Today is Safer Internet Day, a worldwide celebration from the European organization Insafe aimed at promoting “safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world.”
This year, the theme of Safer Internet Day is “our online lives,” driven home by the slogan, “It’s more than a game, it’s your life.” That theme is certainly apt for this year. As social media use becomes more and more prevalent, not only among children but among adults as well, we all need to realize that the things we do and say online don’t exist in a vacuum. They have real effects on our regular lives and shape our online reputations.
In honor of Safer Internet Day, and in keeping with the organization’s theme for the year, I’ve gone through the many excellent articles in the Reputation.com Resource Center to pull out our best online safety advice or parents, children, and teens. Check out our top tips in the articles below, and please feel free to share your own advice with us in the comments.
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s real-life stalker, how you can celebrate Safer Internet Day, and a new PBS special on Internet privacy.
Most people use the term “Facebook stalking” to mean casually looking up information about old friends or acquaintances. For Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, the term means something entirely different. According to multiple reports, Zuckerberg recently became the victim of a real-life stalker. The man, who wanted Zuckerberg to assist him financially, sent letters, flowers, and even showed up at Zuckerberg’s house once. Since then, Zuckerberg has gotten a restraining order from the man barring him from being within 300 yards of Zuckerberg or his family.
Recently, a judge ordered a juror in a gang-related assault case to turn over his Facebook postings made during the trial. Today, the man has indicated through his attorney that he will file an appeal to protect his Facebook messages. The man’s attorney argues that the judge’s ruling extends beyond the court’s power. Barring the outcome of the appeal, if the man doesn’t disclose his Facebook messages within 10 days, he’ll be held in contempt of court.
In a special series of articles, PBS’ MediaShift is exploring the subject of online privacy. In the first article in the series, MediaShift talks about government involvement in the online privacy debate and how politicians are working on privacy legislation that would greatly impact the digital media landscape.
In a pre-Valentine’s Day article for Techlicious Suzanna Kantra explains why it’s important to restrict access to your Facebook account when you’re beginning a new relationship. It may seem unusual to restrict anything from a boyfriend or girlfriend, but in the early stages of a relationship, it’s unlikely that you’ll want them seeing everything on your Facebook page (including possible pokes from exes).
Today is Safer Internet Day, and, according to this report in the International Business Times, 65 countries around the world are participating in the event. This year, the theme of Safer Internet Day is the ‘Internet is more than a game, it’s your life’. The goal is “to heighten awareness in children and teenagers on the risks of online gaming and social networking or in short the ‘virtual life.’” Per the IB Times, “The eight year old annual event has grown more significant in the present day scenario due to the surging number of cyber crime and cyberbullying cases being reported.”
Safety advocate Larry Magid reports that “Security firm Trend Micro is launching its second annual “What’s Your Story” contest to encourage youth and others to submit short videos on Internet safety and privacy.” Trend Micro’s Internet safety director Lynette Owens, said the contest is meant “to enable and encourage young people to get involved in their own Internet safety and the process of learning digital citizenship.”
In November 2009, I wrote about Georgia school teacher Ashley Payne’s efforts to get her job back after being fired over her Facebook profile. Since that time, Payne has still been fighting her north Georgia school district over her forced resignation and still hasn’t gotten her job as a teacher back.
In a recent CBS Sunday Morning report on Internet Privacy, Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours talks with Payne about her experience and the fallout from her negative online reputation. Moriarty also talks to Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik about online privacy and the growing need for strong online reputation management tools as people’s data proliferates on the open Web.
Check out the full segment below. Check out CBSNews.com for the accompanying print article.
In the pre-Facebook days, if you were single, you didn’t necessarily go around advertising it. Now, thanks to the relationship status feature on Facebook, it’s easy to see who is single, engaged, married, or in a “complicated” relationship. This article from the New York Times talks about Facebook relationship statuses and why some people are beginning to realize that sharing personal information about their love life online isn’t always a good idea.
According to extensive research by Columbia University sociology professor Sudhir Venkatesh, the rise of the social web has dramatically changed how the sex trade operates, giving prostitutes the opportunity to sell their wares online. Venkatesh’s research, which focused on New York City prostitutes, discovered that prostitutes found 25% of their regular clients through Facebook. The survey also revealed that 83% of the prostitutes surveyed maintained their own Facebook profiles. One reason cited as a possible increase in Facebook use among sex workers is the fact that Craigslist shut down its adult services section last year in response to government criticism.
A juror in a California case has been ordered to turn over Facebook postings he made while serving on the assault case of several gang members. According to the San Jose Mercury News, “defense attorneys for the five alleged gang members had requested their release to determine whether Ramirez was influenced by any outside communication.” This is not the first time that a juror’s Facebook activity has been called into question during a criminal trial, and it will likely not be the last as people continue to turn to social media to share the everyday details of their lives.
In an article for PCWorld, tech writer Dan Tynan checks out a new plug-in tool called Voyurl, which “offers a voyeuristic view into all of the URLs you and your friends have been visiting.” Tynan describes how the opt-in tool works, and explains some of the detailed information he was able to gather about total strangers thanks to the service. It’s no wonder Tynan writes that Voyurl “makes online stalking easier.”
This article in the Sydney Morning Herald explains how a bad breakup can be bad news for your online reputation. In the article, the author describes how one young man became the victim of a humiliating cyberattack when his girlfriend posted his professional headshot to the Web with mocking insults (in a style that has become popular in numerous Internet memes). The article also describes how a niche business has sprung up over ex anger: “An entire business, GetRevengeOnYourEx.com, has sprung up to take advantage of the legions of jilted lovers looking for revenge online. For a fee, the site will help people make angry phone calls to their ex, fake photos of their ex, shame their ex with an online photograph or even create a voodoo doll.”
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk a little bit more about Kenneth Cole’s Twitter joke gone wrong, how two media artists manipulated Facebook to show the importance of personal privacy, and more.
As concern over privacy continues to grow among consumers and regulators, corporations are beginning to invest significant resources into making sure their privacy policies are functional and easy-to-understand. That means there is a huge market for privacy experts. This ComputerWorld article highlights a new survey that shows the top ten privacy consultants in the country, split primarily between law firms and corporate consultancies.
The Commonwealth Bank is taking a firm stand against criticism on social networking websites by forcing its employees to become online snoops. According to The Australian, Commonwealth “threatened its employees with disciplinary action, including dismissal, if they do not report criticism of the bank made by others on social media channels, including Facebook.” In response, “the Finance Sector Union yesterday demanded the suspension of the bank’s new social media policy, accusing it of trying to restrict freedom of expression.” While Commonwealth’s approach may be a bit heavy-handed, it’s extremely important for corporations to be aware of their online reputations, particularly on social media websites.
A provocative new website founded by two media artists attempts to reveal the dangers of oversharing online and the fragility of our online identities. Staged as a dating website, Lovely-Faces.com includes information scraped from 250,000 public Facebook profiles. Using a facial analysis tool, the Facebook profiles were categorized by photo into groups like “Smug” or “Easy-going.” For its part, Facebook says scraping user data without permission is against the site’s terms of service, and that the company will be taking action against Lovely-Faces.com.
Kenneth Cole, who’s known for making provocative statements to gain interest in his brand, may have pushed things too far yesterday when he used the ongoing uprising in Egypt as fodder for an ill-conceived Twitter joke. After writing, “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at (link),” Cole was summarily reamed on Twitter for his insensitivity. As I detailed in a blog post about the incident, Cole’s Twitter faux-pas led to considerable negative attention toward his brand and is an apt example of why social media awareness is critical for all businesses and business leaders in the modern digital age.
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