Nationwide, campus security and law enforcement are increasingly finding that information posted to Facebook and similar web sites can lead to incidents of stalking, identity theft, and harassment.  Safety & Security encourages members of the campus community to exercise caution when posting information to such sites.

If you choose to use such sites, the February 2006 edition of Campus Security Report suggests the following helpful hints and guidelines:

• Be aware of the scope of the Web.  Even "secure" sites can easily be hacked, so information you give out may be open to the public.
  
  
• Create passwords that people can't easily figure out.  Use complex alphanumeric passwords and make sure they are unrelated to any information you have posted.
  
  
• Post information that's already available in the public domain.  Just because there's a field for something doesn't mean it has to be filled in.  Post general details rather than specifics.
  
  
• Change privacy settings to keep your identity safe. The default setting is usually to make all the information available to everyone.  Limit the information available such as who can see your information in searches, who can see your profiles and contact information and profile details.
  
  

Below find links regarding privacy information and selected excerpts from these pages.

Myspace's policy is at: http://collect.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=misc.privacy:

Please note that we cannot guarantee the security of member account information. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of member information at any time For any additional information about the security measures we use on MySpace.com, please contact us at privacy@myspace.com"

Facebook's policy is at:  http://www.facebook.com/policy.php

Facebook openly admits to sharing member information with third parties, and they will collect information about you from other sources such as newspapers and instant messaging services, regardless of whether you use the site or not.

Xanga's policy is at:  http://help.xanga.com/about/privacypolicy.htm

Xanga allows you to mark certain parts of your online profile public and private but guard against relying on their word that materials marked "private" indeed stay private.

Before joining any social networking site read through the site's privacy and security policy thoroughly before you join and start posting personal information.