Every year the Identity Theft Resource Center compiles a list of the biggest privacy trends and predictions.

This process takes place every year for two reasons:

1. One is so that we can help victims who call in with new problems.
2. The other is to help educate the public so that they may avoid becoming victims of the latest scams and crimes.

It is no surprise that our predictions for 2013 are heavy on technology.

More and more of our daily lives move online and we are increasingly aided by ever more rapidly advancing technology. The opportunities for identity thieves and scammers lie in this exciting sphere.

Here are the top three new problems we expect to see more of in 2013:

• Mobile Payments: Our wallets have already begun the transition from our back pockets into our smartphones and we expect this trend to continue. Though represents amazing new convenience, it will likely create new opportunity for those who would steal another person’s identity. Whether or not the Near Field Communication systems within our devices are safe, there are multiple other places that the system can leak information. Vendors will also have to create safety measures for their Near Field Communication systems and when multiple parties have to work together to create a seamless process, something is bound to go wrong until the technology develops more.
• Growth of Social Networking: Whether or not you are participating, social networking is exploding. The revolution has come very far from its humble beginnings and such sites as Friendster and MySpace. We expect this to continue and continue to influence every part of daily life in the immediate future (if it hasn’t already). From social multiplayer video games, to dating sites that broadcast your exact location, social networking is moving from a pastime to a sociological necessity. However, as we move towards constant connectivity, our privacy and private information is going to go out the window. We must learn the information that each of these new social networks broadcast and understand our privacy settings. Otherwise we will find ourselves in danger of exposing personal information or even bodily harm.
• Mac Attacks: Gone are the days when someone could point to the apple on their laptop and proudly state that they had no concern for malware. As Apple products have become a growing part of the electronic market, cybercriminals have taken aim at the brand. They have developed malware specific to the brand and have taken advantage of the fact that everyone believes their Apple product is immune. In 2013, we suspect these attacks will continue to grow and soon the Apple App Store will be as seedy as its competitors.

We live in very exciting times and it seems as though nothing is impossible when it comes to technological development.

However, as this technology creates ease in our daily lives it also leaves us vulnerable to identity theft as control of our information goes from our hands to our machines.

The article presented some interesting thoughts from Ella Hickson, a young playwright.

Ella notes she is more aware of the value of privacy and puts forth the idea that most of the younger generation thinks in terms of an “inner circle of friends” and “our public self.”

She further relates that we want this public self or persona out there “on billboards,” and that the whole point of this carefully constructed and controlled persona is that “it is seen.”

As she noted in the piece:

“I think the kind of ‘all hanging out there’ that we see on social networking sites, etc., is more duplicitous than it seems. The things that we have total access to are, of course, highly controlled by those that are putting it there for the most part. Very rarely is anything being posted ‘about’ someone that they aren’t posting themselves.”

I can’t disagree with Ella, and find her comments very insightful. Most postings on social networking sites are carefully controlled by the person who “owns” the page. We can think of this persona as our billboard where we advertise the self we want people to see, and what they get to see is very definitely filtered by what we want them to know about us. She is absolutely correct in that we don’t put our dirty laundry on Facebook, just the “good stuff.”

Where I see a flaw in her outlook on privacy is in a lack of knowledge about how many different types of exploits are used to trap personal information, both for “legitimate” marketing purposes, and by those who wish to do us harm.

It should be remembered that in regarding social media sites, we users are their income stream, not their customers. Their customers are the many entities that want to access our information for sales and marketing purposes. Mobile apps and social networking apps and games want access to our user information for a marketing reason.

And, many of those who would do us harm are very bright and capable, and find many ways to “social engineer” or otherwise exploit our public presence to gain information that is then used to harm us.

Preventing Online Crime

Stalking, identity theft, scams, and other criminal acts all succeed best when the perpetrator has knowledge of his or her intended victim. The fact that the information the criminal started with was our public information does not make it any less useful.

