Identity Theft on Facebook
Wednesday, September 23, 2009 by j001
In every article I could find, Facebook admitted that some identity theft has taken place but there were few idea given on how to protect yourself from this happening. Things such as changing security settings and making sure you only accept friends as 'friends' online certainly limits the risk of being taken for granted.
However, even with these settings people can still view your profile and many of the people who are getting targeted in these cases are people who have not changed their settings, perhaps they don't know how. I think that it would be a reasonable step for Facebook administrators to change the automatic security setting to optimal level of security for users.
If this was to happen then at least Facebook / any social network site and in turn new technologies would not be able to be held accountable for such acts. It would be down to the person. If someone changes their profile public it would be the same as going out and leaving you ID somewhere with you address and list of favourite things.
However, even with these settings people can still view your profile and many of the people who are getting targeted in these cases are people who have not changed their settings, perhaps they don't know how. I think that it would be a reasonable step for Facebook administrators to change the automatic security setting to optimal level of security for users.
If this was to happen then at least Facebook / any social network site and in turn new technologies would not be able to be held accountable for such acts. It would be down to the person. If someone changes their profile public it would be the same as going out and leaving you ID somewhere with you address and list of favourite things.