Social Networking and Your Privacy

Do you have a Myspace, Facebook or Twitter account? 

When you signed up to become a user did you read the Privacy Policy?

If not, it is important to educate yourself.

When you sign up to use a social networking site the first thing the site collects is PII, 

Personally Identifiable Information. 

PII includes such information as your name, email address and telephone number etc.

This information is used to advertise to you, record and monitor your internet habits and shared with third parties.

Social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace offer privacy settings so users can better protect information and photographs.

We wanted to clearly explain these settings so users would be more inclined to set their profiles in a way that is most comfortable

Online Now:	Show people when I am online: This function will allow you to control whether or not you want the "online now" symbol to flash when you physically logged into you account.
Birthday:	Show my birthday to my friends: This function will allow you to control whether or not you other users can see your birthday date and receive a notice when your birthday date is approaching.
Profile Viewable By:	Everyone: Anyone, Anywhere in the world can see and access your profile, profile pictures and profile information. Everyone 18 and over : Only users over the age 18 can see and access your profile, profile pictures and profile information. Remember, users can lie about their true age. My friends only: Only users you know and approve as Myspace friends can see and access your profile, profile pictures and profile information.
Comments:	Choose who can view your comments page. Anyone can view my comments page: Anyone, anywhere in the world can see and access your profile, profile pictures and profile information. Anyone 18 and over can view my comments page: Only users over the age 18 can see and access your profile, profile pictures and profile information. Remember, users can lie about their true age. Only my friends can view my comments page:Only users you know and approve as Myspace friends can see and access your profile, profile pictures and profile information.
Friends:	Choose who can view your friends page. Mutual friends are always public. Anyone can view my friends page: Anyone, anywhere in the world can see and access who your other, approved Myspace friends are.  Only my friends can view my friends page: Only your approved Myspace friends can see and access who your other, approved Myspace friends are.
Photos:	Choose who can view your photos page. Set album level privacy in photos. Anyone can view my Photos page: Anyone, anywhere in the world can see and access your profile pictures.  Anyone 18 and over can view my Photos page: Only users over the age of 18 can see and access profile pictures.  Only my friends can view my Photos page: Only users you know and approve as Myspace friends can see and access your profile pictures. Allow my photos to be shared/emailed: Anyone, anywhere in the world with allowed access to your photos (even Myspace friends) can share and email your photos. Think before you post.
Block Users By Age:	Allow users under 18 to contact me: This function prevents users under the age of 18 from accessing your profile. Remember, users can lie about their true age.
Block Users:	Block individual users by clicking "Block User" on their profile: This function allows you to block another user from accessing your profile. If you chose to block another user they will not be notified of your decision to block them. The user will immediately be unable to send you messages, write you comments, access your profile information or see your photos. A user you chose to block is essentially denied total communicationwith you. You can change and monitor your list of blocked users freely. [View list]