This content was created by Robert Siciliano. This content was uploaded by Robert Siciliano. This is a YouTube news segment (title: 'Students Photos Copied From Facebook for Porn Site, Advice from Expert @McAfeeConsumer') published February 15, 2012. The excerpt is a live-studio interview from the Beacon Hill studio with anchors Cindy and Shannon and guest Robert Siciliano (McAfee consultant and identity-theft expert). They discuss an investigation after Facebook profile pictures of local high school girls were uploaded to a pornographic website and Siciliano offers guidance for parents and users — privacy limits of Facebook profile photos, risks of sharing information, tips to monitor kids (friend their accounts, watch friends, Google searches), warning not to visit the porn site, and that no online settings are 100% secure.
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50, low 40s with sunshine on Saturday. Again, watching that storm. It will likely pass by us out to sea, but we'll of course keep you posted. And there you see a bit of a cool down by early next week. We'll see you again in just a couple minutes. Shannon, to you.
Alright, Cindy, thank you. As we've been reporting this morning, a website featuring pornography is at the center of an investigation after Facebook profile pictures of over a dozen local high school girls were uploaded to that site. Joining us now live from our Beacon Hill studio is Robert Siciliano, McAfee consultant and identity theft expert, with some guidance for parents and really all of us who use Facebook. Thanks for Thanks for being with us.
Thank you.
So we were just having this discussion here, and I don't think we can agree on what's true and what's not. Is there a way that you can keep your profile picture private completely?
No, not really. When you— when anybody searches for anybody's name, all their profile pictures show up. And when that happens, anybody can right-click, copy, paste, they can take a screenshot. So those pictures are pretty much public.
So for anybody that wants to avoid their profile picture being seen at all, Just don't have one, is that the answer to that, I guess?
Don't have a photograph on the web if you don't want anybody to have access to it.
Alright, so anything else on Facebook that can be used in this manner, or is it simply your profile picture? Are there other things that are exposed as well?
Well, once you friend anyone, all of your information— your name, sometimes your address, your phone number, your email address, your family address, maiden name— is all available to the world.
So, I guess the answer, I would think, would be kind of simple. You shouldn't friend people that you don't know. Would you say that?
Absolutely.
Alright, now we've got a few questions from our viewers I want to get to here. Elizabeth from Facebook is asking us, "I would like to know if there is a way to find out if my daughter's photo was stolen off of her Facebook. She's only 12.
I would like to make sure her photos were not on the pornographic website." Yeah, I first of all would not visit the pornographic website to begin with because that could get you in additional trouble. There could be malware, there could be the FBI recording your IP address if it's a child porn site. Really, all you can do is just search the name of the actual file. So if the name of the file is Mary, you search the name of the file, Mary.jpg, and see what shows up. You could search her name in Google, do a Google search and look for photos, and that may show up.
You know, I think— and I want to add this because Taisha mentioned this in her live report a little bit earlier— she said if you really have a direct question about this, you can call Charlton Police or the FBI and ask them as well.
Yeah.
All right, let's get to the next one here. Jesse on Twitter asks, Is there a foolproof way to monitor my kids? How do I know that they don't have a secret Facebook account that might not be secure?
Really good question. And that's just a matter of spending time on Facebook, getting to know it, getting to know their friends, friending their friends, and looking deeper into their profile or the web itself. Continually Google searching them, Google searching their friends. It's just a matter of being resilient.
Would you say that— 'cause I know there are a lot of people who are friends with their kids on Facebook, and that's a requirement for them in order to have a Facebook account. I recommend that.
Absolutely. You know, you want to know exactly what's going on in your child's digital lives because today, you know, they are talking to strangers at the age of 12 years old, whereas when, you know, I was 12, we didn't talk to strangers. You know, you just— you were in your house, you're in your local neighborhood. Now strangers are all over the world and they have access to your child's bedroom.
Let me ask you real quick, by the way, what's the minimum age on Facebook? You're supposed to be how old?
I believe it's 13 or 14. 13.
Okay. One more quick question here from our Facebook fan Annie. She says, We think settings are secure. Are they ever really secure?
There's no such thing as 100% security on the web. It's the wild, wild web, and whatever you post online is repeatable. Anything digital is repeatable. That means it can be copied, it can be pasted, it can be put anywhere. And as a parent, you would not, you know, take photocopies of your child's pictures and all of their information and put it into a file folder and hand it out randomly to strangers. But you're doing that when you allow them to have a Facebook profile.
Very good advice. Robert Siciliano, thank you so much for joining us from our Beacon Hill studio. We appreciate it.
