When Online, Proceed With Caution
August 20, 2008 3:47 PM | Written by Clarke Levidiotis
One might think that a virtual stroll through the labyrinthine alleys of the Internet would be no less dangerous than say, a walk down a construction-riddled New York City block.
Maybe so, but it would serve web users well to be wary of the privacy threats lurking online. Recent evidence shows that accidental leaks of information online are becoming increasingly common. Perhaps the timing of these instances is purely coincidental. Or, perhaps they indicate that the precautions being taken to protect consumers' privacy online are inadequate.
In June, Facebook accidentally exposed the birthdays of some 80 million of the site's members. This might seem like a fairly harmless slip (and I will refrain from commenting on the dubious ethics behind lying about one's age on social networking sites) but it is problematic from a safety standpoint because birthdays are a key piece of information used in identity theft.
Then, this month the Princeton Review unwittingly revealed tens of thousands of students' personal data and SAT test scores. The mistake was not realized for seven weeks.
Even when big companies aren't inadvertantly leaking users' private information all over the Internet, consumers are similarly failing to do a very good job of protecting themselves.
It is somewhat taken for granted that passwords are effective at preserving online safety. Not so! Many, many internet users are guarding their online banking accounts & email accounts with easily-hackable passwords like "12345" and "LetMeIn". Even worse, according to this article in the New York Times, even the best passwords (the ones that are random combinations of letters and numbers) actually do very little to ward off identity theft.
The most uncomfortable part about acknowledging that the current procedures for protecting Internet users are not airtight is acknowledging that there is not really an alternative. Most people share some degree of private information about themselves on the Internet, and until online safety procedures become invincible, everyone is vulnerable.
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