Social Media vs. Privacy

Social Media demands the surrender of more than a little of our privacy.  The various social media sites that the majority of people are aware of, want a slice of our collective lives.


"Post more pictures of your kids, they are so adorable!"
"Really?!  You were where? I've gotta see those pics!"
"Got a new swim suit the other day, pics to follow!"
XYZ wants to follow/friend/+1 you
ABC has viewed your profile


Perhaps you are okay with this.  Most people are.  Let me state right now that I am not wholly opposed.  I believe that some good can yet come of social media.  Honestly that term is becoming less and less relevant to reality and this discussion, but I digress...

Here is my issue, phrased in an easy to understand formula:

Having an online presence even with improved online security, and with said security implemented and acted on, does not equal a more secure presence.  Online or otherwise.

Here is the formula portion:

Digital self + use of enhanced encryption on digital self < Hacker
Hacker = damage to physical self

Now, I have no idea what people think in this regard, but based on the evidence, I have to assume that most people think that their digital self, online persona, avatar, or whatever that data will be eventually called, is safe.  Secure.  Protected.

It.  Is.  Not.

Now I don't know why people would think that this data would be safe.  Maybe it is because their idols do.  Their role models.  But these are the same people who take nude/semi-nude shots of themselves and shunt them to to world wide net for safekeeping.  Then get all uppity when their online photo service gets hacked, and said pictures get released out in the, dare I say it, wild wild web. Yeah, that was just as bad written as it sounded in my head.  Sorry, won't happen again, move on.

Make no mistake, whoever did that wasn't right, and they should receive just punishment for the crime.   These idols/celebrities had their privacy, and a few other things violated.  Yes, the only people who should have those images should have been the intended recipient. But, if those images were just for a special/certain someone, sending them through the web and archiving them there has already been proven to be a bad idea.  I'm sure I could find links for 'be' and 'a' but you get the idea.

As idols that most people look up to and follow the example of, they should really know better.  There is also no clear reason to why they [with 'they' being the majority of celebs - and yes, celebs because I'm too lazy and tired to type out and spell check the rest of that word, but will finish this sentence...] don't.

Catfishing, revenge porn, cyber-bullying with accompanying suicides, and the like have all been on the rise, but so has the increase in the efforts to implement security to mitigate and possibly prevent such attacks.  These efforts have obviously failed.  But these are not new tricks.  It is the same old blackmail, extortion, regular bullying with suicides and... *ahem* drag queen-ing!?

Now there are a few reasons as to why this is the case, with the sad truth of it being, in most cases, it never had to have happened.

Common Sense.  Unfortunately not so common anymore.  The use of our brains have been more focused now on instant feedback and use of portable devices, rather than a comparatively lengthy thought process to figure out a dilemma on our own.

Common, pardon, Rare sense should tell you that hackers love a challenge.  Even if it isn't to be malicious or hurtful.  See the Black Hat Conventions.  There is no hurdle that these people will not vault if given the opportunity.  This should tell you that if at all possible you would NEVER want to put anything remotely sensitive, incriminating, personal, or important, in a medium that is uncertain unless absolutely necessary.  Much less complain about it afterward when the inevitable happens.

It also tells you that geo-location for your photos with uploads is a great way to get robbed.  As is setting the GPS in your car with your exact home address.  Just why?

A support system is also needed.  Especially is this true of children and teenagers.  This is one of the benefits of social media, as long as you can trust the unknown on the other end.  Children and teenagers ideally can use their parents [that incidentally is another topic...] or trusted person.  The key is to have more than one someone who has your best interests at heart, is not looking to take advantage of you, and will actively work to help/protect you.  Sadly, the same is true for adults even if most won't admit it or accept the assistance if offered.

Lastly actually use the security features for your platform of choice.  If someone wants your data, they are going to get it.  Do you have to make it easy for them?  At the very least you know you tried to make them work for your identity, or those naked pics, or your credit card information and bank account.

Get the companies that run your platform of choice to make their policies more transparent, the security more robust, and the instructions more comprehensible.

The upside to all of this is that it is much easier to keep in touch with family, friends, schoolmates, etc.  Especially ones that live in another country.  It's easy to collaborate and brainstorm ideas with people you will probably never meet in person.

This is a world where most people are hyper-connected.  We do not have to be stupid about how we remain so.  To that end I have devised a rule:

If you want to be able to delete it later, don't put it in a place where, by it's very nature, redundancy, triple backups and numerous mirrored servers are not just a given, but a requirement.

...It's just my opinion though.