The Internet is Forever

I was watching a Criminal Minds episode (called "The Internet is Forever") this past weekend, and it was about a serial killer who used the internet to find victims on social networking sites. Super relevant considering our obsession with social media these days. And it actually had some alarming truth to it. Everyday people post their day by day events on Twitter or Facebook, or any social networking site of their choice. People can use sites like foursquare to 'check in' to different places in your city, or on Facebook use 'Places' a feature that lets you share where you are to friends. People post status's saying "going out of town for the weekend!!' or "heading off to Florida for some relaxation," Basically saying "Hey criminals I won't be home, come rob my house or abduct me and no one will know I'm gone." And that's what happened in the episode I watched... The serial killer chose girls he found on social networking sites, and once he abducted them he put their status as something along the lines that they were gonna be out of town. No one suspected their absence to be weird because of their post on their social networking site.

One of the victims mom made a comment about how she didn't know her daughter had gotten a promotion, when she asked her about it she told her "MOM, I posted that on my wall a week ago!" She assumed her mom had seen it on Facebook like everyone else.

I think we all forget the implications that can come from using social networking sites so frequently and sharing every bit of information of our lives on there. It can be a real safety issue, which I think the Criminal Minds episode was trying to convey. We're so naive that whatever we post on the internet can't harm us, but it can, and if fell into the wrong hands could be fatal. You would never put a sign on your house saying "Gone on Vacation," but people post status's on Facebook all the time about how they will be away for the weekend- leaving their house empty and unoccupied.

There are some really smart and technologically intelligent criminals and people out there who can hack computer systems and gain information about people and information that people intended to be private. But the internet is anything but private, despite all the security these sites lead you to believe they have... The internet is forever. Social networking sites and social media are not as private or safe as you may believe.