Forgive me for this, because it is really creepy but I feel the need to share.
So two weeks ago I wrote about how teens are protecting their privacy online, right? Well, hahaha.
I was reading the Washington Post online at work today and came across a nice article about military blogging from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Very well written article about how soldiers blogging helps relieve a little of the stress of war and about the military's fight to control that release of information. So I was just going to write about that tonight. Then I saw this article, also about military blogging, where it mentioned that the author of the first article, Nikki Schwab, was an AU grad student. Of course, I went to facebook and... her profile was open access. So I can see all 292 photos of her, date of birth, hometown, where she went to undergrad, that she supports Hillary Clinton for President in 2008, and her cell phone number and home address, complete with apartment number!
I'm not going to post that information here, because this is slightly more open than Facebook but is she serious?! So lets say someone didn't like her recent article... bam, great stuff for bad people there. Come on Nikki, limit at least some of that information!
About Me
- Ich bin Berliner
- Dickes B, Berlin, Germany
- I'm currently studying at Freie Universität in Berlin.
5 comments:
but george only people in her network can see it i guess yu need to have alittle trust in the people at your school?
I agree with George. One of my friends keeps telling me about one of her professors (who happens to be a grad student at AU) who has a facebook account. People do not think about what they put on their facebook and need to keep in mind that if they don't change the privacy settings, they can be seen by anyone in their network. Be aware of what is on facebook and what is appropriate, especially if you are in a position of authority (trying to be a journalist or professor, perhaps).
Check out my blog about this issue too... http://jrponderings.blogspot.com/2007/05/no-myspace-for-troops.html
Wow that is slightly creepy, and it's even creepier when the person you are blogging about finds the blog entry and writes back to you. (Well, not that creepy actually, since I occasionally Google my name to see what pops up). But to respond to your thoughts, I think it's important that people, if they want, can see what my interests are and can contact me if they need to. I've never had a problem to date with any kind of stalking, and I have my Facebook profile set so that only people in one of my networks can see my information. While that means everbody at Pittsburgh, American and in Washington D.C. that still hides some of my info behind a wall. And also, for the record, I don't support Hillary for president, (I actually don't support anyone right now for president). I'm actually a member of all the presidential candidate's Facebook groups so that I can monitor what people our age are saying about the election. Anyways, glad you liked the story.
~Nikki Schwab
Nikki, I'm not at all surprised that you found this blog post--it was kind of a goal of our class to get "outside visitors" ... especially the people we were writing about. So I'm very honored that you visited and commented!
In response to your comment, I think it's awfully naive and trusting of you to leave your personal information out there. Even if only the people in your networks can see your page, since Facebook is now available to anyone, anyone who selects the Washington DC network can find out everything about you.
Our class was about social networking and business (including Facebook) and we discussed in several classes the implications Facebook profiles could have with potential employers. I guess your career path includes being very public but I still think it would be wise of you to reconsider your need to be so available.
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