Of course, it’s not just my Facebook that they’re monitoring – it’s yours too. It’s everyone’s. And, it’s not just Facebook; it’s just about every social networking site you can think of. It’s every word that you write to your friends and family. It’s every negative comment you make about government policies that you’ve disagreed with. All of these things are potentially being compiled and stored for some unknown future use. Do you feel violated yet? The truth is, we don’t even know who is accessing this information. I can only imagine that a computer scans everything and a person only reads what has been filtered by keywords. But who is that person? It’s not a police officer or a senator. Maybe an FBI or CIA agent?

I completely understand that this may sound paranoid, but in a day and age where new, beefier versions of things like the Patriot Act and NDAA keep popping up month after month, I think it may just be high time that we all make it a habit to be a little paranoid over this ever more prevalent Big Brother attitude that the government brings toward us.

I also understand that people may not care about such practices. They may think, “I’m not doing anything wrong, so I have nothing to worry about.”

It’s important to remember that the government is meant to be of the people and for the people — not the other way around. I think we need to focus on building better tools to monitor our government rather than allowing our government to monitor us with increased ease.

While people are very unhappy about this new privacy policy, Google is attempting to convince its users that these changes are good because, for example, they will allow Google to inform someone if they are going to be late for a scheduled meeting that the user made note of on their Google calendar. They will also be able to track people’s locations and monitor the traffic around them.

People who have the Android phone are even more up in arms about this new privacy policy because the Android does not allow Google+ users to log out of the program. This means Google will know if someone searches for information online, looks up directions to their destination or views a video online. You just can’t escape the all-seeing eye of the big “G.”

Google is not content to just be a browser and email service. They want to create new social media outlets for their users because they have seen how social media is taking off, and they want in on the action. Many people are concerned that this means privacy on the Internet is pretty much a thing of the past. Even though the world is very social these days, some people just want to keep to themselves, and almost no one wants to have everything they do and see online tracked by Google.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all unfolds, and whether Google ends up making adjustments to their policy based on customer feedback.

The popularity of social media is continually expanding. Today, people now use social media websites for so much more than connecting with friends or sharing holiday pictures. Social media sites are now legitimate business and personal outlets for expression. These websites offer a fast and easy way to connect with others. You can use it to promote your business, blog or personal agenda; the key, however, is to be genuine in all of your online pursuits.

If you’re looking to be a success in your social media endeavors, you have to be yourself. There are so many stories about people who have tried to make up a persona because they think it’ll benefit them more than the truth, but these people almost always fall flat on their faces and end up being a laughing stock that no one can take seriously. Don’t be that guy.

If you’re trying to meet new people, don’t try to impress them by lying about your profession. If you’re a paralegal, don’t masquerade as a lawyer. Others who may show an interest in you will quickly recede into the background if it seems that you are unable to follow through on your representation of yourself.

Being yourself in cyber space or  is the key to making long-lasting connections. Whether those connections are personal friends or potential clients, you want to make sure that people feel they can trust you; the only way to achieve that is through being genuine. Never share anything too personal (you still want to protect your privacy), but be very careful not to misrepresent yourself.

Some people might tell you that you’re just being paranoid; millions of people shop online safely every day. But, (on the other hand) about 10 million Americans are victims of identity fraud every single year. The biggest challenge law enforcement agents tackle in the fight against identity theft is public education. There are many things you can do to ensure you’re browsing safely online – especially when you’re ready to turn personal information over to a company through its website.

That might be why the world’s largest search engine, Google, has launched an awareness campaign to help people understand how and why they need to protect their privacy and identity online. Known as their “Good to Know” campaign, Google has spent millions of dollars to spread the word about protecting yourself from identity theft.

The ads will start to appear this coming Tuesday in many newspapers and billboards across the country. The ads point out some of the basic things you can do to protect yourself against malicious attackers.

Some ads will cover how to protect your passwords and others will focus on knowing who you’re communicating with online.

