In the article “The Perlis of Over-sharing”, Emm
(2014) asserts that the precautions should be taken to prevent personal
information from leakage. He explains, users might focus too much on the
Internet’s convenience and neglect the danger of sharing unnecessary events
online. Emm stresses that over-sharing might not only cause personal
consequences, but will also threaten the organization they work for. The author
also states that users might be in low-guard when using mobile devices as they
are not cybercriminals’ preys. In short, users should be cautious when making
use of Internet.
“Internet has become an integral part of our
lives. More and more of what we do is dependent on it. But at the same time it
also exposes
the minutiae of our daily lives to those who have ability to gather the details.”
Emm relates the dependency on Internet with the perils of over-sharing as
providers of the applications are able to access to users’ information when the
applications are being used. In such case, users are unconsciously over-sharing
as they are providing information in order to enjoy the convenience but not to
share with others. In such extend, I do not agree with considering this as
over-sharing’s consequence as these details are provided as they are promised
to be kept confidential. Users are merely providing limited information for
accessing purpose, so it cannot be said that the use of applications results in
over-sharing then information leakage as this action is not over-sharing at the
very first place.
The case “if someone steals your smartphone or tablet, they
get access to all your information too” is not likely to happen, as
there are security settings designed to prevent such tragedies. For example,
users may set up “two-factor authentication” for their iCloud, which means
users have to supply two factors to log in, instead of logging in with password
using mobile device only (Dan miller, 2014). For socialising media wise, there
are actually self-destructing social media services existing. For example,
Snapchat is a popular self-destructing service for photos and videos. Shared
photos can only last for about ten seconds.
Secret.li allows you to decide who can view your photo and a
self-destruct timer can be set for the image to delete automatically (Kihara,
2014).
However, consciously over-sharing, which is sharing
unnecessary events, without filtering or setting access limitation, does cause
terrifying consequences. As personal consequences, which is what Emm says in “what
prying eyes can see as our data travels over the Internet”, a burglary victim
Lavern Cheatheam, shared that "You think posting and checking in wherever
you go is fun, but you are actually letting people know -- hey I am gone. Go
over there and take what you want." Experts comment on social
media-burglary cases that sharing too much online could make you a target for
burglars (abc7NEWS, 2014).
“Our
over-sharing in social networks could also jeopardise the security of the
organisation we work for.” Emm asserts that over-sharing cause non-personal
consequences too. It is true as data stored on the corporate network is also at
risk because it is more accessible than ever, and some employees might not be
alert and could easily leak out these important details just when they are
sharing status on social media and this can tip off the would-be attackers then
put their company at risk (Cisco, 2008). It happened, in February 2011
Hewlett-Packard showed off its new tablet computer, which it hopes will be a
rival to Apple's iPad but this did not cause a great effect due to the leakage
of its design in mid-January 2011 (The Economist, 2011).
(600 words)
References:
ABC7 news (2014). Burglars use
social media to find next victims. [ONLINE] Available at: http://abc7news.com/travel/burglars-use-social-media-to-find-next-victims/448107/
Cisco (2008). Data Leakage Worldwide: Common Risks and Mistakes
Employees Make. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/enterprise-networks/data-loss-prevention/white_paper_c11-499060.html
Dan Miller (2014). How to set up
two-factor authentication for iCloud. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.macworld.com/article/2449450/how-to-set-up-two-factor-authentication-for-icloud.html
Kihara Kimachia (2014). Self-Destruct:
The Future Of Personal Communication . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/self-destruct-the-future-of-personal-communication/
The Economist (2011). The leaky
corporation. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.economist.com/node/18226961
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