Online Dating for the Privacy-Conscious

Online dating is about being open towards others, showing your true self to the world. Being overly exposed and trusting barely known strangers on the internet could be very dangerous. You can whisk, saying that your private information is all over the internet through sites like Facebook, Twitter etc. Still, you don’t want put your identity into wrong hands. Identity thefts and forged fake profiles can do a lot of harm to you, ruining your reputation, or getting your credit card information. That’s why you should make some privacy-conscious steps to ensure your own protection.

Unwanted exposure

It is highly recommended to not take the registration process on these sites lightly. It could seem that your dating profile is just one of your many accounts you use in a daily fashion. Still, you would be shocked about the security issues some dating sites had in the past years. For example, hackers got a hold of other people’s profile, and started sending messages on his or her behalf.

Some dating websites make dating profiles publicly available for anyone to view, even for users who are not logged into the dating site. Not only that, but they also make them accessible for strangers through a simple Google search, exposing your email address, location and other information to the public. Make sure to double-check your profile’s visibility settings to verify that your dating profile isn’t searchable through Google and other search engines, and consider making it available only for other daters who are logged in with their own profile. Don’t forget that you also state personal info about yourself like drinking and smoking habits, your profession and your location, which could be a gold mine for shameless marketing personnel.

The next step is to come up with a sonorous nickname for yourself. Honesty and openness is all good, but you shouldn’t jeopardize your own reputation by using your real name on a dating site. No to mention an interesting nickname creates a shroud of mystery around you that helps attracting potential dating partners. If you upload a photo, create a new one. A well-crafted photo grabs the attention of other users, but sharing the same picture you have on your Facebook account could be a means for others to track your true identity.

Our final advice on this topic is to always check your options with the dating site! Some of them offer an incognito mode, or a way to share delicate information only with specific people.