Whilst listening to a news article on the BBC concerning the giving-out of ‘personal data,’ I thought again about the information I give out every day. How much of our data is out there? How is it being used — for both bad and good?
We all get twitchy about the use of our data and it falling in to the wrong hands, and as both an individual and as an employee I don’t want that to happen to my own data or anyone else’s! Fraud does happen, as other types of crime have always happened, but with the new dynamic methods of communication open to us using online tools, we all need to be increasingly vigilant about what personal information we make available.
I’m increasingly buying more from a number of Internet vendors and I use Facebook regularly as well as other social networking sites, like Linked in and Friends Reunited. Whilst these are useful and convenient, providing new ways to contact and new and old friends, we increasingly hear of fears over identity fraud using these sites, where users have innocently provided more personal information than is ideal.
The Internet is a great way of reaching out and permitting a sort of micro-democracy that was not possible a few years ago. Companies and governments need to be careful with how they store and use people’s information. In my opinion it’s not all bad if it allows us to find what we want, when we want it. The giving of certain personal data provides enhanced freedom as well.
There are simple steps we can all take to reduce the chances of being affected by fraud, on or offline. As I was searching for ways to protect against fraud, I found an article by Tony Bradley called Ten Tips to avoid Identity Theft, which has some good suggestions. I also found some great tips from the CIFAS, the UK’s fraud protection service.