Is Facebook secure? Are you out of your mind? Do I use Facebook? Am I out of my mind?
Bruce Schneier posted up a link on his blog (http://www.schneier.com) to an interesting article at http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2010/11/08/risk-reduction-strategies-on-facebook.html, relating how two young Facebook users create at least a little more security for themselves. The first technique, dubbed “super-logoff,” involves deactivating your account when you log off. That way no one can post to your wall, do messaging with you or view your content. When you’re logged back in and your account is re-activated, people can “see” and “talk to” you again.
The second technique involves what sounds to me like a labor-intensive process of un-posting everything you post, and un-liking everything you like, after an interval of your choosing. One teen’s reason: “Too much drama.”
Should we all be covering our tracks? Do all those “Likes” matter? It depends on how you view security. If you’ve seen The Minority Report, you’ve seen what I fear: advertising, persistent and noisy and inescapable, dousing every inch of the landscape around me. Maybe I should be covering my tracks….