A while ago, there was a definite need to separate the content for all the social media site reviews, issues and concerns with privacy that I covered in live seminars, screencasts and blog postings.  Those lines have been blurred.

I have played with the idea of merging the content for some time and new developments in direction of content, writing and outside influence made the decision easy.

All of the past security and privacy content from SocialStalking.com has been merged into this site in the exact location and dates with redirections set from the previous site.  Screencasts will cover both topics, web and live events will cover both and blended content will be easier to follow.

So welcome to the moved readers and for those already here, welcome to the new content.

All IBMers had access to this micro-blogging status and unlike Twitter, he/she was able to post the customers name. IBM guidelines prevent employes from specifically sharing customer names unless authorized. Had it not been for he/she stating she was working with “Endicott College”, the thread would not have generated local responses and the details that followed.

Now I took great interest as any business would love to have open range chats and discuss confidential possible customer data.  The article went on to give a fictitious scenario in how the flow would work, allowing the employee to get feedback ad possible insights into the new lead.  What caught my eye is a few things I pieced together from numerous posts.  IBM does have a new initiative around social business.  Even going so far as to grade performance on use of the tools, followers and sharing (unconfirmed but heard from numerous places inside).  Further up in this social lead passing article a mention was made how the IBMer connects to the possible lead.

After a couple conversation, connecting on LinkedIN, and additional information is provided, the customer wants to see how the product works and talk with other customers.

Some may have just caught where I was going with this posting.  I went to LinkedIn, searched for employees at IBM that are in inside sales, telecenter and more and soon found I could watch as they connected to companies after becoming connected myself.

So the idea about social lead sharing takes an interesting twist in security when you blend external data sites along with internal communication channels.  I know many reps that never even check in using Foursquare or other services for fear that competitors are watching where they go.  LinkedIn provides even more information as it shows exactly who they are talking to at the companies themselves.

Watch how you blend customer data and social privacy management.  Couple this with rating employees on social interaction and some things are bound to slip through.

They also handle the interaction differently.  You are able to send and receive email just as messages would appear.  This ability open them to communication outside of the walled garden of Facebook itself. There are steps you can take to limit the communication of this new email ability through privacy controls.  We have a screencast and podcast (both from our sister sites TheSocialNetworker and TheSocialGeeks) does a quick walkthrough of the setup procedures and links to important help files.

The new privacy settings interested me more after reading them twice.  You are able to set the level of who can email you based on everyone, friends of friends and just friends.  that part fits the other models Facebook has implemented.  However, friends are able to email you from any email address they register with Facebook.  So this is a reverse privacy issue.

When you established your account with Facebook you provided a single email address.  Most people only have one.  Now Facebook is asking you to enter all of your possible email addresses so you could email in to any friend from any of them.  This gives Facebook even more information on you as a person by associating email names, domains and possibly company names (if you use your company email) with your profile.  People have not given this portion that much thought.

I would suggest you head out and quickly claim your name on Facebook, even if you do not use the email functions, ever.   An example is my network page on Facebook.  The URL would be http://www.facebook.com/IdoNotesNetwork (if you feel like becoming part, it is where I funnel all of my information on Facebook).  So read the linked help files in the sister postings, watch the short screencast and get your Facebook Messages under control early.

You can see the entire screencast in HD on YouTube or embedded below.

In this short screencast I walk you through the coming setup for Facebook Messages and what privacy concerns you should have.  Pay special attention to the links below for the direct links to the help files on the new Facebook Messages you will all soon have rolled out.

• Overall Q&A on Facebook Messages
• Privacy controls for Facebook Messages

Everyone should make sure you have selected a custom name on Facebook.  If not, this setup will force you to do so.  The sooner you grab one, the better your chance at getting the name you want.  You can see my personal URL in the screencast or better yet, join my Facebook Network.

Remember, you can find me as IdoNotes across all the networks

Courtesy: Telegraph

What does this mean for your privacy?  Your habits, places of preference and more leave your immediate control.  Sure, you can remove the tag of you in that location, but aggregators and Facebook themselves have already seen it.  Advertising dollars are built around it.  Even the ACLU in California has stepped in to write an article on the topic:

Places allows your friends to tag you when they check in somewhere, and Facebook makes it very easy to say “yes” to allowing your friends to check in for you. But when it comes to opting out of that feature, you  are only given a “not now” option (aka ask me again later). “No” isn’t one of the easy options.

