Sophos, an IT security company, performed an interesting experiment to learn more about identity theft. They created a fake profile for a frog named Freddy Staur, then sent out 200 friend requests. Eighty-seven Facebook users accepted Freddy’s friend request, 82 of whom also gave out identifying information such as their email addresses, phone numbers, photos of themselves, current addresses, education or workplace, mother’s maiden names or their full date of birth.
Given that 96% of teens use social networking programs like Facebook, Friendster, and MySpace, online privacy is becoming more of a concern among parents.
In response to their study, Sophos has created a best practices guide for how to use Facebook safely.
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