One of the most popular social networking websites is Facebook where millions of people create profiles every day. Facebook is a great way to communicate with your friends and meet new people but it has its disadvantages as well. When you sign up to create a profile on Facebook, the first thing that you must provide is your full name and email address. Right from the start without having anything else but your name and email address anyone who has access to your profile can start the scam there. Your name could be used in personal searches and who knows what else someone could find. Your email address can also be traced which leads to other ways unwanted people can contact you. Once people create profiles they usually put much more than their name and email address which makes it even worse.
An article titled, “Facebook users easy targets for identity theft”, mentions a study conducted in 2007 on Facebook identity theft by Sophos research. The research team made a fake Facebook profile and asked 200 users to reveal some of their personal data (Messmer, 2007). The article states, “Out of the 200 friend requests, Sophos received 82 responses with 72 percent of those respondents divulging one or more email address; 84 percent listing their full date of birth; 87 percent providing details about education or work; 78 percent listing their current address or location; 23 percent giving their phone number and 26 percent providing their instant messaging screen name” (Messmer, 2007). If people are willing to put this much information about themselves on their Facebook profiles then they are more than likely to be victims of identity theft because the data can be easily found.
Another common case of identity theft is to impersonate someone else. This theft has happened numerous times on Facebook as well as MySpace. It is so easily done that these websites should take more measures in finding ways to stop this crime. In order to impersonate someone, a person makes up a false profile or web page and adds pictures of a fake person. Then they start adding friends and communicating with people as if they were that person. This can be very dangerous because the people who think this person is real are being fooled. A tragic example of this is shown in the article “Who’s Keeping Students Safe Online” by Zach Miners. The article mentions an incident that occurred in 2006 when a Missouri woman pretended to be a teenage boy. The article states, “The woman, Lori Drew, posed as a teenage boy on MySpace two years ago and sent first friendly then menacing messages to 13-year-old Megan Meier, who killed herself in October 2006 shortly after receiving a message that said in part, “The world would be a better place without you”(Miners, 2009). Things like this happen every day and if someone was able to stop these criminals then Megan Meier might still be alive.
Since identity theft is a growing crime people should start taking more steps to protect themselves. You can start protecting yourself by not putting all your personal information onto your profile which includes your full name, full date of birth or address. This information could give criminals access to more things than you think. Also avoid putting up pictures that you wouldn’t want strangers to see. These can be used on other websites or by someone else to make a false profile. Another piece of advice is stated in an article titled “Facebook Identity Theft” by Choice Magazine. The article states, “When setting up a Facebook account, take advantage of the privacy controls- you want to make sure it’s only real friends who can see your details. And only accept ‘friend requests’ from people you know and trust” (Choice, 2008). Using these few tips can help save you from getting your identity stolen.
In conclusion, there are many problems dealing with the representation of identity on the internet but one of the most prominent issues is identity theft. People have their identities stolen everyday just by putting too much personal information on the internet. Some people do not think twice about what others can do with their information and this can really cause loads of damage. Some people even get bold enough to create false profiles and pretend to be someone else which can cause problems as well. If this is something that you do not want to happen to you then you should take every possible step to protect yourself and think twice about the information you put on the internet. Your identity can easily be taken by someone else.
Works Cited
"Facebook identity theft." Choice Magazine (0009-496X) (Feb. 2008): 9-9. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Davis Library, Chapel Hill, NC.10 Feb. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=29986669&site=ehost-live>.
"Identity Theft Surveys and Studies: How Many Identity Theft Victims Are There? What Is the Impact on Victims?." Privacy Rights Clearinghouse--privacyrights.org. 13 Feb. 2009 <http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/idtheftsurveys.htm>.
Messmer, Ellen. "Study: Facebook users easy targets for identity theft.”Macworld. 14 Aug. 2007. 10 Feb. 2009 <http://www.macworld.com/article/59488/2007/08/facebook.html>.
Miners, Zach. "Who's Keeping Students Safe Online?." District Administration 45.1 (Jan. 2009): 12-12. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Davis Library, Chapel Hill, NC 10 Feb. 2009 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=36206056&site=ehost-live>.