As an example, about a year ago I spent a few hours investigating geo-tagging,” which is where a cellphone or smartphone takes a photo and embeds the GPS location information directly in the image file. Most current phones with cameras have this ability, and each device may or may not be configured to geo-tag each photo.

Having read about this, I was curious to find out whether photos posted to Facebook would have the information, and whether it was difficult to use. I downloaded about 20 photos from a variety of friends’ Facebook pages. Most did not have the embedded location information, but four of them did.

Using that information and Google Maps, I was able in a few seconds to see the location, and even zoom in and look at the home involved.

That’s more than a little scary — that’s a great tool for a Facebook stalker.

The point I am making is not specific to this one type of exploit, but rather that we should all be very careful about having a complacent attitude regarding our privacy and security. Certainly there is a lot of our personal information “out there in the cloud,” and being used by a large variety of companies with which we have dealings.

But there is a significant area of “privacy responsibility” that resides directly with each individual. In that context, it is a really good idea for all of us, including twenty-something young adults, to also pay close attention to our public persona.

Ask anyone who has been denied a job because of party pictures shared publicly; that is not identity theft, per se, but it certainly can have an impact. The point is that collecting a variety of information about an individual is a fairly powerful way to build an identity profile, and what you publicly post is certainly a great starting point.

Due to rising levels of cyber surveillance in Sweden, the number of Swedes who have started using personal VPNs has jumped 40% in the past few years. In an attempt to anonymize their data and shield their online behavior, the number of Swedes using paid VPNs has risen from 500,000 to 700,000.

This free training will provide hands-on strategies for dealing with identity-theft crimes, recognizing prime targets, dealing with victims, individual and organized crime activity, investigative strategies, problems and approaches, as well as preventive measures.

As one of the summit sponsors said, “year after year, this crime continues to evolve and advanced education is absolutely essential to our front-line officials.”

According to FTC data, the total national identity-theft complaints received in 2011 were up 11% from the previous year. Florida leads the nation in identity theft complaints, according to the FTC, with twice as many complaints as 43 other states in 2011 and triple the complaints of more than two thirds of the rest of the country.

However, Virginia is not immune to identity-theft crimes, and law enforcement officials there say they have found these crimes span across many diverse jurisdictions. Because of varying identity theft laws state to state, professional summits can help raise more awareness.

The event, open to local, regional, and state law enforcement officials, will be held this Wednesday, March 21, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The location is the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy, 45299 Research Place in Ashburn.

Strict privacy settings are now the norm for social media users, regardless of age.

That’s just one of the results from an online sample of 1,021 Internet “experts” in a recent Pew Internet Project. The survey also showed that attention to privacy issues has increased while profile “pruning” and unfriending people is also on the rise.

Among the 63% of adults who maintain a social networking profile, survey results show that:

• 58% have the profile set to private so that only friends can see it.
• 19% set their profiles to partially private so that friends of friends or networks can view them.
• 20% say their main profile is completely public.

Among social network users who prune and manage their accounts, survey results show that:

• 63% have deleted people from their friends lists, up from 56% in 2009.
• 44% have deleted comments made by others on their profile
• 37% have removed their names from photos that were tagged to identify them.

Survey Says!

Want to take the survey yourself?

Here are just some of the 14 questions from the Pew Internet Project on social media privacy settings:

• Thinking now just about the social networking site profile you use most often, on which site is that profile located?
• Thinking just about the social networking site profile you use most often…is your profile set to public so that everyone can see it…is it partially private, so that friends of friends or your networks can see it…or is it private, so that only your friends can see?
• On this private profile you use most often, do you limit what certain friends can and cannot see, or can all your friends see the same thing?
• Overall, how difficult is it to manage the privacy controls on your profile? Is it very difficult, somewhat difficult, not too difficult, or not difficult at all?
• Do you ever set up your account so that it automatically includes your location on your posts?

