Tagged with privacy , social networking
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 - Almanac Vol. 55, No. 28Managing Facebook's Privacy Settings for Safe Use
Today, 175 million users subscribe to Facebook. Stated differently, if Facebook were a country, it would be the 7th most populous in the world.
And yet, many on Facebook, or considering going on Facebook, are worried about how to use it safely.
Sophos, an Internet security company, has produced a Facebook Best Practices Guide, recommending how to navigate and set Facebook privacy settings to minimize one’s risk of identity theft while using the site. The Guide can be found at www.sophos.com/security/best-practice/facebook-profile.html.
The Guide focuses on the approximately 25 privacy-related settings and, for each one, includes a safe setting recommendation and explains the rationale for that recommendation.
For example, for the the "Profile" option, Sophos recommends the setting "Only my friends." Why? Sophos says, "By default, Facebook allows all of your networks and all of your friends to be able to view your profile. As networks can contain hundreds of thousands of people (and you have no control over who else joins the network), you are instantly revealing personal information to potential identity thieves if you leave this option at its default setting."
The Sophos model is one helpful educational tool for those who wish to harness a popular service while considering how to responsibly address privacy-related risks. Another helpful resource on these issues is www.techforluddites.com/2009/03/privacy-controls-in-facebook-pt-1.html.
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