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The Consequences of Posting Online

Sure it's fun to participate in the web. It's a fantastic research tool and helps you connect with people for business or personal reasons. Any person anywhere can start a blog or website and share their thoughts with the world.

That's great and everything, but when you participate in the web, you're putting yourself at risk for several reasons:

Audience

The first and most obvious mistake people make is forgetting that there's a lot more people on the web than them and a few of their friends. Every bad person you can think from your jealous ex, to a terrorist, all the way up to your mother-in-law is there too. And if you post something publicly, the rest of the world wide web can see it too (emphasis on the word world).

For example, how about the dude who landed a well-paying job with Cisco corporation only to lose it when they found his Tweet explaining that he didn't really want to work there, he just wanted the "fatty paycheck" (which earned him the Internet famous name; Cisco Fatty).

And then there's this famous example of someone who got fired on Facebook for ranting about her boss while forgetting that her boss was one of her "friends" and could see the whole thing:

So, I guess you forgot that you added me as a friend on here...

The point is, people speak without really thinking about who can see it or assume that the worst possible person to find a post, won't find that post. A big false assumptions that gets tons of people in trouble:

Transferrence

In some cases (even a few listed above) it wasn't the person in question that spread it, but someone else instead. There are websites that allow people to take screenshots of stupidity online and share it with the world (Failbook for example).

If someone thinks what you posted is funny or embarrassing, they can share it which takes something you might have wanted to keep private and makes it public.

Permanence

People say the Internet is forever because it is. Once something is posted online, it can be stored and kept forever by anyone. Removing things once they've been found is essentially impossible. While you can do some hard and time-consuming work to reduce or overshadow the bad information, eliminating it entirely isn't going to happen.

You can't un-post. Sorry.

Just ask singer Barbara Streisand who's public attempt to squash photos of her house posted to the web by a local blogger ended in far more publicity than if she'd done nothing.

Or there's Christian rock band singer, Hayley Williams who accidentally Tweeted a topless photo of herself that had been meant for instant message to her boyfriend.

Besides being picked up by search engines, there are projects out there that archive data such as The Internet Archive or even the Library of Congress that plans to archive all the world's inane thoughts spread through Twitter (for future generations to laugh at I assume).

While reputation management can be done, it's clearly much better to be careful before it's online.

Accidents

We already talked about how accidental posting can be a problem, but now let's talk about the risks of accidental or negligent disclosure on the part of the people who hold your data. There is breach after breach reported online from pages like Myspace and Facebook. Some women who meant to privately send "morale boosting" topless photos of themselves to their husbands in the middle east were upset (to say the least) to find that a flaw in the photo-sharing service made it possible for interested parties to capture and keep the photos for their own "morale boost".

The sad fact is that if you give your data to someone else to hold, you're trusting them to do it properly and historically, that hasn't worked well in many cases.

seminar destroy Tutorial
prev: Online Addiction|INDEX|next: Photo Safety
Online Addiction: From gambling to surfing and online gaming, people can destroy themselves and others with online addiction.
Posting Online: The Internet never forgets anything completely. Make sure you don't make mistakes that will stick with you for the rest of your life.
Protecting Photos: The Internet never forgets anything completely. Make sure you don't make mistakes that will stick with you for the rest of your life.
Getting Tricked: You WERE doing fine... until someone convinced you to install a virus or give away your passwords. Don't fall for it!
Account Hijacking: One of the most common security risks today is people getting their accounts taken over and then used to trick their friends and family.
Trusting Webservices: An online service promises they'll 'Never abuse or misuse your data' and you believe them? Think again.

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Check out one of my guides/tutorials:

web posting dangers Tutorial
|INDEX|next: Spyware Scanners
Chat, Instant Messaging, Forums, and Internet Blogs are fun, but make sure you post carefully.
Sometimes spyware gets in your computer and the anti-virus won't stop it. Use a spyware scanner to find and remove spyware and adware.
Use a software firewall to detect bad code on your computer when it tries to connect to the Internet.
Always keep your system up to date with security patches or none of the rest of your security software will matter.
Use an encryption tool to protect your important data when storing or transmitting it.
Switch to Firefox for your web browsing and you'll be better protected from Internet threats.

... or check out any of my other guides and tutorials by clicking here!

Online Addiction

Concerned about online addiction? You should be. Learn the types, the signs, and the preventions.

[Click for full description]

The Consequences of Posting Online

It's fun to post online. What you think, what you feel. But words typed and posted on the Internet can come back to bite you more than anything you could say with your mouth.

[Click for full description]

Photo Safety

You can reveal far more than you intended when you post a photo online. Don't make a critical mistake and check your photos before they're online.

[Click for full description]

Tricks and Scams

Just because you won't willing give up data doesn't mean that I can't trick you out of it. Don't fall for these well known tricks!

[Click for full description]

Account Hijacking

One of the newest threats we face is the risk of someone getting control of your online account and using it against you and the people you know. Do everything you can to prevent that from happening!

[Click for full description]

Trusting Companies

Store, online or off, are not known for being fair and helpful unless it benefits them to be so. Good deals exist, but many are bad deals in disguise. It's not in your best interests to be too trusting with any of them.

[Click for full description]

Spyware Scanners

Learn how to detect and remove spyware and adware using a free scanning tool.

[Click for full description]

Software Firewall

Learn what a firewall is and why you want one on your computer.

[Click for full description]

Operating System Updates

Make sure to keep your operating system up-to-date with security patches or else none of the rest of your security software will be able to protect you.

[Click for full description]

File Encryption

Learn how to protect your important files on your computer or when transmitting them with free tools for file encryption.

[Click for full description]

Mozilla Firefox - Internet Browser

There are many browser choices out there. Read why I think Firefox is one of the best.

[Click for full description]