Topic 2: Reflection

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Venezia and Sheryl. I have learnt so much from your comments and other blog posts. 

Response to Venezia:

I am glad we both share the same thought! Yeah, even though i do not post such funny images or snippets of myself, i do not feel comfortable when I know my bosses have access to my personal account. I also agree that showing the less serious side of us may affect on our impressions towards the higher management. 

Interesting. I have never used or even thought of using pseudonyms. It is a good way of maintaining anonymity as the name is not real. However, I think we should limit on the number of pseudonyms used as I feel that it is sort of "cheating" people. The pseudonym you came up with could be the real name for someone out there and it could confuse that person's friends. Using disposable emails is one good method as well though I have never done it before. I prefer to give as little information as possible to switching between multiple email accounts at the same time. It might get confusing after some time, especially, when I forget my password for an account...

And yes, I agree that it is not easy to lower the cyber crime rate, however, we should play a part in keeping ourselves safe. Educating people about cyber safety would be a great help. In Singapore schools, the students are given talks about cyber safety annually. 

Response to Sheryl:

Thank you Sheryl. The link (https://www.eff.org/wp/effs-top-12-ways-protect-your-online-privacy) has been very useful. 

Point No.2 " Turn on cookie notices in your Web browser, and/or use cookie management software or infomediaries." has caught my attention as I never took notice of the cookies in my computer. I am aware that it can be either good or bad but I have never thought of tracking the suspicious cookies as it does not seem as harmful as spywares or malware. Furthermore, I always click on the "allow cookies" button as I want to access the page. 

Point No. 12 "Use encryption!" is also something I have not done before. Probably that is because my files does not require top security as of now. However, I might need to use encryption when in the future to keep company files and information protected. 

On the other hand, I came across Siew Woon's stand on a single identity. I agree that having a single identity allows the employers to better evaluate a person's overall as employment should not be solely based on the profile created just for professional use. The employee should be recruited for his skills, and also personality.

Overall, I realize that most of us agree on having multiple online identities and I too still prefer to have multiple online identities.

Blog posts I've commented on:
Venezia
Sheryl

Topic 2: Managing Your Online Identity

Discuss the arguments for and against having more than one online identity.

In today's digital world, there are many social media sites that are being introduced frequently. Over the years, I created accounts in all these social media sites and thus, lead to multiple identities. 

Everyone has different sides on them on different social networking sites. The most obvious one would be the professional and social. On LinkedIn, a person sets up a formal and professional profile and the information revealed are the birth name, company that the individual is currently or had worked for, and achievements. This portrays the person's capabilities to do a job well. Many companies go on LinkedIn to source for suitable candidates for specific roles. On the other hand, social media sites portray a more laid back and fun side of the individual, apart from the potential work abilities. On sites like Facebook, thoughts, photos, and other forms of updates of a person can be seen. It shows a different personality from the studious and professional mode from the profile on LinkedIn. 

Furthermore, I feel that separating work and social is better as the person has a certain level of privacy. Sometimes, there are things that you would not want to share with your bosses. It could be the little rants over the overwhelming workload given or photos of you at the  nightclub. The individual can choose what not to and to share. 

Although I agree with having multiple online identities, some identities could be for bad purposes and have destructive impacts, such as, bullying and impersonation of individual(s).

During my high school days, I have encountered my classmates being harassed or bullied on Facebook. Some of them adds one another randomly by looking at the profile pictures which caused them to add anonymous strangers into their group of friends where they share information to. Some of these accounts are hoax and are created for bad purposes. Their profile picture, name, and all the information they share are not real as they are used to only create a positive image to their "friends" added. 

  (source: http://www.hitekpals.com/cyber-attack-social-engineering-predictions-for-2014/)

There are some that impersonates someone you know and adds you. These impersonators gather information from you - could be company information, or personal information, to hack into your company database using your information, or personal accounts. 
Thus, everyone should be careful in adding a friend on social media sites. 

Overall, I support having multiple online identities but there could be some that abuse it, so we need to be careful with strangers online as we do not know them personally. Any information from them might not be reliable. 

Referencing

Alex Masters (2001) Identity on the Internet: The pros and cons of anonymity. [Online]
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/09/19/identity-on-the-internet-the-pros-and-cons-of-anonymity/

The Guardian (2012) Online Identity: Is authencity or anonymity more important? [Online]
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/apr/19/online-identity-authenticity-anonymity