One of the other factors invading on your privacy is the controls around “Here Now”.  Many of the added applications you have nejoyed have been authorized full access to you profile data.  So as soon as someone tags you in a Place, or you do it yourself, that information may be passed along to the other applications.  You will need to review the apps to see what data access they have as well.

So what do you do?

• Use the service carefully
• Set the privacy controls before anyone starts tagging you in Places
• Limit who can see your Places
• Tag yourself only in public arenas and maybe when you are leaving in most instances (not arrival unless it is a meeting)
• Read the tutorial written by DotRights.org on this topic of the steps you need to take

Location services are a constant topic I write about and Facebook exploding the ability to 500 million users without granular privacy controls could change the landscape.

Also, catch up on the recent podcasts from TheSocialGeeks where you get to hear a roundtable of the top social media minds go after these topics.

Before you panic too much, Evil is a great implementation showing the lack of privacy controls most people place when posting information, such as phone numbers, into their stream.  Evil simply scans Faceook, blocks half the number for security and shows them at random on a webpage with an avatar of the person as well.

The site owner also does a great job explaining how it works, how anyone could do it, no tricks involved and what parts of the Facebook API he uses to make it all happen.  While phone numbers can easily be changed by anyone in today;s world for security, it is amazing how much information is now tied to it and shows when doing searches in Google sometimes.

So go into the new privacy settings and beware what sharing selection is made when you make a post on Facebook.  If you have doubts, simply send it via a private message instead.

• the new Facebook security and privacy choices
• HTC EVO
• location services
• and a couple random topics

All the show bookmarks are included in the show notes.  The crew included Caleb Elston, Jeff Smith, Sarah Perez, Corvida, Wayne Sutton and myself for just at one hour and some change.

• Mashable – Facebook and Privacy : It’s Time to Move On
• Mashable – Facebook’s Changes in Zuckerberg’s Words
• ReadWriteWeb – Facebook Privacy Briefing
• or just search for even more…

Be just as careful when loading these tools and applications to make sure they are legitimate.  The screencasts will wlk you through what they do, how they access the data and if they provide a service for you.

This first tool is from Rabid Gremlin and is simply called Privacy Check.

You can visit the original source to see it in larger mode online.  Or feel free to subscribe!

Another Spiked Studio Production

A teenager in Arkansas, however, has become so annoyed with his mother’s Facebook intrusion that he has reportedly decided to sue her for harassment.

The claim is the mother hacked into the Facebook account, changed his password and made some postings under his account name.  The mother states she has every right to do so and is defending that in court come May.

Here are both sides of argument from us at SocialStalking only, not as attorneys:

Her intention was ok
The mother was trying to act in some responsible manner of seeing what and why her teenager was making particular postings.  The better approach would have been to actually communicate with the teenager and have them log into their Facebook account while she sat there.  This would keep some of the trust and respect factor between them while allowing parenting to occur.

Parents always wish to know what is going on with their kids online and do not have well defined rules, guidelines and restrictions of how they will interact.  Her exact quote allows them to take the below stance when she said

“You’re within your legal rights to monitor your child and to have a conversation with your child on Facebook whether it’s his account, or your account, or whoever’s account.”

Yes, with monitor being the key here.  You could not hack into another adults account legally.  Monitoring does not include taking over.  It means watching, reviewing and even logging/taking notes on content.

Her intention broke numerous rules
The mother made one major mistake that the article from CNET mentions.  She hacked into a computer account with malicious intent.  This, in itself, is a crime she has admitted to. She has accessed a computer (Facebook server) without authorization and with intent to portray herself as someone else.  Now enter identity theft arguments.  The teenager has a strong case if he follows this and removes the emotional and parental battle from the fight.  The local Clark County laws even address this as quoted in the article.

If the teenager was on the parents computer, it is not the one in question.  The Facebook server is the one in question and was hacked by the mother.  She had no technological right to do so and should have relied on parental rights such as knowing the passwords and lines of communication.

Summary

The legal battle needs to be separated far from the parental battle to clearly understand this.  The parent broke laws.  Good intentions do not allow this.  The parent took offense to what the child was posting.  Good parenting and communication resolves that portion.  We hope they both win in court and later parenting.