Following an investigation into the privacy policies and practices of popular social network Facebook.com by the Canadian government, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has determined that Facebook does not meet Canada's privacy legislation requirements.

According to the recent ruling, Facebook must take greater responsibility for the personal information in its care in order to comply with Canadian privacy law. The investigation identified several areas where Facebook needs to better address privacy issues. Some of the suggestions included:

• Clearer Privacy Practices: The investigation found that the information Facebook provides about its privacy practices is often confusing or incomplete. For example, the “account settings” page describes how to deactivate accounts, but not how to delete them, which actually removes personal data from Facebook’s servers.
• More Transparency: The investigation found that Facebook needs to ensure that the social networking site’s nearly 12 million Canadian users have the information they need to make meaningful decisions about how widely they share personal information.
• Safeguards Against Outside Developers: The investigation found that Facebook lacks adequate safeguards to effectively restrict the more than 950,000 outside third-party developers in some 180 countries from accessing profile information.
• Releasing Data From Deactivated Accounts: The investigation also found that Facebook has a policy of indefinitely keeping the personal information of people who have deactivated their accounts, a violation of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), Canada’s private-sector privacy law.  

At the urging of Canadian authorities to ensure that they are in compliance with privacy law and ultimately show themselves as models of privacy, Facebook has agreed to adopt many of the recommendations stemming from the Privacy Commissioner’s investigation and has already simplified its privacy settings after calling them too complex.

MyBackgroundCheck.com – a pioneer in consumer requested background checks – helps consumers control their own personal information with “personal” background checks on themselves. To learn more how personal background checks help protect privacy, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. To follow us on Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

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According to a new survey from Internet security software provider Webroot, members of online social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter may be more vulnerable to identity theft, fraud, and financial loss than they realize.

The survey of over 1,100 members of popular social networks uncovered numerous risky behaviors by social networkers that put them at risk for identity theft and other crimes, including two-thirds of users knowingly or unknowingly sharing personal information with strangers. Among the highlights:

• Two-thirds of respondents don’t restrict any details of their personal profile from being visible through a public search engine like Google;
• Over half aren’t sure who can see their profile;
• About one third include at least three pieces of personally identifiable information (PII);
• Over one third use the same password across multiple sites; and
• One quarter accept “friend requests” from strangers.

In addition, three in ten people polled in the survey experienced a security attack through a social network in the past year, including identity theft, unauthorized password changes, and “friend in distress” money-stealing scams. The survey respondents who reported experiencing identity theft, a hijacked account, and unauthorized username or password changes may have been victimized by hackers who were able to access their profiles and guess their passwords based on the personal information they included.

The growth of social networks presents hackers with a huge identity theft target. The first step in stopping identity theft is to know what the threats are and how to prevent them. One step social networkers can take to avoid identity theft is closely monitoring their personal information – including criminal records and credit reports.

To help prevent identity theft, MyBackgroundCheck.com offers individuals a way to "self" background check themselves. With a MyBackgroundCheck.com account, members can keep a close eye on their personal information to make sure it stays current, secure, and accurate – and protected from identity theft.

For more information how self background checks can stop identity theft, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364.

tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com

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Until recently, Bozeman, Montana required jobseekers looking to work for the city to reveal all of their passwords and logins to social media networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube – and to email accounts such as Google and Yahoo – during background checks. News of the requirement created such a controversy over privacy rights that the city’s practice of reviewing information found on password-protected sites has since been suspended pending “a more comprehensive evaluation.”

According to reports, a news station in Montana was informed about Bozeman's background check policies from an anonymous individual. Jobseekers for Bozeman city posts were required to sign a background check waiver requiring applicants – in addition to undergoing usual criminal records search and past employment reviews – to list their involvement with online websites “to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.” The city form then offered three lines for applicants to list websites, their user names and login information, and their passwords.

