Category: News and Views
NEWS – Social Networking May Cost You More Than Just Privacy
Many people today are involved in some sort of social networking on the internet. They use MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, among others, to keep in touch with friends and family, share pictures, and communicate with the world in general. But aside from the fact that they are essentially eliminating their own privacy, they might be risking more than they think, and their home owner’s insurance, of all things, may increase because of that.
Why home owner's insurance you ask? Well, with new updates to these social media websites, as well as the dawn of smart mobile telephones that can access them, people are now able to post where they are and what they're doing remotely. They can even do something called geo tagging, where they use the GPS chip in their phone to post their exact location on a virtual map. The problem arises when this information is uploaded to the site for anyone to see, thus alerting anyone able to view that information that you are not at home but you're actually, "Getting a foot long sub from the deli," or "Wow, the post office is so slow!" Any criminal smart enough to access this information can stake out the person who routinely posts what they're doing when not in their home. That person inevitably leaves themselves completely open to burglary, and insurance companies may start monitoring this information as well to cover themselves should anything happen to the house when the owner is out.
While it seems like a crazy premise, it makes sense that the insurance companies would seek to protect themselves from their own policy holders who choose to act irresponsibly and eliminate their own privacy so nonchalantly. For those who continue to post their business on these sites while away from home, they'd better learn how to modify their privacy settings so that they can control who sees the information they upload or else they might come home one day to find a few broken windows, property missing, and an insurance company with a copy of their Facebook updates tucked into folded arms.
To read the original article, please go to
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/22/facebook-twitter-users-co_n_471548.html
Good reason to learn how to use one's privacy settings. For kids, I think that's the parent's responsibility and I've seen to it my daughter knows how. Tools are not threatening; it's all in how you use it.
If I ever find the letter written to Union Pacific by a woman claiming the breakneck speed of fifteen miles per hour, among other things, was just dangerous and unnatural, I shall post it here with relish.
Just remember if it's public, that's what it means, public. Anyone can see it: cops, insurance agents, future roommates, employers.
I read recently of a case where a girl going to college googled her future roommate, and based on what she found, decided she didn't want to room with her, and raised a stink at the college.
Sorta like these guys that fence stolen goods on Craigslist and then whimper like street puppies when they get a customer ... er, cop ... at their door.
Facebook has several options: Everybody, Friends of Friends, Friends, and just yourself.
Incidentally, when you are asked to fill out questionaires at the appliance store and they ask you about your hobbies, that data is, and has for many years been, sold to insurance and other companies. So unbenounced to you, you get denied coverage for your spouse and dependents as beneficiaries simply because you checked bunjy jumping or sky diving under interests on a questionaire unrelated to your purchase at the local appliance or hardware store.
Point? This racket's been going on a long time.
Recommended reading, "Stealing Your Life" you can find it on Web Braille, though I'm sure they have a talking one as well. The best security tool you have rests between your ears, or maybe your parents ears if you are still cognitively developing ...
Good points there robozork. Its the people who do not use their good judgement that get themselves into some messes there.
I don't even have my state listed, though I do sometimes say I'm in NJ. But yeah. I use the name that I want to make legal and not my legal one. I ddon't put my address, and the phone number that I have on there, which I can easily delete, is linked to my Skype account, so it has no real location. Also, the e-mail I use for FaceBook is not the one I use for serious business, bills etc.
agree on poster 2. also, is wise to remember that, some employers might use social networking site such as facebook, tweeter, myspace etc to track your record as a person. so, watch out on what you say and what you put up