FACEBOOK Warnings

Last week, Consumer Reports.org released the following information:

1. Do NOT use a weak password even with numbers at the end of it. Instead mix upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols. It should have at least 8 letters in it. It is also a great idea to incorporate numbers, characters, etc somewhere in the middle of the password.

2. Do NOT leave your full birthdate in your profile. This provides a GREAT target out there for people who want to steal your identity for such things as how to get your credit card, bank account information, etc. JUst include your birth month and date--no years. It might even be a better idea if you just keep your birthdate off of your profile.

3. Only post your photos for your family and absolute friends to see--no others.

4. Do NOT post your child's name in photo tags or captions for others to see. If someone else posts that information about your child, DELETE IT IMMEDIATELY!

5. To help protect and to prevent strangers from accessing your page on FACEBOOK, go to the SEARCH section of FACEBOOK's privacy controls. Be sure that the box for public search results is NOT.

6. Don't allow youngsters to use FACEBOOK when unsupervised. Legally, no one under the age of 13 is allowed to use it but many do anyway. To provide oversight, list YOUR email address as the contact for their account so that you can receive their notifications and monitor their activities.

7. Don't ever mention on FACEBOOK that you will not be at home during a certain period of time. Otherwise, burglars, etc will regard this as an open-door invitation to come on in.

VLE-B