Users Beware. The "Man" is on Facebook, MySpace, Etc

By Alicia Cruz

Senior writer

Theblackurbantimes

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times, people: Be careful about what you say and post on the internet because it could come back to bite you. The Wall Stree Journal is offering lessons on this very subject this week.

Let's say you owe back child support, taxes or owe a debt to the Department of Treasury. Well, their agents (collectors) are able to use the info you post on your facebook, myspace or any other social network site to track you down and collect their debt. The article stated that "In Nebraska, 'agents are not allowed to 'friend' someone using false information,' for example. But anything posted publicly -- which is the default for anything posted on MySpace -- can be used against you in the quest to collect on your tax bill."
So users beware. The "man" is now socuring social networking sites in order to catch you. A prime example of the lengths they will go to: "One deejay posted on his MySpace page that he'd be working at an upcoming party. Agents decided to crash it to collect their cash. Another man announced he was moving back to his home town and published the name of his new boss. Finding him to collect on an old tax bill was a matter of ease."

And in case you've never Googled your own name, try it. You will be quite surprised at what comes up and how much of your personal info is out there for anyone to view. Sites like Yahoo ask you if you'd like to make your personal information searchable by users. I would highly recommend that you check "No."

Facebook makes it easy to find users by their first names and I won't even go into Google or other search engines.

Just be careful what you choose to make available to the public and be even more careful at what you choose to post from blurbs to photos. Uncle Same, The "man" and a lot of other people are watching.