How Safe Is Personal Information On Facebook?

Facebook is the popular place to be in and  if you are not on Facebook, you are considered not cool. Being on Facebook has become such a popular norm that you can find just about anybody on it, all you need to know is the name and there is an endless list that provides you information on people with the same name. You might think it is just cool to be able to look up people on Facebook. Of course it would be great to catch up with old friends from schools and colleges, and friends you thought you had lost touch with. But do you ever pause to consider the fact that your information can be used for any other purposes than just looking up for friends?

I personally feel that our information is not safe on Facebook, despite the new privacy setting updates. As long as you are not aware that your profile and its contents are viewable by the whole world, people can create lots of mischief by randomly troubling you or harassing you. There is also a risk of getting stalked and also abused. Your profile pictures or your other pictures can be morphed and used as sexual content, which would be the last thing you’d expect! Is getting to socialise over the internet worth all this trouble?

I say not, in fact I would advise people to make sure that they have minimum “required” information on Facebook. Your email ID’s, your phone numbers and your pictures are something that should be personal and not shared. You should not share everything with any stranger that you befriend on Facebook, as you would never know what he or she would be capable of. Like every other website, Facebook has holes in its privacy system too. Hackers can easily access your data and make illegal use of it. It has also become a popular way of spreading harmful virus to your system.

Even when you look for a job, the Human Resource team of every company make a thorough check of your background, and these days have made a norm to check out your profile on Facebook and check your personal background and also your professional background. They obviously will know if you have ever had a bad experience from your previous company or if you have in any way abused the company in general. Your personal information is no longer safe on any website, or for that matter Facebook is the last place you would want your personal information to be in. People have lost jobs, have been detained and have been suspended and sometimes even lost lives due to various forms of abuse and misuse of personal information on the internet, especially on the social networking site Facebook.

Although, the fact remains that Facebook has helped many lost friends and relatives to get in touch with each other, the fact also remains that your information is not safe on it. No matter how strong this network claims to have its privacy settings, it will always have holes it cannot fill.