How much sharing is too much?
Last summer I was invited to theĀ Northern VoiceĀ conference in Vancouver to speak about location-based services and online privacy, a topic close to Echoer's heart. The title of the talk was "Did I really want you to know that?!". I had a whim that this would be an awesome topic to speak on. Once accepted we put that whim to the test and I worked with Andrew, one of our interns, to pull together the materials.
The findings were shocking and took us way off where I thought the session was going to go. Originally it was meant to be a "social media nightmares" wall of fame/shame. Instead it became a detailed account of how each of our lives could be systematically violated and turned inside out by a few hours of online research.
Andrew was set the following task: Find someone on Twitter who has just checked in on Foursquare. Now start looking into their online persona, Twitter, 4sq, LinkedIn, blogs, Facebook, Google... go for broke... I expected to keep Andrew busy for a few days and to churn through a few candidates, but we struck "gold" within hours.
In no time at all, Andrew had a tome of info on Jane Doe, from the banal to the intimate and intriguing. We stopped there because it was getting a little too close for comfort, but before we did I tried a small experiment. We pulled up lists of the most frequently asked questions from banks and utility companies. And we had it all. Pet names, maiden names, zip codes, memorable places, and even SSĀ numbers. Those few bits that were missing were likely a search or two away. What's even more shocking is that Jane Doe's blog would have given us enough to know where to meet her and spark one of those "I feel like I've known you a lifetime" moments. That reeks of danger.
As I spoke at Northern Voice the room fell silent. Heads down, fingers taping away. I figured the session had tanked. I briefly checked my twitter feed and it was on fire. With terror. There was a room full of bloggers wondering what they had exposed themselves to and trying to recall writings from years back. How much had theyĀ divulgedĀ to anyone who wanted to systematicallyĀ profileĀ them?
When I woke up jet-lagged today I had planned to write about how some medicines have funny compound reactions with others. And that's what reminded me of the Northern Voice session and the risks of sharing. Very few people will read this, but even so, how comfortable am I with people knowing I take X or Y? While we all need to share, and learn, and educate, we should also be aware of how much we put online. Jane Doe's undoing would have been her blog + Twitter + LinkedIn. We've erased everything we learnt, but we're all still at risk from people with more sinister motives than ours.
What NOT to Do on LinkedIn (performancing.com)
Foursquare User Data Is About To Get Way More Public (businessinsider.com)
Foursquare Tells Users Policy Changes on Way (pschaecker.wordpress.com)