>> MySpace and More: Internet Safety Tips for Parents and Teens (02/2006)

Behind the Badge: A Message from Sheriff Ted Mink

The Sheriff's Office has noted a rise in cases involving children and Internet safety -- specifically the use of the Web site MySpace.com. Below is some information for parents and teens on the use of MySpace and other online communities.

MySpace
MySpace.com, billed as "a place for friends," is an online network that allows users to express themselves using text, sound and images -- for all the world to see. MySpace has amassed 47 million users since its inception in January 2004, and is adding 1 million users each week. The site, which is especially popular among teens and college students, is user-friendly and employs very little censorship, making it easy for teens to post anything about themselves on the Internet.

How It Works
A series of questions help members create a profile  including name, birthday, birthplace, height, and "best physical feature." Profiles often include full names, complete birth dates, current location, appearance, class schedules, parents' names and teens' cell phone numbers. Most profiles include a photo.

Users of the site can "browse" for members using criteria that includes gender, age, marital status, photos, body type, education level and zip code. (A recent "browse" search by Jefferson County Sheriff's Office investigators for "18-year-olds interested in dating/relationships in zip code 80401" turned up 139 members and their profiles.) Users can then read a member's personal blog (Web log) or contact a member directly via e-mail.

Dangers Involved
The danger of MySpace lies in some teens' willingness to communicate openly with people they don't know. When children are very young, we teach them not to talk to strangers. When they get older, many children don't realize that by posting personal information or blogging, they are talking to 700 million strangers.

Some profiles contain so much personal information that it becomes easy for a user to contact the member in person. In September 2005, a 37-year-old man used MySpace to exchange messages with a 16-year-old girl from Port Washington, N.Y., and sexually assaulted her outside her after-school job. She had listed where she worked on her MySpace profile.

Personal information online may also allow a criminal to steal a member's identity and apply for credit using his/her name.

Posting is Forever
It's important for teens to realize that anything they post online, while editable, can still be saved while it's live. Any user can save, keep or distribute photos or text from a Web page. This means that sexually suggestive photos, photos depicting drug use, threats against others or language indicating criminal behavior are all potentially permanent collector's items for their classmates, friends, enemies, parents, law enforcement and total strangers.

What Parents Can Do
Parents, please talk to your adolescents and teens about what information is not okay to share online. Inappropriate personal information may include photos, full names and addresses, phone numbers and school name. It may also include less obvious things, such as the name of their school team or the name of the mall near their house. Help your kids think about the implications of forgoing privacy and broadcasting their innermost thoughts.

MySpace is not the only venue for posts that can leave your teenager vulnerable. AOL, Friendster and Facebook are other online sites that allow users to easily create a profile and chat with strangers. Stay involved with your teens and ask them to show you what Web sites they're using, and how.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has many more useful Internet safety tips on its Web site at www.missingkids.com.

Behind the Badge Archive

Last Modified: May 20, 2009 04:12 PM