Access to A Levels

Key idea How dangerous is it to live in the public domain? How can you protect your future self?

Personal details of 100m Facebook users have been collected and published on the net by a security consultant. Ron Bowes used a piece of code to scan Facebook profiles, collecting data not hidden by the user's privacy settings. The list, which has been shared as a downloadable file, contains the URL of every searchable Facebook user's profile, their name and unique ID. Mr Bowes said he published the data to highlight privacy issues, but Facebook said it was already public information. (July 2010)

Status Alert As Matt, a 26-year-old law student puts it, “When I was in my teens, we used to use the abbreviation ‘tmi’, that is, too much information. No one ever says this any more because we’re living in a constant state of hot and cold- running tmi. Someone I know put his STD on his status update.”

The theory The Americans have referred to this paradigm shift as the ascendency of “Generation Reveal”. The psychiatric term for it would be “disinhibition”. The disinhibited exhibit a fundamental lack of restraint in their inability to edit their responses according to norms of social convention and/or risk. (Telegraph article October 2009)

Why your boss should never be your Facebook friend Several examples exist on the net of employees caught out after taking ‘sickies’, one made the news in 2008 when this status update led to the sacking of 21 year old phone company worker Kyle Doyle: Kyle Doyle is not going to work, f**k it I'm still trashed. SICKIE WOO!

A picture paints a thousand words Before posting that hilarious picture from the party just ask yourself, “Is there any chance this could be embarrassing at some point in the future? What would my mum/boss/future partner/university admissions officer/children/the Queen make of this?” (delete any that you don’t think will apply to you) (Surfnetkids helpful hints)

Only joking! LOL ;- ) January 2010 Paul Chambers (27) saw that Doncaster airport was closed because of snow, meaning he couldn’t fly to Belfast to see his girlfriend – he expressed his frustration on Twitter: "Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!" Seven days later he was arrested by anti-terrorist officers at his workplace (Guardian news report)(Guardian news report)

Be aware Half of employers check Facebook Two in five admitted content on a profile stopped them from hiring Over a third (who researched) said a social networking profile proved applicants had lied about their qualifications on their CV, while 13 percent claimed a potential employee had made discriminatory comments on their Facebook page and nine percent said provocative or inappropriate photographs had been posted on the account

So…. Check the content of your web profile Check your security settings (ask someone what they can see about you) Remember - once it’s out there – it stays out there!