On Wednesday November 14th, Investigator Jen Frank from the Plymouth State University Police Department gave a presentation in the HUB Hage Room about internet safety. The focus of her presentation was to how easy it is for just about anyone to access your personal information using Facebook and other popular social networking websites.
Investigator Frank continually stressed how important it is for anyone with a Facebook account to remove and refrain from posting any personal information or anything about your current location. You should never post a status informing of times when you will not be home, it’s like telling a robber when he is less likely to be caught.
She made a great point when she asked the audience if a stranger walked up to them and asked for their name, date of birth, where they go to school, pictures of them, etc. Everyone in the room said no. This example put the concept of Facebook in perspective when you think about exactly how many people can see what you are posting. “People are sharing a crazy amount of information online,” said Investigator Frank. As soon as you post something on Facebook, it’s out there and it will never go away, even if you delete it.
Although Facebook is one of the main culprits for providing more personal information to strangers than anyone is really aware of, it is not the only guilty website. Did you know the infamous “chatroulette” is the most used video site at Plymouth State University? That’s a little shocking for a site where one in sixteen people are naked. “I’ve spent some time on “chatroulette”, that’s pretty accurate,” Investigator Frank jokingly said while explaining the statistics.
The part of the presentation that made every one sit up in their seats and really pay attention was the part about all the different websites that anyone, specifically potential employers, can use to find out just about anything about potential employees that causes them to make their own assumption about you. The one Investigator Frank referred to multiple times is “Spokeo.com”.
Just because you think something is funny now while you’re in college, doesn’t mean it’s still going to be funny when a potential employer is doing research on you. They use websites like waybackmachine.com and archive.com to find out all kinds of things about your past. Investigator Frank informed the audience that, “75% of employers reject applicants because of provocative photos [they’ve found online].” It was a shocking statistic that clearly made everyone take a moment to think about what they currently have posted and what they will post from now on.
When all was said and done it was clear that everyone in the room had learned something and was most likely going to go home and make some changes on their Facebook pages. Sophomore Emily Spring said, “It taught me a lot about what you don’t even know can be accessed”. Student Body Vice President Alex Herbst said, “It’s really eye opening to see how much can be put online.”