Portfolio-Reader's Response

In the article "The Perils of Over-sharing", Emm (2014) asserts that precautions should be taken to prevent personal information from being leaked out. He explains that we might focus too much on the convenience of Internet and neglect the danger of sharing unnecessary events online. Emm stresses that over-sharing might not only cause personal consequences, but might also threaten the organization we work for. The author also states that users might not be careful when using mobile devices as they are not typical targets of cybercriminals. In conclusion, they should be cautious when using the Internet.

While I agree with the author’s view on our over-reliance on the Internet, I believe that Emm is exaggerating the issue. Emm states that the providers of the applications are able to access users’ information when the applications are being used, and that reliance on the Internet and applications “exposes the minutiae of our daily lives”. However, the users provide their personal information only because it’s promised to be kept confidential. Users are merely providing limited information to gain the access, but the providers of the applications and Government are the ones snooping and intercepting. Thus, this should not be the consequence of over-sharing, but rather the result of snooping and intercepting by the authorities.

I think that Emm also overstates this point: “if someone steals your smartphone or tablet, they get access to all your information too.” This is not likely to happen, as there are security settings designed to prevent such problems. For example, users may set up “two-factor authentication” for their iCloud, which means they have to supply two factors to log in, instead of logging in with a password using mobile device only (Miller, 2014). For social media, there are self-destructing platforms availabe for users. For example, Snapchat is a popular and typical example of self-destructing services for photos and videos. The shared photos can only last for about ten seconds. And 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 (Kimachia, 2014).

However, I do agree that “conscious over-sharing”, which is sharing unnecessary events without filtering or setting access restriction, does cause terrifying consequences, as which is suggested by Emm. In terms of personal consequences, Emm states that “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 us targets for burglars (abc7NEWS, 2014).

“Our over-sharing in social networks could also jeopardise the security of the organisation we work for.” Emm asserts. In short, over-sharing causes non-personal consequences too. It is true as data stored in the corporate network is also at risk because it is more accessible than ever. In addition to that, some employees might not be alert and could easily leak out these important details and this can tip off the would-be attackers then put their company at risk (Cisco, 2008). In February 2011, Hewlett-Packard showed off its new tablet computer, which it hoped will be a rival to Apple's iPad but this did not gain much popularity due to the leakage of its design in mid-January 2011 (The Economist, 2011).

In conclusion, I do have to agree with Emm that over-sharing indeed will cause the leakage of personal information. The consequences and impacts of personal information leakage are more that what one could think of. Personal, non-personal including the organisations the users work for could be harmed. Therefore, users should pay more attention when providing personal information on any platforms. Think twice before act.

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References

abc7news,. (2014). Burglars use social media to find next victims. Retrieved from http://abc7news.com/travel/burglars-use-social-media-to-find-next-victims/448107/

Cisco,. (2015). Data Leakage Worldwide: Common Risks and Mistakes Employees Make. Retrieved 18 April 2015, from http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/enterprise-networks/data-loss-prevention/white_paper_c11-499060.html

Kimachia, K. (2014). Self-Destruct: The Future Of Personal Communication. MakeUseOf. Retrieved 18 April 2015, from http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/self-destruct-the-future-of-personal-communication/

Miller, D., & Miller, D. (2015). How to set up two-factor authentication for iCloud. Macworld. Retrieved 18 April 2015, from http://www.macworld.com/article/2449450/how-to-set-up-two-factor-authentication-for-icloud.html

The Economist,. (2011). The leaky corporation. Retrieved 18 April 2015, from http://www.economist.com/node/18226961