A new to me Pinterest wrinkle.

Classically Casual

It must be evident to all that I spend way too much time on Pinterest. But as it's matured, I enjoy it more and more.

So now I've had a new experience. This morning I pinned a photo of a pair of designer sandals from a shopping site onto one of my boards.

When I returned from my walk, there was an email from Pinterest that someone had commented on the pin. And it was from the shopping site! It was a perfectly innocuous comment, but if nothing else is a reminder to me of all the "eyes" that are watching everything on the Internet.

I'm struggling at the moment with the vulnerability issue I guess. Both the Target & Nieman Marcus hackings potentially effected me, (If Amazon or Nordie's get hacked, I might as well just declare bankruptcy!)

I love the Internet & all it can do, But I wish the public (me) was a little more aware & educated of the risks as technology evolves.

Any words of advice?

12 years ago

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6 replies

Latest reply was from Mander

MsMary

Veteran

I assume everything I post on the internet is public, so something like that wouldn't faze me.

I do think it's a good idea to know how the sites you visit work. Pinterest, for example, definitely leaves a trail because it's designed to leave a trail. You pin something and it links back to where you got it. And I think it's reasonable to assume it works the other way, too, as you found out.

I think of it as similar to the paper junk mail you get when you sign up for a discount program somewhere, or make a charitable donation, or something similar. To me the upside of the internet is more than worth it. I'm just very vanilla about what I post and, as I've said before, try to make sure anything I post is something I would be okay with seeing on the front page of the newspaper tomorrow morning.

12 years ago

Anonymous

I agree with MaryK. You have to assume that nothing is private and everything is tracked, in my opinion. Even then, I occasionally get caught by surprise and I'm part of a demographic that really should know better!

12 years ago

Classically Casual

Veteran

Thanks, MaryK & Stacey M, for your wise words. MaryK, your junk mail analogy is especially helpful. I like the illusion of privacy. I guess being reminded that it's not there ever is a good wake up call for me.

12 years ago

Laurinda

Veteran

I maintain separate accounts/emails for different public sites, none of which are my real identity. I'm a bit paranoid from a past cyberstalking experience, but I want to be able to disengage if I have to. The way the net is going it looks like I may soon not even have that option, I stopped commenting on Huffington Post when they dropped anonymous posting and started linking everything to Facebook (which I also have strong opinions about). On another site I stopped commenting when I realized they were publishing our IP numbers with the comments. Sometimes I am willing to pay the price of lack of privacy, other times not. [And there is some disconcerting stuff for anyone out with a smart phone, think Minority Report "Hello Mr. Yakamoto and welcome back to the GAP!".]

ETA: Bless Angie & Greg for keeping YLF a positive and non-invasive social site!

12 years ago

deb

Veteran

I view Pinterest as no different than Facebook.

12 years ago

Mander

(website)

Veteran

It was probably just a coincidence that either the photo you pinned turned up in their search results. Pinterest is a lot less anonymous and private than, say, Facebook, since the whole point is to promote things that you pin. For me, I don't really care if a future employer discovers that I went through a phase of liking houndstooth everything, or that I have an ugly fireplace that I'm thinking of painting black, or that I'm always seeing craft ideas that would be interesting.

I do have a private board for things that I am actually considering buying, though. No sense advertising them until I get mine -- don't want it to sell out!

12 years ago

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