Protecting your identity online – ICO top tips

• A blog is for life… remember you risk leaving a permanent electronic footprint. If you don’t think you’ll want it to exist somewhere in 10 years time, don’t post it
• Privacy is precious – choose sites that give you plenty of control over who can find your profile and how much information they can see. Read privacy policies and understand how sites will use your details
• Personal safety first – don’t allow people to work out your ‘real life’ location e.g. your place and hours of work. Your personal safety offline could be affected by what you tell people online
• Password protected – change your passwords regularly, don’t use obvious words like your pet’s name and don’t use the same passwords on social networking sites as you do for things like internet banking - see the informatin sheet on passwords
• Address aware – use a separate email address for social networking and one that doesn’t give your year of birth or ideally, your full name
• Reputation is everything – what seems funny to you and your friends now might be not be to your teachers, university admissions tutor or prospective employer – or to you in years to come