One In Four Social Networking Sites Like Facebook And MySpace Face ID Fraud
Filed under: News | By: Kerry
Posted on: November 12, 2007 | 1 Comment
It has been said that one in four users of social networking sites unwittingly leave themselves open to crime by revealing personal details.
A poll marking the launch of an internet safety campaign also disclosed what many addicts of sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Friends Reunited already suspected that up to 39 per cent of people use them to look up old flames.
Government-backed research for the Get Safe Online week found 25 per cent of the 10.8million Britons registered with networking websites expose information such as contact details or dates of birth on their online profiles.
It is said that a proportion of 18 to 24-year-olds are putting themselves at risk of identity fraud rises to 34 per cent.
The survey also showed that 13 per cent of social networkers had posted information or photos about other people without their consent, rising to 27 per cent of 18 to 24s.
The Cabinet Office minister Gillian Merron said that “The risks we are highlighting today can be easily fixed and do not mean that people should stop using social networking sites and wireless networks.”
The Managing director of GetSafeOnline.org Tony Neate, said that “Although some of these details may seem harmless, they actually provide rich pickings for criminals. Your date of birth and where you live is enough for someone to set up a credit card in your name. So whilst most people wouldn’t give this information to a stranger in real life, they will happily post it online where people they don’t know can see it.”
Wireless networks also provide opportunities for criminals.
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In regards to a safe social network, here is a site that I discovered recently. This site appears to be have a lot of safety features in place.
This is a news clip about this site:
Our-Social.com Offers a Safe, Family-Friendly Social Networking Alternative
Nov. 13, 2007 – At a loss for family-friendly online social networking? Searching for a Web-based community that’s easy to join and not just for younger people? Our-Social.com offers a user-friendly environment free of profanity and pornographic material so that members can safely make new friends of all ages as well as connect with existing friends and family. As evidence of Our-Social.com’s commitment to extending a hand to everyone seeking a safe online community, membership is free.
“Our-Social is the clean alternative to the prominent social networking sites,” said founder Theresa Adams. The site’s word filter prevents members from being exposed to profanity and lewd or sexual comments - as well as racial slurs and other hate speech. To further ensure that the site remains clear of offensive material and is safe for all ages, Adams has all pictures, video and audio clips go through an approval process – which takes places within 24 hours of submission - before they are posted.
In addition, Our-Social discourages members from ever publicly displaying information such as their e-mail address, real name and geographical location. As another safety precaution, Our-Social does not have a chat area but does provide a members-only forum. The forum is moderated and has several different threads under the main categories of Family, Health, Faith, Pets and Social Stuff. In keeping with the site’s mission of providing a safe, clean environment, the forum does not allow images except for a profile picture. “The profile picture does not have to be an actual photo of a person,” said Adams. “Members can use an alternative image that fits their personality, such as a funny picture, cartoon, an animal picture or so on.”
Members have their own account pages, which serve as personalized control panels, where users can manage all aspects of their account. Management activities include editing profiles, setting privacy levels for the account, creating or editing articles, checking mail, inviting friends to join, sending out friendship requests and creating numerous picture, video and audio albums.
The albums (also called audio sets and video sets) can hold multiple photo, videos or audio files, and the titles of each appear on the creator’s profile page. Other site members can leave comments in the albums, and individual albums can be set to different privacy levels. That means while all members may be able to view a particular album, another album from the same person might only be accessible to members who have been designated as friends.