Do you know who is stalking you?

A recent study highlights the fact that far too many people are careless and/or naive when it comes to online safety and privacy.  The researchers sent 200 "friend" request from a phony FaceBook account.  87 people blindly accepted the request and many of those had critical personal data fully exposed.  Displaying education, professional and personal data in it's entirety is far too common on FaceBook.  People freely publish their birthdates (including the year), their primary email address and all the details about their families and pets.  Ironically, older users seem to be less aware (or more trusting) than younger ones.

I kept my FB account for almost a year before deleting it.  During that time my experiences closely mirrored the results of the study.  Very few people made any real attempt to protect their identities.  The world is NOT a safe place - be careful out there.  The full article can be found HERE.