Wednesday, March 30, 2016

How Much Control Do We Have Over Our Identity?

Hi. It's me. Your friendly neighborhood normal Mormon girl. 

... OR AM I?
Who's to say I'm not who I say I am on Facebook? 
And who's to say I haven't been hacked and there's another one of me somewhere in Europe?

It happens.

The most recent software update for the Apple Iphone, makes it impossible for even Apple to access your device without a security code. This makes it difficult, but not impossible for hackers to potentially steal your identity by accessing your device.
The Apple experience is designed to focus on our emotions and enhance our lifestyle; passions, dreams, empowerment, and imagination. They do this by providing sleek designs and easy-to-use devices. 

I believe that when new technology came out, and styles changed in the beginning of the 2000's, we became more worldly. Worldly in the way of liking nice stuff. It can boost our confidence, sets us apart from others, and makes us unique. Especially in the past two years have we been able to get away with any hairstyle, fashion sense, and activities we want. This growing empowerment has made us emotionally attached to our sense of identity as interpreted by other people, especially on social media.


"In a day and age where your online presence increasingly defines you to the rest of the world, hackers with access to your accounts can cause untold damage to both your personal and professional life. Back in 2011, Facebook admitted that it was the target of 600,000 cyber-attacks every day.” (time.com)

People know this. They know that threats are out there, yet we are still putting our whole selves out there. Why? Like have you seen Catfish?





Did you know that there is a special troll army in Moscow, that is specifically hired at a salary of $400,000/month to wage a massive disinformation campaign? They pump out 135 comments a shift, and are reportedly required to post 50 news articles while maintaining at least six Facebook and ten twitter accounts. (time.com)

The FBI used a mystery hacker to get into an Apple-secured phone. A security system that is seemingly impenetrable.


I'll let you think about that for a moment.

Not only are we vulnerable to misinformation and life-ruining hackers, we are vulnerable to the chance our identity is stolen. Not only through social media, but through credit card and social security theft. So what are you going to do to protect yourself.

  1. Don't carry around your social security card.
  2. Limit what you share on Facebook... do yourself a favor and go and delete embarrassing posts/pictures from 2007. Interviewers not only look at your LinkedIn profile, but your Facebook profile as well when deciding to hire you.
  3. Change your passwords at least once a month- for everything. Especially accounts that hold credit card information (like Amazon).
  4. Become a person outside of the internet. See, I have a problem where I am hilarious online because I feel more empowered on it. I still need to work on becoming a human outside of Facebook, and I am willing to admit that.
  5. Continue to network outside and on social media, but be on the lookout for the sketchy people. Like, duh. I'm just here to inform, not convince you to drop social media... because we all know that you're not going to.







6 comments:

  1. That was wonderfully entertaining to read, but there were a few parts that felt almost like they were birdwalks. Also lots of available opportunites to put in hyperlinks.

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  2. I think you have a really strong argument. I found myself wanting to protect myself more on social media and other places on other websites. One thing I would say is that it that your post is a little too text-heavy. I think a picture more, or a link to a website could shorten things a little.

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  3. Agreeing with the above comments, I would add in a few more pictures and links. I liked how organized your post was though and felt that it was very easy/fun to read. Maybe you could elaborate a bit more on the show Catfish? I think that would help people understand how contemporary this issue is. Then, instead of posting the meme you could post a picture of Nev and Max or something instead because I think that would be a bit more effective than the meme. Last, I would just be aware that technically, we are not your audience so the "mormon girl" part in the beginning might be super confusing to the rest of your readers and they will be wondering the whole time how that fits in. Just a suggestion though!

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  4. Very catchy post! Your visual design drew my eye to key points that helped me become drawn into your topic without even knowing anything about it. Good relevance to todays issues-I had an emotional attachment to this topic after reading your comments on Apple's new software update.

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  5. This was a really eye catching post! I was just scrolling through all of the other posts and then suddenly I realized that I was reading your entire post. Great work!

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  6. this was a really catchy and really informative post! I do agree however that it could use some break up of all the text. Maybe a picture or video could help. I also think it should be a bit more uniform, the text across the whole post varies in size, etc. Overall, the content is wonderful! The form could just use a little tweaking.

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