacy settings, this private information can end up accessible via search engines such as Google. You probably wouldn’t want your date of birth, your work schedule, and the location of your school to be viewable by anyone with an internet connection, but such privacy violations are possible.
Facebook is also the perfect tool for internet stalkers. Allowing someone to be your “friend” on Facebook opens up all your information to them, including your photo galleries, who you’re dating, and your date of birth. If you don’t know someone or you would be uncomfortable with someone having access to this information, don’t be friends with him or her on Facebook.
It wasn’t long ago that such information was kept between friends only. However, it’s available to all your friends on Facebook unless you manually control your privacy settings.
Above all, remember that Facebook is really out to make money, despite their claims that they just want to connect everyone. The same with Google – it makes good PR to say that they want to offer free information to everyone, but they’re also driven by money.
The goal of every business is to increase profits and grow. You may be unknowingly helping Facebook increase its profits by offering your personal information; this data can easily classify you into a demographic, allowing Facebook to deliver targeted ads right to your computer screen, receiving millions of dollars in ad revenue from your info.
Aside from security issues, the author additionally regularly shares knowledge on the sofa bed and the cheap sofa bed.
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Sun, Jun 6, 2010
PC Security