It's amazing to me what people (particularly Americans) tell complete strangers. How much money they make. Where they keep it. And even what criminal offenses they've committed (or are still committing).
Social networking sites like Facebook make it even easier to boast about your crimes, or whether you've perjured yourself. For instance, a few months ago, a woman sued the driver of a vehicle who caused an accident for damages for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment, along with the driver's insurance company. In response, the defendants presented photos from the woman's Facebook profile showing her engaged in vigorous outdoor activities, after the accident. Not surprisingly, the judge threw the case out.
But the stupidest Facebook trick I've heard of came from a 26-year-old fugitive named Maxi Sopo. A native of Cameroon, Maxi moved to Seattle in 2003. When selling flowers to bar patrons wouldn't finance his desired lifestyle, he turned to bank fraud. Federal prosecutors accuse him of obtaining more than US$200,000 in credit from banks and credit unions under false pretenses.
Once Maxi learned the feds were after him, he moved to Cancun, Mexico. He apparently was having a great time, because according to one Facebook post, he was "JUST HERE TO HAVE FUN PARTEEEEEEE." Then, Maxi added a former Justice Department official to his list of friends. The "friend" learned where Maxi lived and passed that information to Mexican police. In September, police in Cancun arrested Maxi. Last I heard, he was awaiting extradition back to the United States.
I don't have an account on Facebook or any other social networking service. I see no reason to build a network of hundreds of even thousands of "friends" that I hardly know. But I also have no desire to share details of my personal life with anyone online. And while police can obtain a warrant to examine your Facebook profile, more typically, they simply create a false profile and then invite you to become a friend. A prospective employer or private investigator can do the same thing to learn more about you.
If you use Facebook or other social networking sites, at the very least take some basic precautions to protect yourself. Don't post anything even remotely incriminating, and set the privacy levels at the highest settings possible to restrict information sharing. In addition, follow the suggestions I made a few months ago in an earlier blog posting here.
The bottom line: before you hit the "post" button, be absolutely certain that whatever you're about to send onto a social networking site belongs there.
Copyright © 2009 by Mark Nestmann
I agree to the argument of sharing and lack of privacy issues....but the fact remains it is you to decide who should befriend you and who is not to....
Additionally networking in the business arena has also made life much easier when looking for jobs or good people to work with
Posted by: cheap computers canada | January 15, 2010 at 08:38 AM
A prospective employer or private investigator can do the same thing to learn more about you.
http://www.global-e-world.com/Touch-Screen-LCD-Monitor/
Posted by: globaleworld | April 26, 2010 at 03:41 AM