The Internet has created many benefits, such as allowing people to create their own online businesses and build passive income. The negative side of the Internet is that it has made it easier to stalk, dox, and take photos online. Cyber safety is especially a concern for women. Here is an introduction to online safety for single women.
An Introduction To Online Safety For Single Women
What Is Online Safety?
Online security requires ensuring your digital identity and information are posted or available online. It includes highly technical skills, such as white hat hacking and awareness of what you post online. As the Internet connects more people today, people can access a wide range of information. For single women, cyber harassment ranges from cyberstalking to inappropriate use of photos online.
Facebook And Instagram (Meta)
Facebook, now called Meta, became popular because it became a place for people to connect and share what was going on in their lives. That also meant that people shared their locations, videos, and photos.
Limit who you allow to see your posts, from text to photos. Turning your account private will give you the most privacy. You can then decide who can share your posts outside of your Facebook friends.
For Twitter, set your account to private. Another option is limiting the number of people who can respond to your tweet. The three possibilities are that anyone can reply, only the people you follow, or you may mention in a Tweet.
LinkedIn is a professional social media network. It combines a media feed with professional networking. LinkedIn allows you to change the visibility of your email address. This will help prevent people from soliciting your emails if they are publicly available. LinkedIn also allows users to make their accounts private. The account will then only be able to be viewed by LinkedIn users who are logged in rather than being found on the Internet if someone searches your name.
Protecting Photos Online
Photos and videos can be downloaded if they are publicly available online. Turn the settings to private or delete them on social media accounts.
EXIF Data
Data is in everything. That is true of the photos that you take with your phone. EXIF data includes the following after a picture is taken:
- Where the photo was taken.
- The time the photo was taken.
- The camera setting used on the camera when a photo was taken.
- The device name
- The serial number of the camera
You can read this article by How-To Geek to learn how to remove EXIF and geotagging information from your photos.
Solutions
Limit or do not post photos or videos online. That may be difficult, though, if you are an influencer.
Do not share the actual location of where you live or your location when you are out, and do not check in on apps. If you decide to post pictures or videos, remove the EXIF and geotagging data.
Only interact with people you have built trust with. Be careful of the images, videos, and content you share online. It will likely be there forever, and traces may still be found even if deleted.
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12 Ways Popular Culture Idealizes Marriage
Summary
The Internet has many great uses, but one of its significant downsides, especially for single women, is cyberstalking and being sexually harassed online. This is just an introduction for single women on online safety. Single women can research and learn more about the technical aspects of online safety and cybersecurity from specialized websites.
