Giving our privacy away?

I try not to post too much of my work-stuff here (yes i know and fail :) but this strikes me as of a lot of relevance here..

"The ICO has just issued a warning about the dangers for youth of giving away personal data which might well be used for identity theft on sites like MySpace, Facebook, etc.

"As many as four and a half million* young people (71%) would not want a
college, university or potential employer to conduct an internet search on
them unless they could first remove content from social networking sites,
according to new research by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
But almost six in 10 have never considered that what they put online now
might be permanent and could be accessed years into the future.

The research findings are unveiled as the ICO launches a new website at
www.ico.gov.uk/youngpeople to help young people understand their
information rights. The first section contains tips and advice on safe social
networking.

As well as not thinking ahead before posting information on the web, the
survey of Britons aged 14-21** also revealed that youngsters’ online
behaviour is a gift to potential fraudsters. Two thirds (eight in 10 girls aged 16-
17) accept people they don’t know as ‘friends’ on social networking sites and
over half leave parts of their profile public specifically to attract new people.
More than seven in 10 are not concerned that their personal profile can be
viewed by strangers and 7% don’t think privacy settings are important and
actively want everyone to see their full profile. "

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/pressreleases/2007/social_networking_press_release.pdf