Safeguarding Your Online Dating Privacy

Virtual dating has become a very popular way of meeting a potential mate or adding some romance to your life. Like many other Internet activities that allow interaction with other human beings, there is a dark side and you need to practice some safety and privacy precautions when dating online.

You can't really be sure who you are interacting with online or what the person's intentions really are until you get to know that person. This takes time and doesn't happen over night. Never reveal your personal information too early. This includes your e-mail address, home address, home phone number, cell phone number or any other information that may identify you.

Privacy in Online Profiles
Many well meaning people feel that they need to fill in every blank in their online profile. Being open and honest is a good thing but it does not mean that you need to pack your profile with every single detail of your life. This is not the place for your birth date or Social Security Number. I have seen dating sites that claim that they need the member's Social Security Numbers and these are not secured in private areas. Ask questions before giving any Web site your Social Security Number and only do so if they use a secure server.

Be sure to read the privacy policy for any online dating sites you consider joining and know what they do with the information they collect.

Stalkers mine the information available in your online profile and use that to trace other information about you available online long before they contact you.

Privacy in E-mail Communications
The majority of people that I talk to are under the false impression that if they sign up with one of the free Web based e-mail providers, their privacy is guaranteed and personal information is safe and secure. That is far from true. Anyone can view full headers, find out who your ISP is, and once this information is known, they can go a step further and have your name, home address, and phone number within minutes. That's all the information they need to stalk you or steal your identity. Your IP address is the key to identifying you on the Internet.