Is it safe to upload photos on the Social Networking Sites?

Hi AKD when you put something publicly is 100% not safe.

Anything open to public access is vulnerable to misuse.

Then aren't people going insane by uploading thousands of personal photos online?
Why are people being so ignorant?

People do input a lot of photos, personal and other, in social networking sites. But before we debate on this, we have to consider one fact. Social networking sites make people feel that they are living in the digital world. Just as we share some moments with our friends and talk about the various things which happened, like buying a new cellphone, wedding of some relatives, other ceremonies and buyings, we share the moments in the these sites. Now, pictures can be better than a thousand words, so people are encouraged to upload photos of such happenings. They used to worry about the same questions initially, but then, introduction of new laws, strengthening of cyber-cells and privacy settings(in Orkut, we can select who can see the albums and who cannot) strengthened their confidence (what some of us call carelessness). Still, people should be cautious when they add pictures. Also, everything is at the end-user's disposal after all!

AbraKaDabraThen aren't people going insane by uploading thousands of personal photos online?
Why are people being so ignorant?

Because most of the people are insane. It's a fact.

They used to worry about the same questions initially, but then, introduction of new laws, strengthening of cyber-cells and privacy settings(in Orkut, we can select who can see the albums and who cannot) strengthened their confidence (what some of us call carelessness)

How many people really understand the privacy settings? Those who care about Privacy of their own data, have abandoned social networks including Facebook. I think most of the people are simply ignorant. I've began believing that regular people will follow anything their friends do; without giving it their own thought. If 100 people are doing it; it's probably right - that's how most of the people think.

Why to make the data access public, use privacy setting and share it only with your friends.

The odd photo shouldnt matter to much, but when someone has albums and albums painting a picture of their life and habits then this information (coupled with any 'About me' info) is not particularly good. A facebook account may be locked down with super duper passwords and account settings set to super duper secure, but if one of their friends accounts gets hacked then the hacker is able to view all your albums and about me etc. The naughty hacker could then 'spear-phish' you (and them), by sending dodgy emails which are directly related to your habit as per your facebook... Maybe your wise to this and dont click 😀 but the naughty hacker could facebook or spearphish the hacked accounts other friends and get them to click dodgy stuff 😔

#-Link-Snipped-# Exactly. 👍

4M4NWhy to make the data access public, use privacy setting and share it only with your friends.

What happens if your friend's account gets hacked? He/She will get instant access to all the data you made visible to him/her through the privacy setting.
There is no such thing as full-proof privacy.

What is the use of sharing photos? Isn't it a waste?

Core of social network sites is sharing and which is shared with public .. No matter what privacy setting applied.If Mark Zukerberg's account can be hacked and make their photos to public then any account is vulnerable.
Biggest threat is apps which ask you to share your basic information and friends information and if any of your friend has accessed it then it is threat to you.
I think social network sites are just for fun, Do not mix it with private life.

AbraKaDabraThen aren't people going insane by uploading thousands of personal photos online?
Why are people being so ignorant?

Those who do usually dont know any better until they learn the hard way. Mostly its very young teenagers who refuse to see the risks involved. There are people with malicous intents out there so i vote 'not safe'. You have to be reasonable and exercise caution and control to avoid trouble. Thats why i choose not to be on fb
While i admit there are advantages i still dont wanna 😐

It is not safe to share any personal information online, be it photos / contact information / even you mood swings 😀mrgreen😀. I used to share photos on Facebook before but would restrict it to 'only friends' view. I stopped sharing photos on Facebook the day I found out that your privacy settings are vulnerable to change on their own. There is a 'view as' feature where you can view how your profile appears to your friends or to the public. I checked it and was shocked to see that some information set to 'only friends' view was visible to the 'public' as well. Lesson learnt!

Sharing photos 'online' is not safe in any way, be it through Social Networking Sites, emails or through other online photo sharing services. What if your email account is hacked?

I would say follow the old tradition of keeping photo albums at home. 😍 You can always show it to your friends when they come home. There are two advantages to it:
1) Your photos are safe and accessible only to you.
2) You can actually see whether your friends are really happy to see your photos or are they jealous of you. 😛 I mean you never know! Suppose you went abroad and you upload some photos. Your friends, especially girls, will be like 'aww!', 'so cute!' and blah blah blah; but they might actually be jealous of you. 😁

Ok if you can't maintain a photo album and can't afford / don't want to maintain one, you can always show your photos to your friends through Skype by allowing your friends to view your desktop while you keep doing next next. 👍

If you ever have to share photos through mails, then add a note to the recipient to delete the mail from Inbox and Trash. Obviously after viewing them. 😁 And you do the same too, delete from Sent Items and Trash. 😀

The_Big_KAnything open to public access is vulnerable to misuse.

Actually there's a contradictory in that. In a recent documentary I watched a person got his identity "stolen" while on a longer visit abroad. When he returned several companies conducting fraud was started in his own name. The essence of the story was that even though he stayed clear of any legal charges related to the misuse of his name angry people who lost money in the frauds discredited his name in various places on the internet. At the time the documentary was shot the man who had his name tarnished on the internet was unable to get any jobs he was qualified for (he had loads of experience and a degree in economics) because the future employers googled his name and found all the negative comments. He even warned employers of this told them his story and they believed he was innocent but still could not hire him because the hiring company could not risk being associated with the negative comments (even if false).

But here's the twist. If you have little or no presence on the web you are more vulnerable to having your name misused. You cannot prevent people from using your name on the web, but if you are out there with a strong presence "owning" your name it will be harder to discredit it. For example if I own or control the first ten hits on my name on google it's going to be harder for someone to have their page with my name highly visible on google. Or simply put it's easier for me to discredit some unknown person by providing false information than trying to tarnish a more famous person.

#-Link-Snipped-# : I agree with you. Having your profile on the Internet is a very good thing. By creating a profile page on Facebook or LinkedIn, people let the world know about themselves. The topic is focused on uploading photos on the Internet which isn't very safe. I wonder how useful FB profile is; but I know several recruiters who check candidates linkedin profile before taking the 'final decision' on hiring.

#-Link-Snipped-# you make some great points, but im still not convinced to have a profile online, espeacially not on FB. I still think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Beside stealing identities, people can tarnish your name on facebook as well by postig stuff on your wall. Of course this is from my limited knowledge, i am not FB savi like you guys 👎
Can someone explain to me about what linked in is about?

Linkedin is kind of Facebook of professionals . Now a days even companies look for linkedin profile before you get hired or some time they refer linked in profile to call you for interview.

Maybe people do this to share their happiness or funny things to get noticed. But I think it's unsafe to do this.

nothing is safe on the internet.
its quite easy to take photos from facebook .
i always advice my friends, girls especially, not to put any close pics of them

Obviously not. nothing is safe on the net, especially facebook. i give it a complete thumbsdown !

Social networking sites are perhaps incomplete without photo sharing. This is true that whatever is shared on internet for public view is never safe but as I feel, this media is used by majority of people with "who cares " attitude. Otherwise there can't be any need for sharing 100s of photographs.