Rent-to-own News - Business beware: many social networks provide companies with user information

Guest editorial by Gene Sacco, President of DATATrue, LLC

The recent Facebook debacle that involved a hacker obtaining and selling the log-in information of thousands of users has again placed social network security standards in the spotlight. As more Americans become aware of identity theft risks, more websites are being urged to provide tighter security systems to protect their users' privacy.

However, social networks may be providing advertising companies with user information that could increase their risk of falling victim to identity theft. When social network users click on advertisements through their site, whether it be Facebook, MySpace or Twitter, the advertiser is able to see the "referrer" website.

Most businesses use referrer websites as a way to find out where customer traffic is coming from. For example, when a consumer performs a search through Google, each site they click on will know which website they came from because Google includes a search phrase in their URL.

With social networking sites this becomes more complicated because many include identifying information, such as the user's name or ID in the actual URL. This allows advertisers the opportunity to "scrub" the member's profile, which may contain identifying information such as their name, date of birth, address and current city. While seemingly harmless these pieces of information can and have been used in the past to commit identity theft.

Many times advertisers don’t always know they are receiving this information and do not plan to use it. Some social networking sites view the problem as a natural risk one takes when using the internet.

Social networking sites, at one point marketed to college students and younger adults are now open to users of all ages and have expanded to include members globally. While they are a good way to keep in touch with friends and networking, they can jeopardize a user's personal information if the user does not safeguard their account. Many criminals we hear in recent news are utilizing social networking sites to obtain personal information by posing as a friend or updating viruses masked as messages, videos or links. Social Networking is part of the today’s American way and DATATrue customers should always be vigilant and verify customer personal information.