For that last question, privacy advocates will be pleased to know the actual survey results overwhelmingly favored privacy: 84% said no, 14% said yes, and 2% did not know whether their posts automatically include their locations.

The article suggests that “reputation was once a qualitative measure of our behavior, vital but vague. Now it’s getting quantitative. Soon there is likely to be an actual numerical reputation score for each of us, like a FICO credit score but for our whole lives.”

The article shares some obvious truths — “Keeping the right company online, as off, is a good idea. What others say about you matters more and more” — to the more problematic — “Even if you’re not online much, your reputation there could still affect you elsewhere.”

The most significant theme was the convergence of mobile communications and the cloud. These trends are moving very fast individually and the synergy between them is accelerating them both. We will soon be accustomed to very large-scale capabilities which we will be carrying around in our pockets or purses.

Tablets, Tablets, Tablets

The exhibit floor seemed to me to be all about tablets, trinkets, and technology.

Every vendor was showing off their iPad catch-up device. I really felt sorry for them. They were all crying for attention with quasi-unique features, and the market seems to react with a yawn. If the feature is useful, the next iPad will have it next year anyway. (Apple is so strong that they did not even bother to show up.)

There were a huge number of little trinkets – phone accessories of every imaginable use, color, and shape. If you wanted a hot-pink cover for your iPhone, there were at least fifteen vendors anxious to sell you one. I am glad I am not in that business!

The heavy technology made for an odd contrast to the trinkets: all sorts of electronics, antennas, cabling systems, etc., needed to install and maintain all those cellphone networks.

Here are some notes and impressions:

• It was not until the third day of the conference that I heard someone mention voice communications. It was all data, data, data.
• Great question: Is there any expectation of privacy in the cloud?
• An interesting distinction: tablets as “couch companions” (used while sitting down), versus phones being “in your pocket” at all times. Also, phones are inherently personal, whereas tablets are more likely to be shared.
• Who should pay for the increasing costs of providing network capacity for just one company? Historically, consumers have paid for their bandwidth at a flat, monthly rate. Should some form of metered pricing become the norm? Or should the content providers pay?
• Whither Microsoft? They had to bribe Nokia to stay alive in the smartphone market and they do not even have an entry for tablets. No wonder their booth looked so lonely!
• Google knows more about you than your spouse does.

Technology Shaping Our World

The theme of the last day’s keynote address was new technologies being used to “shape our world.” The speakers included the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch and Biz Stone, from Twitter.

Some notes:

• Human Rights Watch uses wireless technology to keep in contact with their researchers in war zones, etc. They never lost contact with their people on the ground during the Egyptian revolution, despite Egyptian government efforts to block communications.
• If today’s wireless and web technology were available then, the Khmer Rouge would not have been able to murder a third of the people of Cambodia.
• Twitter’s many-to-many communication network makes it particularly good for public emergencies. In the recent Japan disaster, Twitter got word out first, SMS second (one-to-one), and phones (voice) third.

I found these trends rather inspiring, and certainly very well-timed, with the current revolutionary spirit rising in the world, as well as in light of the recent disasters in Japan. What tech trends do you envision “shaping our world” next? And if you were at CTIA, what were your impressions?

It’s OK if you haven’t heard of it and are stumped by how it all works. Essentially, it’s a world where users are guided only by their imagination, as the site encourages users to “do what you love, with the people you love, from anywhere in the world.”

Millions of people were once like you, arriving on “Welcome Island” a bit unsure but quickly learning the ropes of walking, zooming with their camera, chatting, standing, sitting, flying, and teleporting.

Shopper’s Paradise

And as people became acclimated to their new environment, they did what most of us in the “real world” do – they went shopping.

Second Life has become an economic hub whose marketplace supports millions of U.S. dollars in monthly transactions. The Second Life “Linden dollar” currency can be converted to U.S. dollars through online currency exchanges.

