{"id":94098,"date":"2019-02-11T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T14:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/securingtomorrow.mcafee.com\/?p=94098"},"modified":"2025-06-09T19:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T02:18:11","slug":"personal-data-and-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/privacy-identity-protection\/personal-data-and-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue \u2013 What Does Your Personal Data Say About You?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A classic meet-cute \u2013 the moment where two people, destined to be together, meet for the first time. This rom-com cornerstone is turned on its head by Netflix\u2019s latest bingeable series \u201cYou.\u201d For those who have watched, we have learned two things. One, never trust someone who is overly protective of their basement. And two, in the era of social media and dating apps, it\u2019s incredibly easy to take advantage of the amount of personal data<\/a> consumers readily, and somewhat naively, share online and with the cloud every day.<\/p>\n

We first meet Joe Goldberg and Guinevere Beck \u2013 the show\u2019s lead characters \u2013 in a bookstore, she\u2019s looking for a book, he\u2019s a book clerk. They flirt, she buys a book, he learns her name. For all intents and purposes, this is where their story should end \u2013 but it doesn\u2019t. With a simple search of her name, Joe discovers the world of Guinevere Beck\u2019s social media channels, all conveniently set to public. And before we know it, Joe has made himself a figurative rear-window into Beck\u2019s life, which brings to light the dangers of social media and highlights how a lack of digital privacy could put users in situations of unnecessary risk. With this information on Beck, Joe soon becomes both a physical and digital stalker, even managing to steal her phone while trailing her one day, which as luck would have it, is not password protected. From there, Joe follows her every text, plan and move thanks to the cloud.<\/p>\n

Now, while Joe and Beck\u2019s situation is unique (and a tad dramatized), the amount of data exposed via their interactions could potentially occur through another romantic avenue \u2013 online dating. Many millennial couples meet on dating sites where users are invited to share personal anecdotes, answer questions, and post photos of themselves. The nature of these apps is to get to know a stranger better, but the amount of personal information we choose to share can create security risks. We have to be careful as the line between creepy and cute quickly blurs when users can access someone\u2019s every status update, tweet, and geotagged photo.<\/p>\n

Security Precautions<\/h2>\n

While \u201cYou\u201d is an extreme case of social media gone wrong, dating app, social media, and cloud usage are all very predominant in 2019. Therefore, if you\u2019re a digital user, be sure to consider these precautions:<\/p>\n