Learn how to protect your identity

Jul 20, 2007 19:06 GMT  ·  By

If you're one of those users who are continuously uploading clips on YouTube, then you should read Google's security advises concerning the video platform. Because YouTube provides one click access to a considerable amount of clips, most of them being created at home, it's very important to avoid publishing videos containing private details about the users such as telephone number or address information. In order to help the uploaders learn about those matters, YouTube created a special page that teaches users how to remain secure while creating and uploading videos on the Google product.

"If you do post public videos, make sure there isn't anything in them that could help a stranger figure out who you are or where you live. Personal information like your telephone number or home address should NEVER be shared with other users. Watch out for things like number plates on cars or images of the outside of your house which might accidentally appear in the background of a video and help a stranger to track you down," it is mentioned on the page.

If you remember a test launched some time ago, a YouTube user revealed something that is quite relevant when it comes to private details published on the video platform. He created a clip that showed nothing more than a simple telephone number. After some time, he received a huge number of phone calls as well as SMS messages so it's quite obvious that publishing a phone number into a YouTube clip can be very dangerous and besides all, very annoying.

"Whether it's a flame war, cyber bullying or people just being mean, comments can get nasty sometimes. When you post a video you can choose whether you want to let people comment on your videos at all. If someone leaves a comment on your video that is rude or bothers you, you can always delete the comment. Alternatively, you can select the "comments with approval" option when you upload a video. This means that you get to approve or remove people's comments before they appear on the site," it is also mentioned.

If you want to read the entire security advisory, you should click on this link to go over to YouTube's official security page.