Web User - UK (2019-06-12)

What not to share online

Discuss online sharing must-notsatwww.facebook.com/webusermagazine 12 - 25 June 201 9 47

YOURHOME
ADDRESS
Obviously, family members
andclose friends knowwhere you live,
but revealing your home addresson a
public forumsuch as Facebook, Twitter
or Instagram leaves you open to
stalkers, scammers, burglars, trolls and
othertroublemakers. You may not even
realiseyou’re disclosing the information

• perhaps in a picture of your house in
  which the numberis clearly visi bleor a
  geo-tagged photo posted fromyour
  abode.It doesn’t take much effort for
  an online snooper to look upyour
  address on Google Street View, so they
  can see exactly where you live and get
  directions to your doorstep.
  You can remove geotagging data
  fromimagesyou upload fromyour
  Androidphone or tablet by opening the
  camera app, going into Settings and
  switching off the option ‘Store location
  data’, ‘Savelocation’, ‘Allowlocation
  access’ or similar. Onan iPhoneor iPad,
  go to Settings, Privacy, Location
  Services, Camera andtap Never.

YOURPHONE
NUMBER
With ‘robocalls’ (automated
messagesfromtelemarketing
companies) an increasing menace, it’s
essential to keep your phone number
off the web, but that’s easier said than
done. Facebook requires your number
to enable two-factor authentication,
andthis isthen linked with your profile,
which means people can “lookyou up”.
Even if you don’t tell Facebook your
phone number, it may still be added
when your friends share their contacts
with the social network. To protect your
privacy, first click About on your
Facebook profile page, then hover over
your phone numberin the ‘Contact &
basic info section’ andclick Edit. Here
you can decide exactly who can see

your phone numberor remove it

altogether. Next, go into your account

settings (www.facebook.com/settings),

click Privacy and changethe setting

‘Who can look you up using the phone

numberyou provided’ fromEveryone

to Friends.

YOURDATE

OFBIRTH

Weall like receiving birthday

messages, especially frompeoplewe

don’t hearfromvery often, but there’s

no needto provide your date of birth on

your social-media profile all year round.

This has got nothing to do with nosy

parkers knowing how old you are and

everythingto do with identity theft.

Anyone can use the combination of your

real name andyour real birthdate to

pretendto be you andgain access to all

manner of your private information.

Keep the year of your birth secret, and

preferably the day as well, at least until

your birthday approaches. To hide this

info on Facebook, go to your profile

page, click About and, under Basic

Information, hover your mouse over

‘Year of birth’. Click the privacysymbol,

choose ‘Only me’ fromthe drop-down

menu(or Customto let specific friends

see this detail) andclick Save Changes.

UNAUTHORISED

VIDEOS

It’s not illegal to upload a

videoto the web without the consent of

the people who appearin it, unlessthe

clip containsobscenecontent or is

intended to cause distress (such as with

‘revenge porn’ – see the Ask the Police

article atbit.ly/police477). However,

froman ethical point of view, publicly

sharing apersonal videoof someone

without asking their permission is pretty

dubious, especially if they can be easily

identifiedand are likely to be

embarrassed.

YouTube offers a tool that

automatically detects faces in videos

andlets you blurpeoplewho might not

want to be recognised –click Edit

Video, Editor, AddBlur andchoose the

faces to conceal. But if you’re in any

doubt, don’t share the videountil you

obtain the subjects’ consent – especially

if the footage featuresanyone under the

age of 18.

Posting a selfie in which you make

a peac e sign or a show the palm of

your handmight not seem like risky

behaviour, but it could actually

compromise the security of your

phone. Many handsets now use

fing erpr int recognition to verify who

you are, so you can unlock them with

a single touch, and crimin als can

potentially steal this biometric

information fromyour pictures.

Rese archers in Japanfound that,

if the focus and lighti ng were right,

they could recreate fing erpr ints from

imagesshot up to 10 feet away from

the subject (bit.ly/finger477).

Although someone would have to

go to a lot of trouble to turn that

fing erpr int into a mouldand

physically get hold of your

phone to bypass its security,

it’s still a scary thought.

Pictu res of fing erpr ints canalso

HIDEYOUR FINGERPRINTS ONLINE

prove incrimin ating, even without

a face in shot. Last year, South Wales

Police were able to identify and

convict a drug dealer froma close-up

WhatsA pp photo of him holding

some ecst asy tablets in hispalm

and said the case had “openedthe

floodgates” for using similar

techniques in future

(bit.ly/han d477).