Facebook privacy - are you worried?

Kiki Chiki

I have been worried, always have been. Not in the sense that I was already worried about identity theft and hacking and fraud, but more so that the companies you think you can trust, well, you just never know. Because I do a lot of online surveys too it has made me think about the information I am sharing so I tend to select the 'prefer not to say' option on some questions now, and refuse to give out too much info like my address unless necessary and trusted. I always used to think about the level of information people share online, especially on those 'the person with this birthday month/date/name etc posts as they reveal a bit of information that people don't realise they are sharing.
I have not changed any settings as I was already minimising the amount of info I release on facebook and who I let be my friend, I have kept a few things blank for a reason e,g employer and birth city etc. It is very easy to find out information about someone or locate their posts on any site - as evidenced by a comment on my company made by a customer I had the other month - I found the post they were referring to very easily with a simple search. The owner of the post wasn't hard to track down either. It just goes to show that we need to teach online privacy and security more in schools and to vulnerable people so they can protect themselves as it is a bit of a minefield trying to work out how to change some of these settings - google for example to change ad tracking settings and keyword sharing is not that easy for the average person. I don't post that much online anyway but since the facebook thing - which, admittedly, I don't know much about, just the gist that they shared info that they didn't disclose they were sharing or were not allowed to share - I am more careful than ever online. I honestly think all computers should come with free antivirus software to protect all from unsafe websites and emails etc. It shouldn't be optional or something you should have to pay for as that just punishes people who can't afford it or don't know well enough to get it.