How safe are you when posting on the internet??

The issue of safety is one we take very seriously at BTCB as you would expect. After all, our whole ethos is about the safe and effective use of the many channels now available to us all, across the age range.

What is troubling, is the speed at which ‘we’ the developed world seem to be taking to get up to speed with what’s happening around us. Our world has changed dramatically over the last 5 years, perhaps even more so the last 2 where we have seen the  social media tsunami wash over us.

For many kids, iThings, swiping, liking, instagramming, snap chatting and facebooking are normal life. For some parents and adults, they won’t understand that last sentence! And here in lies the problem.

The video embedded in this post (just above)  is already 4 years old now. And yet, I am sure even though there are over 21 million views on the YouTube channel, many in the Middle East reading this, will be viewing it for the first time. This in itself is scary. Mostly because the content of the video is perhaps now, 4 years down the line, even more prevalent.

The number of Facebook users soared passed the 1 billion number early last year, and yet, over 25% of those users have never ever looked at their security/privacy settings. That’s 250,000,000 profiles that are potentially broadcasting private sensitive data to anyone and everyone.

But who cares, you might say.  So what? It’s just silly statuses about what people had for dinner or pictures of the latest holiday/activity they have undertaken. This may in some cases be true. But as per the video, these seemingly innocent posts from young kids playing in the park, or their room are unfortunately available to those people that prey on young children. And they are providing in some cases exact co-ordinates and times that they are in these locations.

Or innocently and excitedly posting that you are going away on your family vacation, perhaps checking in at the airport with a status reading something like ‘miami for 2 week vacation with my family’. Forgetting that you also have your home address on your profile, or your kids have posted images from their rooms which are geo tagged. Effectively you a telling any would be opportunist thieft that your property is empty for 2 weeks, so go ahead and help yourself.

Let’s all make a concerted effort to increase our knowledge and education around the online space and keep ourselves and each other safe.