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The Unintended Consequences of Sharing on the Web

A few days ago it was reported that information from fitness trackers being uploaded to the Strava App may have exposed sensitive details about US military bases around the world.  Since this time the military has made a statement denying that anything useful was gained from the heat maps available online.  However they are reviewing their policies regarding GPS fitness devices.

An important takeaway from this and other similar scenarios is that the personal data we expose on the internet is often seemingly innocent and harmless.  Yet, there may be ways it can be used that we can’t immediately foresee. Nearly 60 percent of US adults are on Facebook.  The average number of friends per user on Facebook is 338.  How many of these people do you actually know or know well enough to share personal information with?  A study from Oxford University came to the conclusion that less than 3% of Facebook friends were friends in the true sense of the word.  Most of the rest are casual  acquaintances, that person you ran into at a party, the guy who runs beside you on the treadmill at the gym, and your Mom’s 2nd cousin who’ve you’ve never actually met.  Yet we happily tell them all where we live, when we are on vacation, what our kids look like, etc.  You can read this article for more insight into the dangers of oversharing.

Have you noticed how a lot of apps allow you to share back to Facebook?  It’s so easy to do, just click a link and your last trek through the neighborhood is there for all of the world to admire.   In the next few years we will see an onslaught of smart home devices.  Things that are compatible with Google Home and Alexa.  I’m sure there will be a way to let everyone on social media know exactly what temperature our refrigerator cools down to.  Just remember to think twice about unintended consequences before you do.