Privacy issues have been at the forefront of the news for the better part of the last year.  Facebook is the lightening rod for privacy because of their <fill in with your adjective of choice> privacy policies.

A recent article in ConsumerReports.org cites 7 Things to Stop Doing Now on Facebook.  Here’s a summary

1.  Stop Using a Weak Password
- with technology today, using something you can remember is no longer necessary

For Windows users – Use This

For Mac users – Use This

2. Stop Leaving Your Full Birth Date in Your Profile
- less information the less of a target to identity thieves

3. Stop Overlooking Useful Privacy Controls
- Okay, my pet peeve, people complaining about policies they haven’t read on a  site they don’t understand.  Go into your settings and familiarize yourself with every setting, if you’re not sure about a setting, turn it off until you are.

4. Stop Posting Your Child’s Name in a Caption
- #3 was about keeping your information safe from identity thieves.  This is about keeping your kids safe from predators.  Enough said.

5. Stop Mentioning You’ll Be Away from Home
- You might as well put your address in the announcement too and save the thief that extra minute it takes to look up your address.  If you didn’t know about (http://pleaserobme.com/) you may want to check it out.

6. Stop Letting Search Engines Find You (on Facebook)
- This one’s a little trickier, if you use Facebook strictly for personal reasons, then this makes sense, especially for your kids.  However, if you’re like me and use FB for business, you want to be ‘found’ on Facebook.  Your call.

7. Stop Allowing Youngsters to Use Facebook Unsupervised
- With Facebook, videos, YouTube or anything else, it’s a good idea to supervise and stay on top of what your kids are doing.  Perpetrators prey in privacy.

(Consumer Reports Article on Yahoo Here)