Earlier this week I was watching TV, and found myself being drawn into an episode of BBC 1's consumer complaints program 'Watchdog' (if truth be told I was actually waiting for Eastenders to start and stumbled across this by accident...a very informative accident). The subject matter being addressed was the issue of identity theft online especially through social networking sites. This information proved to be gold dust in regards to our Wiki on identity, as it addressed the terrifying issue of how one's identity can be snatched based on a few minor nuggets of information a website may provide.
Here is a snippet from the report:
24 October 2007
Dawn Telfer didn't worry about sharing her details online until someone stole more than just her identity. "I went home and logged on to my online accounts and I was more than £6,000 overdrawn," she says.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/internet/internet_20071024.shtml)
The report goes on to say that by having a few simple bits on information on yourself such as full name and D.O.B, fraudsters can do a quick check on you on other publicly avaliable websites and instantly piece together all the information they need to know. In fact the program themselves conducted an experiment to assess how true this notion was with a willing participant. They went through the simple notions a criminal would go through in order to commit identity theft (based only on a few simple details), and managed to open up an online bank account, and credit card in the persons name!! Both of which were instantly accepted.
To read the whole report on the BBC website go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/internet/internet_20071024.shtml
The idea of online identity theft on social networking sites is something I feel would be useful to touch upon in our Wiki in regards to deception. Its not just fraud in terms of 'theft' that people may worry about, it can also be fraud in the simple fact that someone can make a profile posing as you. This is not uncommon in the Myspace world (where there are 10 Madonnas, 20 Paris Hiltons and a handful of Homer simpsons...who isnt even a person!!) How many people therefore can make a Myspace page acting as you??
There may be several reasons someone could to this; admiration, flattery, hate, revenge, humiliation....whatever the reason its very possible. A friend of mine broke up with her long term partner and made a joke about setting up a fake profile acting as him, with really cringe worthy interests and hobbies, to make people think he was a weirdo. I don't think she did it in the end, but it doesnt change the fact that she could've done, all she needed was a picture and a password (and possibly photoshop, if she was going to get really evil with the idea!)
Information such as the above makes us undeniably aware of the multiple dangers of the net, and how it can be misused if put into the hands of the wrong people, however this isn't something I particularly want to keep focusing on. One thing I'm going to really try and avoid at all costs is coming across as 'anti' in the group Wiki. I'd really like our arguments to be balanced and well structured, rather than introspective. Its so easy to be biased especially when you're constantly bombarded with information from the media about the internet, and how its only used by geeks with no friends and paedophiles who groom children. As with life, thats only one reality of what happens, positive as well of negative things are likely to come from such technology.
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I like this post Sara. I think you've hit on some interesting stuff and if you are short of avenues you might look at some of the threats online and maybe investigate how real they might be, i.e. is pedophilia widespread on the Internet? It's a despicable crime but is the threat exaggerated out of proportion to the reality because of the way cases are reported?
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