And Second Life sure knows how to appeal to its users’ diverse shopping tastes. From tech gadgets to clothing, to medieval weaponry to designer shoes, the options are limitless. If you can imagine it, chances are someone is selling it.

Corporate Branding Goes Virtual

But what exactly do companies do inside this 3-D virtual world? And why would a company choose to create a virtual storefront in Second Life?

Dozens of multinational corporations like IBM, Dell, and Verizon have flocked to Second Life. In addition to being part of a major economic hub, corporate executives enjoy maintaining their virtual presence because it enhances their brand while making tasks like job interviews, career fairs, teleconferences, and staff meetings more personal and productive. Not only is it more relaxing to be able to do this from the comfort of their desk or home, it further minimizes the logistics for employees to travel for meetings with clients or customers.

And for smaller companies, it offers an innovative branding solution to reach and attract repeat, loyal customers around the world.

PRIVATE WiFi™ Debuts in Second Life

And that’s part of the reason PRIVATE WiFi created a virtual presence in Second Life. As a small company dedicated to protecting consumers’ online privacy, it was a natural extension of the company’s goals and initiatives.

In honor of hitting a new milestone – PRIVATE WiFi celebrated its first marketplace purchase in Second Life — we recently chatted with Maryrose Roeckell, PRIVATE WiFi’s customer support manager and graphic designer. Maryrose is the woman responsible for creating PRIVATE WiFi’s strong virtual presence within Second Life, earning a “5-star” rating for the virtual storefront on Second Life’s famous marketplace.

Q: Tell us a little more about MD Properties.

A: MD Properties is owned by the avatar “Mary Dana” (aka, me, Maryrose Roeckell) and I have successfully launched a virtual presence for Private Communications Corp (which owns the PRIVATE WiFi software). MD Properties is one of the oldest real estate companies inside Second Life. They opened their doors in 2005 and have over 100 rental properties. As an MD property owner, I have participated as a Second Life Mentor, worked on Second Life’s famous CSI NY Project, and created one of the first Marriage Ceremony Groups inside Second Life. My MD Properties group has over 150 active members. They have their own website at http://marydanaproperties.weebly.com.

To access The MD Properties group page, visit http://world.secondlife.com/group/952eaf56-0bf7-2402-dc25-890ea3297309

Q: So this led to Private Communications Corp deciding to get in on the list of real-life businesses in Second Life?

A: Yes, exactly, the company wanted to conduct in-world operations along with other companies such as Dell, IBM, and Cisco. There was a period where real-life businesses were pulling out of Second Life, but more real-life businesses are slowly making their way back in due to niche marketing. Marketing a product inside Second Life is a lot different than marketing on the Internet. Once you realize that, your business will become successful in-world.

Q: Now we want to hear all about how you took Private Communications Corp.’s newly released software, PRIVATE WiFi, and created a virtual version of it for residents inside Second Life.

A. Since Second Life only allows “virtual products” (products that can only be used inside the game) to be up on their marketplace, I designed the software to be able to run inside Second Life. A virtual software box was created and the software is accessible through a “touch script.”

Q: How does this work for the typical buyer?

A. Well, this means that once the buyer obtains the software, he or she just takes it out of their inventory, and touches the software box to start the PRIVATE WiFi. This new virtual product will ensure safer Marketplace purchases, and more privacy playing on Second Life.

Q: What else do we need to know about finding the product or your profile?

A: Just click on the links below to check out my profile, CEO Kent Lawson’s profile, and also our storefront:

• Mary Dana’s profile:
  http://world.secondlife.com/resident/10b045da-381c-4939-a3b9-44401dd606ee
• Kent Lawson’s profile:
  https://my.secondlife.com/kent.brunsen
• PRIVATE WiFi SL url (Our SL store location from your browser)
  http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sipiwesk/221/226/73/?img=http%3A//www.privatewifi.com/images/logo3.png&title=Private%20WiFi