With so much focus being put on social networking on the Internet, a lot more of our personal information is out there for everyone to see. I’m not one to be paranoid about these things, and always try and remember that whatever I’m putting out there will most likely be public knowledge from them on. Sometimes I do see things that make me wonder though.
We make use of Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and various other forms of blogging and microblogging to let the world know what we’re up to. What we sometimes forget is that whatever we’re broadcasting might not just reach our friends, but in fact the whole world.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read about someone posting something on Facebook, forgetting that they’re “friends” with their boss. You can just search facebook fail in Google and you’ll quickly see loads of funny examples.
People have lost partners, jobs and friends because they post something without realising everyone can see it. Sure you can set privacy settings, but still, you never know what might be accidentally forwarded on.
The reason I’m thinking about this again is that in the last week I’ve seen many mentions of people saying they’re going to go away for the long weekend. It got me thinking that if I wasn’t such a good person 
I could find out where these people stay. And knowing that someone will not be home I could break in and steal some of their things. Just because I’m thinking it, doesn’t mean I will actually do it. So if you get back Monday and some of your stuff is gone and you read this, don’t come knocking on my door.
Criminals are a lot more clever than we give them credit for. Sometimes I look at ways that people get conned and I’m truly amazed at the methods and equipment used. Imagine where the world would be if they used that power for good? If I could think of this one scenario where someone can use a simple statement like “I’m away for the whole weekend” to break into your house, imagine the stuff they can come up with to watch out for.
I’m not saying start being paranoid and stop using the websites and forums you might be making use of. Write anything you say on the Internet (and for that matter in email as well) keeping in mind that your words might be available to the whole world. Think of that before you type any sentence and you’ll probably reduce you risk by 90%.
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