Dating and Facebook: the Privacy Risk
On Facebook, most people use their real names. It is said that almost 90 percent of all Facebook members can be identified by their real name. The more information they provide on Facebook and other social networks, forums and other websites, the more they risk their privacy.
No matter? You do not need any privacy. All your friends know already that you are a gay, married Christian fundamentalist? If so, it is fine – otherwise, take care. Just in case you have a lot of photos on your social network profile, and a photo on a gay dating side as well, you can be identified. Of course, it´s quite the same when you are married and you look for a mistress or a dominatrix. How can this be done? The secret is “facial recognition“ – software to find similar faces by comparing photos. It´s not just a theory. A scientist, Alessandro Acquisti, found out that he was able to identify 4.900 of 5.800 Dating profiles just by comparing them with FACEBOOK and LinkedIn Photos.
So please take care. Maybe it is not so defamatory for women in her late forties to find am man in the World Wide Web, but what if she is married, looking for a “much younger guy“ or for a “guy, girl or couple“? To avoid any trouble, it is best …
– Not to have any social network profile.
– Not to use any photos, use drawings instead.
– To use retouched photos only instead of original photos.
What do you think? In addition, where would you place your photo-shopped portrait? On the dating site or on your social network site?
Recently, I wrote a similar blog post in German Language
See also: Online Personal Watch (English) and MacWold (english)
