How much is too much? Original #3

TMI:  We tweet it and text it, but do we really mean it?  Is there really such a thing as too much information?  I sometimes think so.  As we have been discussing all semester, social media has taken our society by storm, but I began to think about how does all of this information affect our personal and national safety, and how might it be used? 

On the personal level the question is; how much should we be sharing on sites like Facebook?  What steps should we take, if any, to assure our personal privacy?  Some experts say, “In order to keep your personal information private and safe from online predators, limit how much personal information you post.”  Security experts suggest including only basic information.  If long lost friends want to know what you do and where you live, you can share that information with them.

Another important part of protecting yourself online on sites like Facebook, is limiting friend requests.  I think some users place more importance on acquiring the maximum number of friends, versus protecting their personal privacy.  Some people accept every friend request they get, even if they don’t know the person.

On the national level, several agencies like the National Security Agency, US Army, US Navy, US Coast Guard, and The White House have embraced the social media movement, but some of the same rules as personal security apply; only basic information should be shared.

In 2010, the Department of Defense (DOD) developed the “Responsible and Effective Use of Internet-based Capabilities Policy” (see policy here: http://michaelvallez.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/DoDSocialMediaPolicy.pdf) to addresses the military’s use of sites such as:  Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and Twitter.  It was obvious to the DOD the important role that social media sites played in keeping soldiers connected to their families, however, they could not ignore the risk of TMI being made public.  In fact, one branch of the military, the Marines, decided there was too many risks associated with social media and banned the use of all sites from all US Marine network computers.

Although the military embraced the social media revolution and a policy for use was put into place, could they really have stopped the use of social media?  How could they even police it?  Trying to monitor the soldiers’ use of these sites would be very difficult, and would most likely take time away from more important things like protecting this country.

The point of all this is to use caution when blogging, posting, tweeting, texting, or video taping things.  Use common sense.  Remember, what you post on the internet, even if retracted, may come back to haunt you.  Think before you share TMI!

Source: http://michaelvallez.com/tag/social-media-and-national-security/