Not surprisingly, the requirement raised questions concerning the privacy rights of applicants. Bozeman officials were receiving an e-mail a minute about the background check policy while an online poll tallying more than 5,000 votes found 98 percent of the respondents thought the policy was an invasion of privacy. In addition, Article 2, Section 10 of the Montana Constitution reads “the right of individual privacy is essential to the well-being of a free society and shall not be infringed without the showing of a compelling state interest.”

Initially, the Bozeman City Attorney was quoted as defending the background check policy: “We have positions ranging from fire and police, which require people of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here. So we do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the city.” The city has since ended the policy which “appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community.”

Regarding the city's former background check requirement, officials from online social networking website Facebook.com – which currently has more than 200 million active users worldwide – were quoted as saying the Bozeman policy “is a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which received feedback from users and was ultimately approved in a site-wide vote.” This proves once again that while some employers favor using social media sites for employment background checks, the process does come with certain risks and liabilities.

Whatever their opinion on privacy issues, jobseekers in today’s job market should expect a thorough background check that could include a criminal record search, resume validation, and even a credit report. While social networking sites probably should stay off limits, employers will have plenty of information left in the background check to ponder. Jobseekers should do their best to make sure that the information found in background check reports is current, accurate, and secure from identity theft.

One way to accomplish this goal is with a Self Background Check – a background check that is ordered by an individual and for the individual. Self background checks help jobseekers keep the information that will be viewed by potential employers mistake-proof and error-free. While most background check companies only service employers, MyBackgroundCheck.com specializes in personal background checks for individuals to use as jobseekers, tenants, students, volunteers, and everyday consumers. For more information on self background checks, please visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364.

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With “friends” like these – phishers on Facebook committing identity theft – who needs enemies?

Recently, identity thieves went on a “phishing” expedition on social networking site Facebook.com by using the “bait” of fake login pages to “catch” usernames and passwords. They spammed Facebook users through the site’s mail system with one-line messages containing a link to “fbaction.net,” a site that mimicked Facebook’s login screen. When users tried to login, the identity thieves stole their Facebook credentials, thus allowing them login as them and spam everyone on their Friend list.

This attack was only the latest on Facebook, and won’t be the last. Earlier this year, another Facebook user had his account hacked and his online identity stolen. Identity thieves changed his Facebook page to say he needed urgent help and hit up his friends for money. One “real” friend sent them over $1,000.

With over 66 million active users – and almost 250,000 new people signing up every day – Facebook is one of the fastest growing social networking websites in the world. At the same time, it is also a prime target for identity thieves and a variety of identity theft crimes. The format is ripe for phishers because Facebook regularly contacts its users through e-mail, and includes links in those e-mails to login pages. Phishers simply imitate Facebook e-mails and send users to counterfeit login pages that steal passwords.

Keeping your online identity and personal information secure and accurate is becoming more difficult in the Internet age. Security firms are seeing a sharp uptick in attacks on social networks, especially in the amount of phishing for login credentials. Individuals must constantly be on guard against identity theft.

The first step in protecting yourself is to protect your most sensitive personal information. Is it secure, current, and accurate? Now you can find out with a “personal” background check on yourself. While most background check companies only serve large companies, MyBackgroundCheck.com helps individuals who may want their own background checks to take control of their own personal information.

The company also provides background check services for online reputation management. By ordering your own social network or online dating background check and requesting that your new “friends” do the same, you validate both your identity and theirs, and can start your relationship with confidence.

MyBackgroundCheck.com also has recently added new features, resources, and interactivity to its site:

• New Features: Users can invite others to view background checks, share background checks with other network users, access recent activity easily, and send messages to others in network.
• New Resources: Frequently asked questions about background checks and legal issues with background checks.
• New Interactivity: Stay up to date with background check news, receive special offers, display your public profile, and share your ideas and suggestions on how to improve your user experience.

For more information on “personal” background checks, please visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364.

Contact Us @ MyBackgroundCheck.com

tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com