How to Keep Facebook Private

How to Keep Facebook Private

 

Privacy issues have dogged Facebook and other social media sites for years.  There are so many areas within which to adjust settings, it may become so frustrating that people give up trying to figure it out.  The Wall Street Journal article, A Guide to Facebook’s Privacy Options, had a very good graphic that demonstrates where to go to make changes to privacy settings.  It is important that you go to the icon that looks like a lock with some lines next to it at the top right of the screen.  Once you click on that, click on “see more settings”, then click on security (listed at the top left under the word general).

Once you are on that page, the following list contains some suggested ways to improve security:

  • Turn on secure browsing which is listed first under security settings  – if it is on, it will show enabled.
  • Login approvals can be turned on for extra security.
  • Limit app settings (see left side of screen) so that certain things may not be posted to your profile. “Disable instant personalization if you don’t want Facebook to share your information with partner websites”.
  • Adjust ad settings (see left side of screen) to control what information appears in ads.

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Young Adults and Unique Identity Theft Issues

As more people have embraced technology, more opportunities for identity theft have been created.  PC Magazine author Larry Seltzer interviewed a cyber-crimes expert and found that there are some unique new ways that people have their identities stolen.  One of the things that may come as a surprise is that misconfigured peer-to-peer apps like Limewire can share information from your “My Documents” folder.

While you may be hip to the Nigerian scams, you may not be aware of skimmers on ATMs that can read your credit cards. Seltzer explains, “These are devices which install over the reader appear to be part of the machine. When you insert your card the skimmer reads it and records the information on it. They are often used in combination with surreptitious cameras to record the keys you press for the PIN. Skimmers are especially popular on gas pump, but they are also being used on the smaller point of sale readers found in stores.”

CNN Money reported that the top consumer complaint is identity fraud.  “The Federal Trade Commission counted 250,854 complaints about identity theft in 2010, according to a report issued Tuesday. That was 19% of the 1.3 million total complaints the agency received, putting it at the top of the consumer complaint list for the 11th year in a row. The most common form of identity theft was through fraudulent government documents. Credit card fraud garnered the second highest number of identity theft complaints, followed by phone and utilities fraud.”

Many young adults are going back to school soon.  College students may feel they are invincible and not notice identity theft as quickly as they should.  They are less likely to track their bank accounts and credit card statements.  Mainstreet.com reported, “Studies have shown that it takes 18- to 24-year-old Americans twice as long to find out they’ve been the victim of I.D. fraud – which is usually too late to do anything about it.”

Wells Fargo has come up with tips for college students to safeguard their financial information.

Fraudpreventionunit.org also has listed 10 Tips for an Identity-Theft Free 2011.

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