The internet is a
brilliant proof of mankind's progress pertaining to communication, data transporting,
business, etc. With its capabilities that are open to all of us who can access
it, we find ourselves in an endless stream of entertainment, knowledge of all
sorts, news and a whole lot more. Basically, it has made a lot of things easier
for us in a lot of ways especially in our work. Though it is not only for work,
if you look at it in common way, the entertainment that it showcases would be
more extremely visible rather than other of its uses. It certainly does create
the sufficient attraction enough for people to check it out and eventually
become hooked by what it can give you.
Examples of entertainment in the
internet are the Social Networking sites. Social Networking sites enable you to
share what you want to share in the form of textual publications, pictures,
videos and a lot even use it for business. Though mainly, Social Networking
sites are focused more on connecting with your family, friends, acquaintances
and whatever you'd want to call your companions. Such networking sites are commonly
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Due to their popularity, user-population and
user-friendly access, they have drawn lots of attention in making them common
choices for sharing what the people want to share. Though as fun and convenient
as it sounds, we forget that this kind of attraction can jeopardize your safety
from stalkers.
We all
know how stalkers can be dangerous using the information they can take from us.
Take Rema Begum, for instance, a former British library manager who committed
suicide by jumping off the rooftop of London restaurant, Coq d’Argent, after
she fell victim from a Facebook stalker who exposed her information to her
Muslim parents and sparked a hate campaign against her. She was diagnosed with
depression after the series of unfortunate events the stalker had mainly caused
for her. (For more about the Begum story: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/victim-of-facebook-stalker-leapt-to-her-death-from-rooftop-restaurant-8411929.html )
We
should all take the warnings that stalker victims didn’t see in the first
place. The misfortunate events linked by their carelessness can definitely
corrupt or misguide the choices they are about to make especially in the case
of Miss Rema Begum. But for the benefits of the others, the victims have
unconsciously or unknowingly spared us the unfortunate outcomes if we ever let
our guard down in the internet. But we can’t blame ourselves from what we want
to do, as it is our choice if we want to share or send something to someone or
others to either make our jobs easier or for the sake of reliving memories no
matter the level of its importance. We must always be cautious and by that, this
is how to share with security in social networking sites.
In no surprise, Facebook
is the most popular social networking site in the internet according to various
websites like the reliable eBizMBA, but it is also dangerous due to its
population. Here are some certain steps to making your stay more secure.
·
Click
the gear icon (settings) and click privacy settings
and choose "who can see my future
posts" and limit to
friends only, or if you want to, you can
choose to limit it to yourself
by choosing "only me"
·
In
accepting your friend requests, try your best to pay attention to
the site's warning. In the case of other
people who are attracted to
strangers because of their display pictures,
be warned that some people
are not who they claim themselves to be in
their pictures.
·
Besides relying on
the settings of a social networking site or anything that will do your protecting for you, we must
of course snap out of the temporary indolence pulling us down against to do
what's necessary, maybe it's time we limit our sharing by determining if it's
really necessary or not. But if we just can't, out of whatever reasons, at
least try to be general especially in informing others about your location.
And besides, sometimes people just don't
care, unless you're somewhat popular, that is.
Speaking of location and statuses, there is a certain
social networking site that is undoubtedly popular with its population
continuing to increase. This site is Twitter, iconic as it is for its
convenience of spreading or sharing information. Unlike Facebook, a lot of
politicians, celebrities, personalities and a lot more are open to share what
they want to share, though its convenience is not only a perk but of course a
disadvantage especially in terms of location and its user's personal
sensitivity.
·
First
off, to secure yourself from strangers or having potential threat from your
followers (The ones who have access to your tweets or your textual
publications) go to settings, again with the gear icon, and choose
"protect your tweets". This will automatically have the people who
want to follow you ask for your approval, or in other words, serves as a
filter. Because originally, your profile won't be protected and would be up to
you if you want to protect it or not, which I suggest you do
.
·
Now
just because your tweets are protected doesn't mean you can flexibly tweet about everything you think,
especially when they are offensive because this can make you have enemies that
can affect
your social life depending on whether they
take action or not unto you.
Yes, this is against
the freedom of speech we have in certain places, but we must always be
sensitive enough of the ones who have access to what we say because anyone can
be offended with what we say. SO sometimes, it's best to be silent and do only
what's generally necessary and right. In this case, instead of ranting, go with
connecting with your friends properly, using the site’s convenience better.
Finally, the rapid growing mobile social media site that
is focused on sharing photos and just recently, a maximum of a 16-second video,
that can attach retro-vintage filters to your pictures or videos, Instagram.
And upon uploading a picture or a video, it enables a location service where
you have the choice to include where you are. Though this is a bit risky,
especially when you immediately upload your content the minute you just took
it. Stalkers can easily determine where you are, of course. That's why
it's
best to keep the location off not just in Instagram but in the other social
networking sites as well.
·
To
turn off your location services, simply go to your mobile phone's settings and
choose privacy and turn off the location services. Here's an example on the
iPhone.
It's
important to be wary of this because according to local news show, Saksi, there
are invisible information that stalkers can attain without us knowing it,
especially when there are tools available in the internet that enable them to
do so. When we post at least a photo, it invisibly has the Resolution, the
camera used, time taken, date taken and location, when not turned off. These
are called Metadata. To view full report, go here: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/video/173628/saksi/lokasyon-ng-isang-social-media-user-maaaring-makuha-mula-sa-mga-ina-upload-na-litrato
Knowing about the dangers of the cyber world particularly in some of the
most popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, we
should wake up thinking that just because we are in the confines of our house
or our face in front of our mobile phones doesn't mean we are completely safe.
Of course it takes time for our unknown or known adversaries to take action,
but we should expect that it's not going to be pretty. Remember that these
altered settings are not the ones who will do ALL the work for you in
protecting your information or reputation. We must be alert in everything we
choose to publicize and always question ourselves before doing something
however right or wrong it is; “is this really necessary?”
Contributed by: Jan Miranda
PHOTO SOURCES:
(Other pictures were made)
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