In the News
Facebook makes the news again, and not for a good reason. In Facebook mistakenly deleted some people’s Live videos, Josh Constine at TechCrunch discusses a recent Facebook bug that deleted user data including videos. Constine explains that some videos were deleted permanently while others were able to be restored. Constine elaborated that user’s whose data was completely deleted were contacted by Facebook in an apology.
Our Take
By this point, almost everyone is aware of the dangers of data breaches and most people have heard about the controversy surrounding data misuse by tech giants and little men alike. However, people often do not realize that content that you share online whether in an account or on a social media platform could be erased completely by accident or by malicious intent. The saying ‘the internet is forever’ has been used by people for years to warn others against posting inappropriate content online, and while oversharing is an enormous concern with online safety practices, losing your data and your content can also be cause for concern. Especially with live videos where people often share important moments of their lives, losing that content could mean losing documentation of a milestone in one’s life.
Recommendations
So how can you protect your personal data when using online platforms?
- Always back up your data on an external device and save important content before you post
- Understand the risks of putting your personal information into the world, and only share what you have to
- Be aware of default settings on social media platforms that automatically back up photos, files, and other potentially sensitive information to the Cloud… Use privacy settings when they are available
- Pay special attention to sharing settings: ask yourself who has access to the content you are posting?