More people today are worried about the growing amount of personal information about them available on the Internet, according to a recent study by Pew Internet, a Washington D.C.-based think tank that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends.
The survey consisted of 792 Internet users and was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates through three days in July. In the poll a full 50 percent of the respondents expressed concern about the information, which is a considerable jump from the 33 percent who were concerned in 2009.
In a section focusing specifically on security, the survey revealed that 86 percent of adults who go online have taken steps to avoid surveillance by people or organizations when using the Internet and that despite taking precautions, 21 percent have had an email or social media account hijacked, and 11 percent have had vital information, such as a Social Security number, credit card number or bank account, stolen.
In addition, 13 percent of Internet users have had relationship troubles because of something they posted, 12 percent had been harassed or stalked and 6 percent had lost money to some form of scam, such as phishing.
Another interesting note is that 1 percent of the respondents reported having lost a job or educational opportunity due to something that appeared online about them. Many people might not realize that most employers now look at applicants’ social network pages, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, to see whether they would be a good fit before offering them a position.
When asked about the kind of the information available about them online, 66 percent said photos, 50 percent said birth date, 46 percent said email address and 44 percent said the name of their employer. Thirty percent of respondents said they had posted their home address, and 24 percent posted cellphone numbers.
Tellingly, 59 percent of respondents feel that it’s impossible to remain completely anonymous online, and only 37 percent disagree.
How do you know where your personal information might live, outside of the social media accounts that you manage directly? Services such as Knowem.com specialize in searching the Web for information about you, and some people set up regular searches on Google to notify them if their name appears on a website.
Most sites have ways to remove personal information from them, but the process can be tedious if there are more than a few.
A few services have cropped up recently to help with that. Justdeleteme.com and AccountKiller.com will both help with removal of accounts at hundreds of websites. But bear in mind that many sites will retain the information about you, even though it might no longer be publicly viewable.
The best defense, as always, is to be judicious with what you choose to share online.
You can read the full 35-page report here: pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Anonymity-online/Summary-of-Findings.aspx.
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Hawaiian Telcom Information Security Director Beau Monday is a local cybersecurity expert. Reach him at Beau.Monday@hawaiiantel.com.
