Be wary of online social networking sites

The use of postings from social networking websites as evidence in court cases is prompting people to think twice before revealing personal information on the likes of Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

Those saucy pictures and intimate confessions are being taken down and used in evidence in ways that those who posted them never dreamed of.

In the US a sex-assault victim seeking compensation faced the prospect of her MySpace and Facebook pages being produced in court.

A driver whose car was involved in a fatal accident found his MySpace postings – including "I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a drunkaholic" – forming part of the prosecution's case.

And thousands of social networking site users have lost their jobs – or failed to secure new ones – because of their pages' contents.
Police, colleges and schools monitor MySpace and Facebook pages for what they deem to be inappropriate content. Online security holes and users' naivete are combining to cause privacy breaches and identity theft, leading to a conclusion that online social networking can seriously damage your life.

Firms have resorted to mass sacking after discovering "unhealthy" remarks from their staff on public blogs. Public figures such as the Florida sheriff's deputy had to hand over his badge after his page on MySpace revealed his heavy drinking and fascination with women.

Another worker was fired for saying on Facebook that working for one firm was "crap". A teacher at a Catholic school was fired after he declared that he was not straight on his MySpace page. Staff at a grocery chain were fired for their "negative comments" on Facebook.

An intern at a bank told his employers he had missed work because of a family emergency – but his Facebook page revealed he had, in reality, been cavorting in drag at a Hallowe'en party.

Personal pages are going public and employers and authorities are monitoring what people imagined were private websites – and using the contents against them.

Last September David Rice, Britain's second-ranked tennis junior, had his funding pulled and coaching suspended after the Lawn Tennis Association found pictures of him drinking and partying. And last summer the Oxford University authorities disciplined students after pictures of them dousing each other in shaving foam, flour and silly string during post-exam revelry were found on their Facebook pages.

The websites are a regular source of information for potential employers and universities in the West. A survey released by UK-based company Viadeo revealed that 62 per cent of British employers checked the Facebook, MySpace and Bebo pages of some applicants and a quarter had rejected candidates as a result. Reasons given by employers included concerns about alcohol abuse, ethics and a lack of respect.

In America the monitoring of social networking sites for content that may interest employers and officialdom is now so routine that software is being put on the market that will automate the process. Sure enough, software to try to defeat the snoops is also emerging – offering the prospect of a privacy "arms race" in future.

Experts say many social networking site users are too innocent and recommend that, rather than considering what information constitutes a risk, it is better to think, 'Who am I sharing this information with?' If you are not sure about the identity of a third party on a website then you have to ask yourself if you would make particular information available in an offline context.

Few people bother to read the fine print of a site's agreement – and using one can have the most unexpected consequences.

In one case a man in the US was ordered by magistrates not to contact his estranged wife. But when he joined Facebook an automatic "friend request" was sent to everyone on his e-mail list – including his former partner. She contacted police and the man was arrested and jailed for 10 days. Going by the trends of unexpected incidents the first Facebook or Bebo divorce case cannot be far away. Although MySpace, Facebook and Bebo do what they can to protect the privacy of their users, there is a constant stream of security breaches related to the applications placed on the sites. These number in the tens of thousands and most have been devised, not by corporations, but by individuals. Virtually all of them require a user to sign various bits of personal information in return for obtaining the application – and all an identity thief needs is a name, address, date of birth and parent's or sibling's name.

Meanwhile the use of social networking pages to perpetrate serious sexual and other crimes is well known.

A Facebook official said: "We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good-faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards."

Social network sites have brought pleasure to millions – but if present trends continue they could soon be bringing them unexpected and unpleasant shocks.