It’s easy to forget how much risk we all take on while looking for love on our favorite app. It makes it too easy for stalkers to find you and lets people keep trying to hang around in your life even after you’ve made it clear you’re not interested. Here are a few signs that your online dating privacy could be setting you up for trouble.
- Your dating site’s privacy policy – Have you read it? Of course not. Who reads those things? Well, included in the middle of all that legal speak is how they’ll use your data, and what data they’re collecting about you. If it makes you uncomfortable, find a new site.
- C is for Cookie – In that privacy policy, the site will tell you how it uses cookies. They could be tracking everything from your social media usage to your online shopping.
- You’ve always used the same username – Especially on different sites. If you have the same username everywhere, one quick Google search could tell someone everything they want to know about you…even if you don’t want them to know.
- Default settings – Fun fact: the default settings in your favorite dating site could be spreading you everywhere. John Skorick, the founder of MyAKA, says, “For example, Match.com puts customers in Member Spotlight as a default,” which highlights them on the site “but also in Match.com ads across sites like Facebook.”
- Using your personal email – This is an easy one. Set up a free email account for your dating site. If things get creepy, you can just delete the account and move on. Also, a Google search can tell them a lot about you using just your email address.
- Using the same pics everywhere – If you’re using your Insta pics on a dating site, a quick Google Images search could lead to that guy you blocked on the dating site for being a jerk turning up in your Insta comments.
Source: YourTango