Last week, I was googling a potential hangout spot for the weekend (yes, I’m one of those people who conduct researches on beer parlours and fast food restaurants on the web), trying to find reviews on the place and the quality of its services when I noticed that one of the search results was from an acquaintance that I hadn’t seen in a while (let’s call her Chika). Apparently, Chika had visited this hangout spot and had good things to say about it on her blog. So I visited said blog to check out her opinion and while I was there, I decided to see what other interesting stuff Chika had been posting. Turns out her blog was more like an online diary for her and before long I had a summary of the major happenings in her life for the past couple of years.
The amount of personal data available was pretty shocking. I decided to see how much information on Chika I could dig up so I googled her name too. Lo and behold, there was plenty to see: her SoundCloud account where she commented on the kind of music she liked, her Foursquare account with her recent check-ins, her Facebook and Google+ profiles with all the posts she had made there, Contact information and Job history, twitter profile… the list goes on. I’m no FBI or SSS agent but with this quantity of data on one person, I had more than enough to create a detailed profile on who Chika was even if I didn’t know her personally. Her likes and dislikes, hobbies, friends, family members, which places she visits frequently, what church she worships in, and all this information in less than 30 minutes of digging! Just think of all the harm I could do with this information. I could arrange a kidnap operation. I could arrange a 419 scam that work only on her. If she had set the answer to the secret question for recovering her email address as the name of her best friend from school then I’ve as good as hacked her email account and every other account she has tied to that email address.
While I was marveling at how Chika could have been so naïve and left so much information about herself available online, I decided to Google my own name and see what turned up. To my surprise, my case was almost the same as Chika’s though to a lesser degree. Luckily the only contact information available was my email address but my work history and almost every account I had ever opened or registered was listed in the search results, even some I had forgotten about. Apparently, you may forget about some things but Google and the rest of the Internet never forget.
What I’m trying to say is that some of us have a lot more of our lives on the Internet than needs to be there. The closest thing I can compare it to is like having billboards with your personal information all over the country, visible for anyone to look at. Not everyone might pay attention to it but those that do pay attention more often than not have ulterior motives and all that info will be very useful to them. I’m pretty sure most of the people responsible for scam emails and phone calls use this readily available information as their source. How else will you explain a call from some stranger who knows where you work and claims to know some of your colleagues at the office, then goes on to tell you about one “contract” that he needs your help to complete.
The truth of the matter is, it is not really our fault because in this age of the interconnectedness, it is virtually impossible for you to keep everything about you off the Internet. You might not have an online profile but your son could put your name as next of kin when registering his own profile and then goes ahead to register your home phone number as his own because he doesn’t have a phone However, you do have some level of control over what’s available to be seen.
Facebook and most other social networks have privacy settings that you can tweak to hide how much info is visible to people who aren’t on your friends list. Also avoid registering for every social network that someone invites you to join. You may grow tired of the website and stop using it but your information is still there for anyone to see.
And even when there are no privacy controls, try to avoid posting personal information like your home address or phone numbers.
When you tweet, try to avoid giving too much info about your personal life. Leave out names of people if possible.
If you use Foursquare (if you have to check-in) avoid putting your own home as a check in location and perhaps only check-in at a place when you’re about to leave it rather than when you arrive.
All of this might seem like paranoia but the way I see it, a little paranoia helps keep us alive and safe a little longer.
Atumu Marho
(@azanor)