While Google is spending millions of dollars on public service ads across the nation, the ad buy raises some other questions about Google’s business practices. It’s no secret that Google makes its (vast amounts of) money off of following your browsing habits (and serving ads based on that info). There’s no doubt that their ads offer a vital public service, but I can’t help but see the slight hypocritical nature of this. Protect yourself from everyone else; just let us know what you’re doing. On the plus side, Google isn’t tracking your online habits for a malicious reason – but, others may be. Look out for the ads and take note. You just might learn something about how to protect your information from hackers.

Sadly, social sites have become notorious for selling their user’s information to companies that want to advertise en masse. It’s against the law, and both Facebook and Google have been fined over the misuse of user’s information. However, you might inadvertently be allowing access to sensitive information through your privacy settings.

Whether signing up for an email account or buying something online, your private information is being delivered from your home to what you hope is a responsible source. Sites that receive secure transactions will have a green block before the “http.” If they do not, they are not SSL protected (meaning they are not secure). Never use a site to make a purchase that does not use SSL. The information on your bank account and anything else you offered up might just be accessible to someone with malicious intent.

If there’s one thing you should know about communicating with people on social networks, it’s this: Never ever announce that you’re leaving your home or going on vacation. This is an open invitation for someone to break into your home. Say something like “Headed to the city with hubby so he can finally get that full-sleeve tattoo” and you’re telling everyone that your house will be empty for hours.

Although many people don’t list their physical location on Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus, simple logic and reasoning can lead a crook straight to your home. Keep your privacy settings high and never divulge sensitive information about you, your family, or your activities in an email or on a social site.

1. Sharing on Facebook – You can share content with everyone (default), friends of friends (and friends), or only your friends. The latter is the most private setting you can have. That’s what mine is set at. It means that someone has to be your Facebook friend in order to see your pictures, wall posts or info. If you’d like to cast a wider net, you can also allow anyone who is friends with your friends to see your stuff. Get to these settings by going to Account>Privacy Settings>Sharing on Facebook.
2. Allowing Friends to Check You in to Places – If you’re a very private person, you probably don’t want to give your friends the ability to tell everyone on Facebook where you are at the moment. If you don’t want to let them check you in to places, you can disable this feature. Follow the path above to get to Sharing on Facebook, and then go to Customize Settings>Friends can check me in to Places.
3. Stop Facebook from Following You Around the Web – You know how your Facebook account seems to follow you everywhere these days. You can comment with Facebook or easily share a page. The Instant Personalization feature is where this type of interaction is controlled. If you don’t want the world knowing you shared a page or like an article, you can disable Instant Personalization by going to Privacy Settings>Apps and Websites>Instant Personalization.

Some people get really agitated by this while others don’t let it bother them. If you’re among those who are really irked by the idea of someone tracking your online habits, there are options. There are a few companies that have popped up to fill this need and rescue you from having large corporations looking over your shoulder as you surf the web. Sure, you could try not to allow cookies on your browser, but you’d have trouble shopping online and doing a lot of other things too. It’s actually much more efficient to download a program that will block these tracking cookies for you.

Ghostery is among the best-known of these companies. I’m not endorsing it over any of the others, but this is the one I downloaded myself. It’s only been a few days, but it’s working great so far. Every time I visit a site, I see a message containing all of the tracking cookies that have been blocked. It pops up in the upper right-hand corner, and it goes away upon clicking. I could probably disable the notification completely, if I really wanted to. Some of the others that you might want to check out are Adblock Plus, Do Not Track Plus, and TrackerBlock.

Although most people, myself included, believe that online piracy should be stopped, they also believe that this bill isn’t the answer. This is a highly charged issue with both sides getting very heated. It’ll be interesting to see what happens. The public has shown that they are absolutely against this bill by withdrawing their business from Godaddy, after the company publicly supported SOPA. After realizing how much support of the bill affected its bottom line, the company published a statement saying, essentially, that it has changed its mind. Godaddy no longer supports SOPA (publicly).

Many people also worry that this bill will allow law enforcement to go after those who have illegally downloaded movies and music (much like the Napster debacle). To shed some light on the subject, a Russian web developer, Ter-Saakov, launched a site that shows everything that has been downloaded from a specific IP address (yours). When you visit YouHaveDownloaded.com, you’ll be presented with a message that says “Hi Pirate!” or “Hi, we have no records on you.” Fortunately, I got the latter. Phew.

