Identity Theft (Assignment 6)

What is an online idenity?

An online identity as explained by Wikipedia is “a social identity that network users establish in online communities. Although some people prefer to use their real names online, most Internet users prefer to identify themselves by means of pseudonyms, which reveal varying amounts of personally identifiable information”. In other words, it is the person we allow others to get to know of ourselves, over the internet.

How can we do this?

We are now able, because of technology advancements in the internet; to actually shape ourselves into exactly who we want others to think we are. Think about it like this, we can edit our pictures to change our looks, and anything we type on the internet about ourselves can actually all be made up because no one would ever know, except those who are your friends in reality. But that brings me to another option; changing your name. You can have almost any name you want on the Internet. No one ever has to know what your real name is.

My Online Identity

An online identity that I own is the one portrayed on my Facebook. I do not make anything up, but I definitely leave personal information out. I only put pictures on there that I am okay with the public seeing. I would definitely say that anyone could portray me as someone I am really not. Although Facebook has my favorite movies listed and where I work and go to school, unless they are in my life, they do not really know who I am. There are some people who use their online identity to completely change who they are on the internet. For example, they could make up information about where they work, how old they are, what they look like. Just like the article Identity and deception in the Virtual Community states “most of Usenet is meant to be non-fiction; the basic premise is that the users are who they claim to be.” This allows however for other issues, related to crime. For example, a pedophile could pretend to be some young girl trying to be friends with a child, when in reality, they are luring them in to their trap. But that’s a whole other topic for discussion!

Facebook can be used for more than just fun. I have heard of companies looking up prospective employees to gain a little bit more knowledge about them from their Facebooks. Also, on the site, you (or anyone with an account) can create an event in which you would like to advertise to Facebook members. So in other words, it can be used as a business tool to advertise for you or your company.

Mostly, Facebook is a forum in which people can connect to others who also have accounts or express themselves however they would like. Facebook has options to put photos, send “gifts” and even a status feature where you can type exactly what you are doing in it and have a “memo” go out to your friends, letting them know where you are and what you are doing. To do this, they have something called a “news feed”

What is identity theft?

Identity theft can be described as “The unlawful acquisition of legally attributed personal identifiers is made possible by serious breaches of privacy” (Wikipedia). Facebook unfortunately does help increase identity theft rates. I would say that some people just give out too much information on their pages that allows for someone to steal their identity. Facebook probably doesn’t seal the deal (so to speak) but it definitely gives people an edge on getting someone’s information. This is why, I have my page set on private and I only add people I really know to my friends list.