Facebook, MySpace caught releasing user data - Yahoo! News The title is a little accusatory, I know, but I just wanted people's attention drawn. This is something that has worried me for a long time, and I'd love to know what everyone else thinks of it. Ever wonder why your e-mail inbox has a "Spam" folder that fills up? Or why you get e-mails, and sometimes direct mail, from names and addresses you've never seen before? Or do you see advertisements that seem like they were made for you??? Our information is sold over the internet. Companies profit from selling your information to advertising agencies or someone who's trying to scam you. I hope everyone already knows this, but we need to be extremely careful with what we release to the infinite realm of the internet.
Just be mindful of what you put on there. I use a separate 'junk' email for networking sites that I never even check. They can't do a whole lot with your 'interests' except tailor advertisements towards you. Try and keep most of your private details off of such sites.
Weird when it was census time I got messages from reps telling me to put my heritage or what not. It was weird cuz how would they know I'm of Taiwanese decent if my name is a really common Chinese last name. I guess this would make sense.