While social networking sites, such as the very popular Facebook, are very helpful in finding long lost friends and keeping constant communication with the present ones, registering and active use of these sites actuallly pose dangers.
Take a little time out of your enjoyment and addiction to these social networking sites to read this for awareness:
- Beware of Identity thefts. While sites assure you “privacy of information” when you register, this does not guarantee you that the third-party applications they use to run the site will protect you from such promise. A lot of private information are given away for free when you register for these sites such as Facebook, Friendster, Multiply, MySpace, Hi5, etc. Not to mention the fact that you put a lot of personal information about yourself — your real name, birthday, affiliations, photos, email, contact information, everything that matters — in your profile. You also download cookies and along with these free data, identity thieves can bring all these together for a scheme against you or using you.
- Beware of Viruses! The biggest and most common threats will be unaware download of viruses, spy ware and malwares from these sites which for advertising purposes, allow popups and downloaders. Social networking and dating sites such as Tagged, Friendster and Facebook, have banners which contain scumware and hidden codes. Read this statement by Mary Madden, a senior research specialist at the Pew Internet and American Life Project who studies privacy issues: “I suspect that there’s a whole lot of clicking without a lot of thinking. So much of this sharing happens in a way that users don’t see the consequences. It’s kind of a big, black hole.”
So, the next time you go click-spree and beautify your profile page with important info about yourself, think again.
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Very informative! This is a huge issue that is to be credited for most people who are totally dependent on social networking sites!