Enjoy the Silence

I'm taking some steps to make this blog (and my life on the interwebs in general) more private. I've taken the link off my facebook, removed my name and picture, and set my fb account to private. Privacy concerns have been raised by research we are conducting at CMU:

(read about some of it in this super-short and interesting article)

Basically, people are very likely to divulge information in an informal setting (such as facebook and blogs) when privacy issues are not salient, and will be more forthcoming than they would be in a formal setting where information is more likely to be protected. So, as counterintuitive as that seems, we are readily giving information where it is least safe. And you might think that the sorts of things that you give away in the internet are harmless, but that is not the case. For example, much of this generation's social security numbers were created using a simple algorithm taking solely into account birthdate and birthplace- so if one knows just that information, it is only too easy to steal someone's identity. And if that's not enough, all kinds of people are looking at your facebook, from grad schools to potential employers to your parents. And they WILL judge you based on it. Not to make you paranoid or anything, but it's probably a good idea to keep your information a little safer.