Facebook: use with caution
Nowadays, everybody is on Facebook. Recent cases have prooved that a Facebook-profile, that shows too much personal information, can get you in trouble. For instance, everybody remembers the case of Kevin Doyle, who called in sick after a night on the town. No problem if he didn’t post on Facebook that he had a hangover … and of course his boss could read it!
Sometimes the average Facebook-uses has to think twice before posting more personal information online. Since not everyone has good intentions and can be trusted. An illustrative example is the tragic case of Emma Forrester. She was killed by her soon to be ex-husband Wayne, after spreading the news on Facebook that she was single again and looking forward to meet other men. Although she removed him as a friend, he could still read the posts on the pages of mutual friends.
But also criminals make use of your personal information on Facebook. Maybe one of your six hundred friends isn’t that trustworthy as you want to believe. So when you are counting the days to leave on a skiing trip, he is also counting the days to drop by your house and leave with that brand new 65-inch television set. So a useful tip: don’t publish your address on the info-page! And beware of the Koobface-virus, that currently is harassing Facebook-users with e-mails that contain a link to a video site that appears to contain a movie. The video, however, doesn’t play, and the user is asked to update the video software by downloading a file. It’s this download that contains the virus!
But not only criminals use Facebook as a source for vital information. According to an article in the Flemish newspaper ‘De Standaard’, Belgian tax inspectors are also using Facebook to find out more information. For every file, they start with googling that person. And if they have a Facebook-account, the tax inspector invites him or her to become a friend, building on the fact that people get addicted to friendships and want to have as many as friends as possible. In this way, the tax inspector receives crucial information of the lifestyle of that particular person and can check if it corresponds with his declaration.
So the next time, you want to post pictures of the brand new BMW and your latest holidays in the Carribian … think again!
Source: De Standaard, 13 december 2008, p. 14
Tags: facebook, personal information, privacy, social media
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