Tonight i went to go see the newly released movie Untraceable and i was rather surprised about how realistic this movie actually is. This movie opened my eyes to the danger of the internet. There are sick, sick people out there that would appear as normal people walking down the street in your hometown. Have you checked for sex offenders in your neighborhood? If not, you really should! you would be surprised at how many listings there are! Posting personal information online is not a smart idea.
Think about Myspace. I assume most people (ages 13-30) have a myspace page. Am i wrong? Think about your page for a second. Do you put your actually hometown on your page? What about under Interests; do you put "Cheering for the Jaguars" or "Jaguars Varsity Basketball Rocks!" or "Hanging out with my boyfriend Tony". Then there is the "about me" section. Do you have something like: "I'm 5'5 with brown hair. I love to hang out with my bff Jill and my boyfriend Tony. I live to shop! I'm also really into Country music. Talk to me on AIM my screen name is...."
So what i know so far; this girl is a cheerleader for the Jaguars, her boyfriend's name is Tony and her best friend is Jill. SHe's average height with brown hair. You could most likely find her at the Varsity Basketball Game on friday nights and at the mall on saturdays. Freaky huh? image how much more this guy could find out through her friend's profiles.... Think about it.
Okay, okay so you don't put you're real city down, but your friends like to leave you comments on your page. it's easy for someone to go to your friend's page and see what city they live in and what they like to do and what high school they go to. You might think you are being discrete but my friend, you're posting pictures of yourself online! Don't be surprised if you get jumped walking out to your car after swim practice. If someone wants to find you, they will especially with today's technology.
Get into the mind of crazy person... okay i know it's tough :) But look at it this way, You see a cute, young girl so you click her myspace page and look at her pictures, search through her friend list, and read all her comments. You would have a pretty good idea about who this person is because myspace gives everybody a freedom to express themselves through web design. What happens when this creeper wants to find you? all he has to know is what high school you go to and what activities you're in and he already has a start.
There is a simple solution. Have a stricter privacy setting. it's that simple. Or maybe you shouldn't have a myspace at all... better safe than sorry. Plus it's just a distraction to starting your english paper over McBeth anyways. :)
Don't put yourself out there! The internet is dangerous no matter how careful you are!
BE SAFE, DON'T MYSPACE
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
It's not just Myspace, it's anything on the internet, just like it's anything when you walk outside. It's a matter of using common sense and (if you're a parent) teaching your kids the Internet version of "don't talk to/take candy from strangers."
I find it ironic that people will have pen pals (in some cases, pen pals with prison inmates through some rehabilitation program), where you have an exact name and address, you probably often have a picture of the person, and know what school they go to, how old they are, what grade they're in, and far, far more information, and no one thinks twice about it. It's like people who are paranoid about shopping online because of identity theft, yet have no problem handing the waiter their credit card to take somewhere out of sight in the restaurant.
-- quis custodiet ipsos custodes?