How safe is the Internet?

In one word: not.

You may recall that I made an entry some months ago about our sauna experience. That was the first time the kids tried out the hot and steamy sauna.

I have removed the pictures from that blog entry. Several days ago, I noticed a referral to my blog from a photo library website. The key word search was for "family" and "sauna". Pictures shown from these words ranged from posed pictures by tourist-related websites to portable saunas. There were also pictures of naked women. 

A couple of weeks ago, a search for the words "naked", "kids" and "sauna" ended at my blog. The IP address is one of those phantom ones where you can't tell which country or computer the user is at. I cringed.

Any and all information posted on the Internet is available for all to see. There is really little one can do to stop people getting to know you better without you knowing.

For instance, some time ago, I was reading a popular Singapore blogger's blog and saw a picture of a cute girl. I clicked on it, thinking it might be the blogger's daughter, or it might be someone from his family. The click led me to a Flickr account of someone I know, someone who is probably not related to the blogger. 

I'd basically clicked on a Flickr advertisement,  gave Flickr some hits, brought the blogger some income and viewed my friends' photo album. My friends probably don't know I had seen their pics, or for that matter, anyone else who had intruded into their privacy.

Maybe someone can let Adrian and Jasmine know I think Cherise is pretty cute...

The sanctity of my privacy is the main reason I am not on Facebook or MySpace or other social networking sites. Thus, I hesitated to blog, and now that I do, I find myself thinking through sensitive issues and content that are appropriate for broadcast.

I often worry about identity fraud. I am careful about where and how I throw paper trash, making an effort to shred bank statements or personal documents. A credit card statement, for example, contains my name, address, card number and how much I had spent. A thief with intent can easily gather information from my trash. Combine these with information available on, for example, Facebook, and birth dates, spouses, family or work add on to the profile.

You might think I am paranoid but there are already cases of people who have lost their ID cards or passport and subsequently found themselves with empty bank accounts or changes to security systems linked to their ID numbers. In this age where personal information is easily available on the Internet, building a personal profile from scratch is not difficult.

So please be careful about what you post on the internet. This is advice I give myself.