This is the first post in what will hopefully become an ongoing series here on MyBSOD where we will look at some of the more absent minded things that people do either online or with technology in general.
For this first post, I want to talk about a girl who I knew who used a popular social networking site to express her excitement upon receiving her shiny new drivers license. In most cases, this is fine and well; what is wrong with wanting to tell ALL your friends just how excited you are to finally be able to drive? Normally nothing, however in this case there was an added component that made it incredibly stupid and incredibly dangerous; a scanned image of the actual drivers license. Yes, you read right. This girl actually scanned a copy of her new drivers license and posted it for the world to see. When I first saw this, I thought that she would have at least blanked out the important areas like name, birth date and drivers license number. Sadly, as I looked closer I would find that she left all of those fields in plain view, only blanking out her address which I guess she assumed could cause the most damage. At her age, I guess you are not really thinking about people stealing your identity, but you should be and if not you, than the parents. With the rapid expansion of social networking sites and their ease of use when it comes to posting personal information, pictures and other media, it is essential to warm kids and teens of the dangers of posting images such as these. While it may seem exciting and harmless to them, it provides an incredibly easy way for a scammer, deviant or identity theive to pick a few choice numbers (such as the drivers license number) off the card and with the proper resources steal your identity within a few hours. I did try and warn this particular girl about the danger of her actions, however she seemed to think that it could not happen to a small town girl like her. Hopefully she is right.
The moral of the story: while it is very necessary to keep a close watch on what you post about yourself online via profiles and forums, it is also very important to be careful with the content of digital media that you post. Images can contain personal information that can be used against you, and you may not even realize it, as in this case. NEVER post images of identification documents such as your drivers license, social security card, birth certificate (or your child’s….as much fun as telling the world about your new kid may be!) or passport to name a few. There is really no need to make identity theft any easier than it has already become.
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