Do you think twice before posting personal info, photos online?

#76
Actually, there's a lot more identity-related Internet crime than what there seems to be, as most cases don't end up in the media. I don't know about the others, but I'm not all worked up about it. I mean, I do my best to protect my info, and I think it's wise to do so, but I'm fully aware that it's absolutely impossible to disappear from cyberspace unless one assumes a new identity and in no way connect it to the previous one :ninja:
 
#77
Interesting thread. Well I don't upload pictures of friends and family, only of myself and my dog. Someone "stole" my dog's pic and now he is a popular doggy in Loldogs. I don't mind if ppl find my dog cute, but I'd be disturbed if the same happened with the picture of a child.
So many TPFers post pictures of their children, and I always thing it's pretty wrong.
 
#78
I do post pictures on facebook, if it's something public the pics are so small/edited or just some part where you wouldn't be able to identify me in the streets (yes see me in my avatar lol, but in real life I don't look like my pics... unless I'm walking around smiling, which I never do lol). I never put in my real name unless I'm actually buying something from a reputable website
 
#79
amanda said:
Honestly, I'm not particularly careful. It's a conscious choice I've made, though. I've known for nearly two decades that I wanted to be a professional writer, and to do that, it means that your full name, likeness, and basic personal details are going to be available for public consumption. If you're not willing to put up with that, you can't be a successful writer. Also, I prefer to write nonfiction, and a lot of the subjects I'm interested in are personal ones - relationships, youth, sexuality, etc. So a lot of what I write is personal, but again, it's something I've carefully considered.

I also don't think that information like my first and last name, my face, or the town that I live in is particularly damaging. More or less everyone that's ever met me knows these things about me, and I can't think of many situations in which hiding any of those from anyone would be particularly useful, or even possible.
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ITA. I don't really see such a huge difference between posting my pic here, and say, just walking around in public. Any random person IRL could have secretly taken my picture at a mall or supermarket for all I know...like Charles said, does that mean I need to avoid going out at all to avoid that risk? IRL, people can do a ton more damage IMO. When i'm out shopping at a supermarket someone could easily follow me back to my car and seen what kind of car I drive, license plate number (or worse follow me home or something). Or someone could go through my trash and steal things like SSNs or CC #s. Stuff like that scares me.. not random people seeing my face online.

I agree with DesigningStyle, I don't think so much of myself to think that someone would actually take the trouble to stalk me and hunt me down after seeing my face online.

I agree with whoever said that typically crimes happen w/ people you know or meet IRL, it's just that scandals with anything involving the internet (particularly myspace, facebook) are blown up by the media. When someone gets stalked or defrauded via FB or myspace, everyone and their mother hears about it..yet when someone is attacked and/or robbed silly in real life it barely makes the news.

Case in point: A few years back my friend's home was broken into and robbed..tens of thousands of dollars were stolen (jewelry, electronics, etc). Well, we all know that stories like that don't even make the news...because it happens all the time. Yet when someone loses a few grand by getting duped by someone on FB..there's news article about it. I agree that both situations are unfortunate, but i'm just saying that the media tends to thrive on featuring stories about internet scams/myspace issues more than commonplace crimes that happen in real life.
 
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#81
I have a MySpace and it does have my pictures in my profile. However, only the default picture is accessible to the general public. All the other pictures are only available to friends. I NEVER share personal info.
 
#82
karmenzsofia said:
Actually, there's a lot more identity-related Internet crime than what there seems to be, as most cases don't end up in the media. I don't know about the others, but I'm not all worked up about it. I mean, I do my best to protect my info, and I think it's wise to do so, but I'm fully aware that it's absolutely impossible to disappear from cyberspace unless one assumes a new identity and in no way connect it to the previous one :ninja:
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I know. I just know some people that are super scared to do anything on the internet. My mom, for instance, thinks that if she buys something over the net, her identity will get stolen.
 
#83
I do not put my pictures on the internet whatsoever. It's scary because you really have no idea what's behind the other computer screens of the other people. I also don't have a myspace/facebook/ blogs anything like that, that has personal photos. ( It sort of saves me trouble also because I'm always hearing people argue and stuff about myspace or whatever so thats an advantage! :] )

I am totally not against anyone who does it, I just don't feel like I want to have everyone see my personal photos, or business...
 
#84
Charles said:
I know. I just know some people that are super scared to do anything on the internet. My mom, for instance, thinks that if she buys something over the net, her identity will get stolen.
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Mine actually got stolen when I purchased a ticket for an event in NYC! That really sucked.

But I do know someone, who is kind of famous, dating someone in a popular band, and someone made a fake Facebook profile, posing as her. She knows, and is trying to let her friends know, but a lot of teens are adding this profile, thinking it is her.

I do know, that since I'm going to be a teacher, there is a good chance that my future employers will look up my profiles, so I don't post any photos involving alcohol, because that may hinder a future job.
 
#85
Charles said:
I know. I just know some people that are super scared to do anything on the internet. My mom, for instance, thinks that if she buys something over the net, her identity will get stolen.
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I know Xactly what you mean! My aunt is super paranoid. I think older generations are a bit scared of it because they didn't grow up with it, while younger kids don't think twice about doing anything on the Net.
 
#86
I think more than anything people now days have to be careful of what pictures are taken of them. Even if you don't post them, other people can. I especially don't understand people that post pictures of themselves totally wasted and partying, especially when they're starting out in the job market. You never know who could be a potential job connection.
 
#87
Charles said:
I know. I just know some people that are super scared to do anything on the internet. My mom, for instance, thinks that if she buys something over the net, her identity will get stolen.
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ITA!

I just think that pre-net people are overly paranoid and people that had it from birth have become (at times) much to relaxed about it and post anything and everything. I'm glad the media hypes some stuff up cuz it keeps me in check.:P

ETA:I basically just repeated what Karmenzsophia said:Push:
 
#90
The difference between posting your face on PF versus "walking around in public" is that your image is easily replicated when you post it as a JPEG on the internet. Rarely will someone take a photo of you while you're walking around and post it on a random forum or website. Just because it hasn't happened to you doesn't mean it doesn't happen all the time. It has happened here, and it happens on other forums. It's extremely common. Personally, this forum has gotten much, much bigger than my comfort level has.

Any place my photo is posted is a place that's restricted to people I know. I'm not discouraging anyone else from sharing their photo, but at one point I never hesitated before posting a personal detail or a photo. I do now.
 
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