The Word on Internet Privacy

You know, the other day I was talking to my mom in line at Walmart. She's going to be ordering some things from a catalog for us and I told her my credit card number and gave her that funny number from the back of it. She wrote it all down with my billing address and read it back to me out loud to make sure we got it right. The cashier suddenly told me that we should be more careful with our personal information. I can't believe she was so rude! Mom and I were having a private conversation and this complete stranger just butted into our business. Walmart really needs to retrain their employees..

That's a pretty ludicrous scenario, isn't it? Nobody in their right mind would read their credit card info outloud to another person in line at Walmart or any other public place. Not unless they were looking to be ripped off.

We've been taught to guard our personal information and most of us think we're good at protecting our privacy. But every day people share personal details in their status updates on Facebook and Twitter, allowing the whole world to read about who we're dating, how upset we are with our boss and when we are going to be away from home.

The media is full of stories about social media invading our privacy, but the real problem is people not protecting their personal information. The internet is a web of connections. Information posted in one spot is accessible from many different pathways. Just as we know better than to write down our PIN number and store it in our wallet with our debit card, we should all be wary of posting any information online that could be exploited and cause us harm.

True privacy controls are not settings on our social media accounts. They are the discretion and caution we should all exercise when in any public forum whether it be real or virtual.