Security and social media in an age of disclosure and aggregation

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Security and social media in an age of disclosure and aggregation

You are your own privacy policySecurity and social media in an age of disclosure and aggregation

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6 March, 2009
1 comments
by Rob Cottingham

Online security and privacy can matter a lot, both to individuals and to organizations. A lapse can mean anything from embarrassment to financial loss... and even physical danger.

But we're living in the social media age, with all sorts of opportunities - and incentives - to disclose even intimate aspects of our personal and professional lives. And when that information gets aggregated, the result can be a surprisingly comprehensive dossier - one far more extensive than we'd ever intended to reveal to the world.

That's the dilemma covered in an article in Web Threats Weekly, a newsletter from the folks at Boonbox. You'll find a few quotes from yours truly, along with some tips for striking the balance between disclosure and security that's right for you.

And if you like what you read there, you might like to subscribe to the WTW newsletter. You can get the details here.

Comments

Jonathon Narvey says

March 7, 2009 - 1:54am

Thanks very much for the mention, Rob. It was great getting the benefit of your expertise on how to balance social media's incredible capabilities with a healthy understanding of online privacy protection strategies. Organizations that collect information also have a duty to understand how they can best collect and organize the information they get from supporters, without putting them at risk. At the same time, it's up to individuals providing their information to decide how much they want to put out there. There are responsibilities on both sides.

I expect we're going to see some pretty huge controversies in the near future, not necessarily brought on by security breaches (although those will continue to occur on a steadily more frequent basis), but through the use of information by companies like Google and Facebook according to the terms of use that all users agree to, but of which very few have a comprehensive understanding (eg. How many of us can say we've ever bothered to read Facebook's terms of use from beginning to end, either the old version or the one being proposed?). Lawyers will do very well in this situation.

Thanks again. Keep in touch!