Friday, August 6, 2010

Beware of your Facebook friends!

Carrie from New Albany, Indiana posted on her Facebook page that she and her boyfriend were going out to watch a gig. That night, two men broke into their home and stole some of their belongings amounting to 11,000USD. Luckily, she and her boyfriend had just installed a CCTV camera six days before the bulglary. She then posted pictures of the burglars on her Facebook page. One of her friends recognized one of the burglars, and to her utter surprise, one of the burglars turned out to be her childhood friend, someone she has known since they were seven, and one of her Facebook friends. Carrie's post on her Facebook page allowed the burglar who had access to such page to know what time the gig would end, thereby allowing him to know exactly when to break in.

It seems like such a crazy story, I certainly think it's something that would never happen to me. But still, it elicits a bit of paranoia, as it should. Carrie's story should caution us not only about who we allow access to our Social Network Sites, but also what we post on our sites. We may not know it, but someone out there might use our posts against us.


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