Excellent article: Fortify Your Facebook Privacy Settings

As a CPA I get a subscription to the Journal of Accountancy (Motto: As boring as it sounds!).  This month they actually had a useful article titled Fortify Your Facebook Privacy Settings.  Facebook makes it difficult, but with a few steps you can significantly improve your security.

I’m surprised more people haven’t had security issues with FB.  If you aren’t careful, strangers can see your profile and know when you are out-of-town or even just out of your house.  They can know all about your kids.  And more.

And many people — especially younger folks — aren’t thinking about how potential employers can use FB to screen you out.  I see lots of references to getting drunk and such that will not impress prospective employers.

Some of the tips and categories the article addresses:

Editor’s note: Facebook unveiled plans on May 26 to roll out new privacy settings over the next several weeks. For more details on the company’s privacy policy and latest changes, read the new privacy guide at www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.php

The Facebook List feature allows you to organize your friends by groups. These groups can then have individual privacy policies applied to each of them to extend or suppress your Facebook information by List.  . . . You can create new lists by selecting Create a List on the Friendspage.

FRIENDS ONLY

CPAs should consider changing all of their settings to Friends Only. This ensures that the people who can see your Facebook content are only those people who you actually accept as friends. (From a CPA’s standpoint, your Facebook friends may be your fellow employees, professional colleagues, clients, prospects or other contacts.) The problem is that you need to visit many places to make these changes. The three main areas are listed below, and you will need to toggle between dozens of items within each category to change all settings to “Friends Only.” One exception to consider is under Settings, Privacy Settings,Search. Here you might want to keep this setting set to Everyone so you can be found via a search by people who want to friend you.

HIDE YOUR FRIENDS LIST FROM NONFRIENDS

BLOCK THIRD-PARTY FACEBOOK APPLICATIONS

Most third-party applications are geared toward personal use, but some applications such as greeting cards might be used for business reasons. CPAs should know that by default, third-party applications can access any of your Facebook information. This means that your name, phone number, e-mail address, street address, photos, videos, comments, and any of your responses to third-party questionnaires can be harvested for information and then used to build a profile of you, your likes and dislikes, and other preferences.

. . .

To help protect your data from third-party applications, follow these four rules:

a. Start by not including any personal information in your Profile page that you don’t want outsiders to see.

b. Refrain from using any third-party applications. Most are games or quizzes that can waste time, anyway.

c. Block all third-party applications. This can be done from the Account, Privacy Settings,Applications and Websites menu.

d. Block your content that friends can share through their use of applications. This is done from the Account, Privacy Settings, Applications and Websites, What your friends can share about you menu.

REMOVE YOURSELF FROM FACEBOOK SEARCH RESULTS

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM NETWORKS

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FACEBOOK ADVERTISERS

REMOVE YOUR FACEBOOK CONTENT FROM GOOGLE

PREVENT PHOTO/VIDEO TAG MISTAKES

Say you let loose for a few hours one night at the company party, and photos or videos of the moment are suddenly posted for all to view. These items can be seen by not just your close friends who shared the moment with you, but also potentially the entire world. When someone tags you in a photo, they point out who is who and a message appears on your profile page, letting people know you are in that photo and letting them view it. Tagged photos have landed some Facebook users in hot water personally and professionally.

AVOID FRIENDS’ EMBARRASSING WALL POSTS

CONCLUSION

This is cyberspace, with information traveling at the speed of light. You cannot get it back once it is loose. Remain aware of what privacy settings are available and be conscious of what your friends may be publishing about you.

J. Carlton Collins (carlton@asaresearch.com) is a technology and accounting systems consultant, public speaker and CPE instructor.