Being online most of my waking hours, I often think of the identity trail I’m leaving around the web and the issues that has in terms of my privacy.

However, I’ve seldom stopped to think how my activities may affect the privacy of my nearest and dearest.

Tonight, as we in the newsroom sought to follow up on reports that named two girls who have been murdered in Ladywood, it was the latter that struck home.

One of the girls had kept her pictures and her profile public to the West Midlands network. Her sister had been more careful, but there was enough there (her profile pic) to identify her in her sibling’s pics. Family and friends were also listed publicly as “friends” in both profiles.

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