The perils of poor Facebook personal information security habits

From the Granite State, comes this reminder to practice good social networking information security:

NASHUA, N.H. -- Nashua police are crediting an alert off-duty police officer who heard fireworks with cracking a burglary ring that targeted homes known to be empty because of Facebook postings.

Police said they recovered between $100,000 and $200,000 worth of stolen property as a result of the investigation.

Police said there were 50 home burglaries in the city in August. Investigators said the suspects used social networking sites such as Facebook to identify victims who posted online that they would not be home at a certain time. [emphasis added]

"Be careful of what you post on these social networking sites," said Capt. Ron Dickerson. "We know for a fact that some of these players, some of these criminals, were looking on these sites and identifying their targets through these social networking sites." ...

Read the rest here. A good reminder to be careful what you share online, and to make sure your Facebooking, MySpaceing, blogging, and Twittering spouses, kids, relatives, friends, and neighbors don't broadcast to the whole (online) world your out-of-town / business / vacation plans. Especially if your precise home location is easily ascertainable.