Think twice before using your real name and photo in an online account

Any information (like your name, photo, address, email, or phone number) that you give a 3rd party company can be exposed — it can be used, displayed, shared, released, lost, or stolen.

This post is also available as a podcast at this link.

Podcast: Think twice before using your real name and photo in an online account

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Last week, restaurant reservation service OpenTable announced that they would be adding users’ profile pictures and real names to reviews, both new and historical, starting in May. (Source: BleepingComputer and Cybernews)

This means that if you used your real name and photo in your OpenTable account and left a review, this information is about to be exposed publicly. OpenTable is likely doing this to increase the quality of the review, but it’s a great example of an important privacy principle: any information (like your name, photo, address, email, or phone number) that you give a third-party company can be exposed—it can be used, displayed, shared, released, lost, or stolen.

A company that has your information can decide to display it publicly (like OpenTable is doing in this case), but that company may share that information with other 3rd parties for profit (banks do this all the time unless you opt out).

Banks are hiding your privacy choices from you and adding lots of friction if you want to opt-out -- but you still should!

That company can get hacked, and its customer data can be stolen by hackers (who now have your name, photo, email, etc.).

My recommendation is simple: when signing up for online accounts, don’t use your real information!