Social Networking and Privacy

While watching “Erasing David,” I was fascinated by not only the time and precautions David took to ensure that he would never be found, but I was also fascinated by how much time and how many sources Cerberus used to ensure that they would be able to find David. The information they were able to find out about him was unsettling and definitely made me rethink all of the information about myself I willingly put on my Facebook profile, as well as other social media accounts. In the film, David is tracked down all because of his wife’s appointment. One of the members of Cerberus called up the hospital where the appointment would be taking place and pretended to be David. As David, he told the person on the other end of the phone that he had simply lost the appointment information, and after supplying them with his “wife’s” date of birth, he was able to get all the details he needed.

Of course, I never thought that being so open about my birthday and place of birth could ever be a bad thing. After all, most of us don’t have to worry about being tracked down or about people using our personal information for evil or malicious intent. But it does make me a bit wary of things that strangers might be able to find out about me. I’m pretty sure that my Facebook profile is as private as it can be, but Facebook is constantly changes it’s privacy policies and agreements and even its layouts. How can anyone be completely sure that their profile is as secure as they think it is?

Now, this is not to say that I’m suddenly anti-social media. Social media can definitely be used for good things, like catching up with old friends, or even catching criminals, as we read about in an article titled “You Love Pinterest. Find Out Why The Police Do, Too.” It tells us about how police have recovered stolen items from Pinterest, and how police use other social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, to help with finding missing people and solving murders. Though most of us just use Facebook for more normal things, like playing a mindless game or chatting with friends. As for me, I will probably be removing my birthdate from my profile.