Keep your information to yourself

Information harvested from 270,000 Facebook users enticed into completing a personality quiz also gave a researcher access to data from 50 million of their unknowing friends.

Combined with geographical information and files from sources such as credit agencies and loyalty cards the likes and dislikes of Facebook’s users suddenly became a personality treasure trove for organisations keen to target and influence.

Facebook took action in 2015 to close some of the cracks through which the data was leaking but, if there is one certainty, it is that other online fault lines either already exist or soon will.

Whether it is via Facebook, Google, Twitter, TripAdvisor or Instagram, people must be conscious that with each post, picture, like or dislike they are painting an image for advertisers, political parties and anybody willing to pay for the collated information.

Many in Guernsey will shrug that off. Who cares who knows which is their favourite football club or what restaurant they like to eat at. They have nothing to hide.

But it is not always easy to predict how large amounts of historical data will affect you. In years to come it might damage your credit rating or your chances of getting that perfect job.

And, as this latest case shows, it may not be you who is affected but your friends as well.

Online security is about more than just making your password complicated.

It is about considering how all of the various strands of information left online can be woven together by unscrupulous businesses across the world. Not all will just want to sell you a new shirt or perfume.

That applies in this Bailiwick as much as anywhere else. If anything, the islands’ size and unusual names make us an easy target.

As does the trusting nature of islanders who, until recently, were happy to leave their back doors unlocked.

Being too free with online information is the online equivalent of leaving your car parked with the keys dangling from the ignition.

It might be OK – it might not.