Online Privacy and MSN live Messenger
Posted by: Yusuf Salwati
Each time we sign up for online services (e-mails, online messaging, social networks, etc) we are required to click on “agree” button to accept the terms and conditions of the service which part of it is about online privacy.
How many of us ever read these statements, I don’t think I ever read them even once. But do online service providers really protect our privacy online? What promoted me to write this article is a recent incident I had with Microsoft online messenger; I have been using this service for years to communicate with relatives and friends.
On their last update to the service to “live messenger” they have added many new features and tons of information about you that could be shared and seen by others, not only that, anyone who could see your profile online can invite you to join their network and I found myself added to the network of some “party girl who is looking for fun online” and each time I chat with a friend or relative, they can see that girl on my network under a message that displays on their messenger window.
Now, for the unsuspected users, if your profile is set to public view in live messenger, the whole world can see some of your online activities and even to see who is in your live messenger contact list, I found that very disturbing and a total privacy invasion.
There are many options under live messenger where you can chose who to share your online activities with, but for many users, there are not even aware where to go to find these options, they are not even aware that some or most of their information that they used to setup live messenger is already public on the web.


