Internet Users Find it Easy to Talk to Strangers
Something that you learned as a child is soon forgotten by adults living and working online. "Don't talk to strangers!" The same users if approached on the street and asked for their name, birth date, and social security number would not react well to the request. However, when online many users give up this information without thinking twice about who they are sharing the information with and how it might to used. Alessandro Acquisti an academic researcher at Carnegie Mellon University discovered how easy it is to guess social security numbers using identifying information provided by users of social networking services.
How Privacy Vanishes Online
By STEVE LOHR, New York Times, March 16, 2010