In developing this site, he wanted to illustrate that the authorities have the same ability to see what you’ve downloaded as he does. Although Ter-Saakov wants to point out that you are stealing when you download illegally, and people are watching, he doesn’t feel that individuals should be prosecuted for the offense. He feels, as many do, that the sites hosting the torrents should be prosecuted and shut down. If there were a bill that allowed for this to happen, as opposed to penalizing individuals and file-sharing sites (like Facebook), many more people would be in favor. We don’t like thieves, but we don’t want our freedom to suffer in order to stop them.

As it stands right now, your Facebook friends probably aren’t going to go digging through pages and pages of posts on your profile to see what you said two years ago. But with the new timeline, they won’t have to. That’s why Facebook is giving users a seven day period to clean up their accounts and delete posts or pictures that they don’t want highlighted.

Unfortunately, I know a lot of people who aren’t doing that. They say they don’t have time or they just don’t care, but I know they’ve posted things that could come back to bite them later on. Even within my own family, I can see how this layout change could cause issues. A few of my family members had a major argument last year and brought a lot (way too much) of it to Facebook. That’s never a good idea, but I guess sometimes you make poor decisions when things get heated. Just the way it is. The problem is that these posts are now going to get brought back to the surface again for everyone to see (again). Things that were said that shouldn’t have been said will cause hurt feelings all over again, sparking new drama.

I’m not saying that I’m against the new timeline format, but I think more guidance should be given about the importance of cleaning up your pages. Remember, in the past, when you friended someone, you didn’t have to worry much about what you posted six months prior. So you posted some embarrassing stuff, later got a great job as an accountant and friended one of your firm’s partners. He wasn’t going to dig back and check it out. So, if you made a comment that they would have seen as offensive, it’s not going to affect them. But, now that you have a timeline, you need to clean that stuff up.

They say that you shouldn’t post things online that you wouldn’t want the world to see, but that’s especially true on Facebook now. To avoid any unnecessary drama, review your entire timeline before your account takes on the new look. Maybe you “don’t have the time,” but other people will. It’s really important to know what you’re putting out there.

Fortunately, most of us use common sense and we get by without offending too many people. But, if you want to use social media to its fullest, you have to do more than just “not offend people.” You have to engage and interact – you have to form legitimate relationships. And, even though these relationships are taking place in a virtual environment, the people behind the computers are very real. You always have to remember that and treat them as such.

Here are a few guidelines for minding your manners on social media sites:

1. Don’t ignore anyone unless you have good reason. On social media sites, strangers may reach out to you. Don’t ignore them just because you don’t know who they are. You don’t have to let them into your world, but at least find out who they are before making that call. If it’s obviously a spammer, feel free to ignore it. If someone is harassing you, don’t encourage them. Otherwise, try to get to know people before you decide they’re not worthy of your time.
2. Value the time of your peers. If someone has let you into their world, don’t bombard them with self-promoting messages. They don’t want to see that stuff in their feed any more than you do.
3. Be real. People aren’t stupid. If you’re pretending to be a doctor, but you’re really a medical assistant, people will eventually figure you out. Once they do, you’ll be labeled as a liar and you’ll have trouble making any real connections online. Things like this spread like wildfire across the interwebs.
4. Reciprocate. Whenever anyone gives you online props, go ahead and reciprocate. If they give you Klout, thank them publicly on Twitter or just give them Klout back. They’re reaching out and trying to form a mutually beneficial relationship with you. When others see that you’re a reciprocator, they’re likely to want to get in on the action. Just don’t always expect that others will reciprocate when you do something nice for them. It’s a lot like real life that way.
5. Watch your language. When you communicate online, you’re dealing with a large audience. That doesn’t mean you can’t ever use a cuss word, but it does mean you should be a little careful about offending people. You have to strike a delicate balance between being real to yourself and not offending other people, but it can usually be done.