I expect some of you, at the end of this post, to actually laugh at the seriousness with which I have treated this topic. Some of you, and I hope there will be many of you, who will realise that I might actually have a point here and might actually start taking precautions.
I have always found myself telling my near ones not to share too much information on the Internet, whether it is some random survey form that pops on some web site or whether it is on a social network such as Facebook or Twitter. People generally forget to pay any attention beyond simple nodding of the head. Thankfully, nothing has happened so far, which has made me say, “I told you so!” This might have been the reason why I never thought of assimilating my thoughts in the form of a write-up of this kind. But something I saw recently triggered me to write my views down hastily.
I was watching an episode of a series called “Criminal Minds”. I don’t expect too many people to admire this serial because of its rather disturbing and technical content but since I am fascinated with the human mind and what it is capable of doing, I inevitably watch such serials. In this particular episode, a serial rapist has been found to target young women from local colleges. He then suddenly takes a gap of two months and emerges again, only this time he is targeting middle-aged women. A detailed investigation shows that the common link between the three recently raped middle-aged women is their visit to a fertility clinic. So, an obvious visit to the clinic is paid by the investigation team. They notice that a patient is asked to fill in a form. This form holds the key to the investigation. Now, for some very disturbing part of the content, reader discretion is advised.
Each time the serial rapist is victimizing a woman, he tries to convince her that he is doing her a favor. As a part of this, he even tells her how he would like to take her to a vacation spot and drink a certain drink with her. This vacation spot and the drink always happens to be the victim’s dream vacation spot and favorite drink. The form that is filled by the ladies in the fertility clinic in fact asks these questions. It turns out that in order to enhance the income of the clinic, the management sells this information to an advertising agency. A deranged psychopath working in this company, having access to all this personal information, turns out to be the culprit and he is apprehended.
This episode convinced me how totally incorrect it is to actually give out information where not necessary. In this specific case, why would anyone tell a fertility clinic what one’s favorite drink is and what is one’s favorite holiday destination? On a social network like Google+ or Facebook, do we always give more information than necessary? My answer to the question is a simple “yes”. I have seen most people give out way too much information on these social networks.
A photograph with a name is just about okay. Add to that, the information about the place where you stay. Add onto that, information about your work place. What do I have? I know how you look, I know your name and since I know your work place, I can even guess the route you would be taking everyday to your work place. You recently have been sharing articles on Facebook by “liking” them which are concerned with the Bahamas, so I know there is a chance you might be planning to take a vacation out there. The fact that Bahamas is even considered by you, I know that you must be financially upper class. This in turn allows me to guess a couple of other things about you. You recently installed some insane application on your profile which shows me every place you go to. If I was a thief, a murderer or anybody who wants to harm you, how difficult is it for me to trace you out?
There is a chance that you might be laughing out loud right now. You would say, “Stalkers, mass murderers, rapists, serial offenders, all these exist only in Hollywood studios!” I am afraid I will disagree strongly with that. In fact, the inspiration for making so many movies and serials on criminals of all kinds comes from real life. One should not forget that even if a fictional murder is seen on-screen, it is eventually the imagination of the human mind. This human mind, we all share! Most of us tend to live in a cocoon far away from all these things. But people are out there, who represent the worst of humanity and people are out there, who fall prey to this.
You don’t believe me, do you? I have witnessed a case where a girl, who refused to pay attention to a certain boy, paid a price for being on a social network with just enough information. When you get rejected in love, the strongest of emotions can be experienced. This boy, in a fit or rage, duplicated her profile so accurately that in one day, he took her reputation from an aspiring engineering student to that of a prostitute. I have been told of other cases, though did not directly witness them, where, in a manner similar to above, Facebook profiles have allowed stalkers to have information about you to do their job. There have been cases where pedophiles have victimized naive children online by luring them into a trap. I won’t go on citing more examples. Google can help you find as many as you want.
Let me pose some simple questions. When it is not necessary to give information to unreliable sources, why should we give it? Why should I give my address, my personality details like hobbies, likes, dislikes, etc or any other piece of information to an agency that has no business having this information? When I apply for a license, I will give information about my address and blood group for obvious reasons, why would I give it to a man in a suit standing at a shopping mall? I will give some personal details to my doctor but why would I fill out a form stating my drink and food preferences? If I am on any social network, it is to connect and to share ideas and thoughts, is it really necessary for to make personal details available publicly for this?
Dear friends, this tendency of human beings to do evil, for whatever the reason, is a part of the human psyche. It is not specific to a culture so don’t even try to reason that the culture in which we live ensures the absence of evil. It is all around us, masked and well hidden from the most of us. Will we rely on existing probabilities and take our chances? Or will we try and take a few steps to minimise this probability even more? Simple Darwinian logic suggests that we do the latter. And it is not too hard, is it? Just a few simple steps to take. Stop sharing information than what is really necessary to connect. Spend half an hour understanding Privacy Settings on social networks. If you feel it is necessary to talk to strangers, make sure you remain a stranger to them. Don’t blindly fill out forms, be it electronic or hard paper. Ask whether there is a point in doing so.
To give you an idea about how many people are careless and in what ways, please visit the following page and click on image/infographic available there.
http://socialmediatoday.com/571471/are-people-sharing-too-much-online
I would further recommend that if the gravity of unnecessary information sharing is still not being felt by the readers, please google for the following terms – “Cyber stalking”, “Cyber bullying”, “Facebook crimes” and related. I shall end with some quotes to remind you that the world is not as safe as you want it to be.
“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” – Joseph Conrad
“”In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell
Note: If you have some information to share that can help people understand safety on the Internet, please feel free to use the Comments section below.