All:
Pointer to article:
http://www.computerworld.com/careertopics/careers/recruiting/story/0,10801,104653,00.html
Kobielus kommentary:
This sentence caught my eye: “Social networking technology helps connect friends, business partners and others using a variety of tools such as search and data mining.”
“And others...tools...search…data mining.” I’ll bet “social software” is a major tool for identity theft, facilitated by identity mining that’s enabled through indiscriminate linking at the behest of faux friends and business acquaintances. LinkedIn, ZeroDegrees, Ryze, etc—-I’m not singling any of them out—the whole phenomenon is highly suspect.
What I’ve noticed about “social software” is that, after the first few weeks/months of everybody linking to people they actually know, one starts to receive a greater volume of invites from people you’ve never heard of. Which, of course, assumes that these people are using their actual names. All of which makes you wonder what these “people” expect to get from linking to you, and you to them.
But of course…your resume, with all your personal data arranged neatly, spelled correctly, and packed efficiently into a scannable data structure. I’ve not heard of any incidents of identity theft in the world of “social software,” but it just seems like it’s ripe for the plucking. Imagine all of the potential passwords—and password clues—available to the industrious identity miner who’s latched onto your resume. Among other things, they have your name, address, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, possibly your IM addresses, and so forth. If nothing else, great fodder for the spammers. Or the spammers in league with the identity thieves.
Folks should think long and hard before putting out another resume on one of these “services.” There are ways to network yourself that don’t expose you to rampant identity mining. Cold calls (or “cold e-mails”), for example. Yeah, that’s a lonely game, but it beats the sort of bogus connections you forge on these social networks.
Life’s too full of vacuous relationships already. Real people who suck you dry and never spend any quality time. Why add to the emptiness?
Jim
