Too often, we can see people showing their personally identifiable information (PII) on the Internet, or everywhere on the Internet, to be exact. Whenever we ask those people about their concerns regarding their own privacy and security, a (super) common response would be, "Hahahahah... You watched too much TV!" (Heck, I could even predict this response and still get it right 80% of the time.)
You know, we can only laugh it off and say we watched too much TV when we haven't experienced any sort of problems. But once something not good really happens, you would wish that you had watched less TV. It wouldn't have to be twice or more. Just once, and we're done for.
I've recently (re)joined Facebook and... of course it isn't how it used to be. There are now more options for us to control our privacy. Excellent, I would say, especially for a privacy freak like me. Yes, people in the Facebook community do make use of those options. However, why is Facebook-stalking still so "popular", effective, and fruitful (to the stalkers)? That's because no matter how tight your privacy settings are, if you've uploaded PII to Facebook, you have uploaded PII to Facebook!! No matter what you say or do, those information about you are already on Facebook. Hackers can see it. Your friends who know your password can see it. The boss of the cyber cafe you just went to and has keyloggers installed can see it. The people standing behind you can see it. Facebook admins can see it. The people you think won't be able to see it because you don't allow them to, but due to some holes in your plan that you didn't see, can see it. You think you're safe, but you're not.
Never put in Facebook, or anywhere on the Internet, any information that can be used to identify you. No full name. No address. No birth date. No age. No location. No workplace. No school. No race. No gender. You name it. Certain information is more general, like age, gender, and race. But they do help stalkers to identify you. That's because people in certain age group, of certain gender, of certain race, all have particular interests and hobbies, and that can reveal what you potentially like and dislike, what you potentially do, and when you potentially do something.
Stalkers are smart. Have a quick online chat with one and they could very well know where you are, let alone those who have knowledge about how the Internet works. (They could find out your IP address and look for your location. And for your information, don't click on suspicious URL links. Malicious codes can be added in those websites to track your IP address and do something bad to you, unless you know how to defend against them.)
Of course, talking about where we live, what food we like, what movie we love, and so on is a great way to start a friendship. However, the Internet can be as dark as it can be. You wouldn't know who is on the other side, chatting with you, browsing through your profile, looking at your photos, and smiling at you. So you'll have to decide how much information you want to show, even if it's about general things such as your favourite colour.
Any information that you don't upload to the Internet, people wouldn't know. Unless, of course, someone who knows about you betrays you. (If such thing happens, it's up to you to see what you want to do with this assh... uh..... jerk.)
By now I know some of you (or maybe most of you) are thinking that I'm just being paranoid. Don't think that things just wouldn't happen to you. That's wishful thinking. Things can happen to any one of us.
Paranoid, freak, idiot, call me anything you want. You can do whatever you want with yours, but I'm going to keep my fragile life as safe as possible. (And yours too, if you want to, which is why I'm spending my time typing all this.)
