Basic Internet Safety

 I’ve been seeing more Akwesasneron that are new to social networking posting “too much info” recently. Details about when they are home alone, when they are not home, when they go out shopping, when they travel out of town and where, and many post pictures or video of awesome expensive new gadgets they just purchased.

Here are a few tips to show you how you can keep details about your personal private life off of the search engines for the general public to view.  If one of your friends or family members is doing this, (I’m seeing more elders online that are doing what I mention here), please share this article with them or at least let them know your views about this topic. 

Find out how much of your private information is on the Internet for the general public to view. 

Step 1: Log out of any and all social networks and websites.  You do not want to see what only you would see when you are logged into any of the websites that you frequently use.  In the next step, you want to see what a total stranger would see if any of your social networking profiles are shown to them. 

Step 2: Search for your full name, your nickname, your Internet profile nickname, and your email addresses in the popular search engines (Google.com, Bing.com, Yahoo.com, Facebook.com, MySpace.com, LinkedIn.com).  Try each search with double quotes around your search keyword or phrase, without double quotes, add a comma after your search term and add your home town or cities you have lived and worked in the past.  Make note of what the search results are each time you do a search. 

You logged out of all the social networks and websites that you frequently visit, so you will be seeing search results that anyone else in the world can stumble on if they search for a name, email, location, hobby that happens to be similar to yours.  Take a good look at what the search results are and ask yourself if you are comfortable with total strangers from anywhere in the world also seeing that kind of personal information about you.  Do they see your personal details that are “too much info”?  If yes, here are a few steps you can take to clean that up.

At the top right of most any website you use, you will find a search or help link.  Click the search or help link and ask how to customize or edit your privacy settings.  Stop posting “too much info” about yourself on the Internet.  Get in touch with a friend and make time for a nice visit and chat, even if just for 15 minutes on the phone, Skype, or in person.  Often when Internet users are posting too much personal info about themselves on the Internet, they are just looking to socialize with like-minded people – that’s totally normal, it’s just not a good idea to share detailed personal information with total strangers on the Internet.

If you have any questions about the Internet and Computers send them to [email protected] and I’ll do my best to answer them in our next issue.