San Francisco Consult

Protecting your privacy online

Here are some tips gleaned from a great research center’s discussion on privacy:

• Don’t let peer pressure or what other people are doing on these sites push you into doing something you’re not comfortable with. Just because other people post their mobile phone number or birthday, doesn’t mean you have to.

• Be wary of publishing any identifying information about yourself. In particular things like: phone numbers, pictures of your home, workplace or school, your address, birthday or full name.

• Pick a user name that doesn’t include any personal information. For example, “joe_paris” or “jane_grenoble” would be bad choices.

• Preferably set up a separate email account that doesn’t use your real name and use that to register and receive mail from the site. That way if you want to shut down your connection, you can simply stop using that mail account.

• Use a strong password. NOT your birthdate…

• What goes online stays online. Don’t say anything or publish pictures that might cause you embarrassment later. As a general rule, if you wouldn’t say it to your boss or your grandmother, don’t say it online.

• Be on your guard against phishing scams. Don’t respond to any emails from your bank asking you to enter your card or personal information.  Would your bank ever do that?