Challenge:  How can we ensure the safety of ourselves and others online?

Why This is Important:  Our group chose to research this topic because we know how popular websites, like Facebook and MySpace, are among IA students and teenagers in general.  We know that there are significant dangers in posting certain information on the internet, yet people continue to post a little too much.  Not everyone is aware of how permanent internet posts are. We don’t mean to scare anyone. Using the internet should be fun; however, with its constant free flow of information, there are certain precautions that need to be taken. We believe that if teenagers are better informed about the internet, they will be able to make safer choices.  They will take better consideration when they go to post new pictures or other information on their personal pages.

A tiger is hunting down a gazelle along the Serengeti. The tiger waits until the gazelle is unaware of his predator. Then he pounces and lands on his prey. Now imagine that among the internet. Internet predators are hidden behind false names, and false people. These false identities can range from little children, to teens, to adults and can prey on anyone that they find interesting. 

According to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 93 percent of teens use the Internet; 55 percent of teens have a profile on a social networking site like Facebook or MySpace; 47 percent have uploaded photos where others can see them; and 28 percent have their own blog. That's loads of personal digital content that teens are creating. Now when looking at ones school over all, there might actually be more than 55 percent taht have something on websites such as facebook and or myspace. The thing is that just because a lot of people do it, and may ask you to create one in order to keep in touch, it can also be very dangerous things. What one may think of as harmless information can actually be quite dangerous to an individual.

"Teens write about private feelings and post suggestive pictures of themselves, and then assume that only the people they send it to or that they allow to see it will have access," says Katya Gifford of CyberAngels, an Internet safety organization. "The reality is that once you put something out into cyberspace, you lose control of it." This loss of control can result in one having a stalker and can result in very harmful consequences. There have actually been those who have lost their lives to the threat of internet predators.

. "Everyone has different sides of their personality and you don't always show all sides to all people--for good reason," says Parry Aftab, an Internet privacy and security lawyer and the director of WiredSafety. "But offline, people put all sides of themselves out there and don't realize that everyone can see them."  If a stranger finds you on the internet, no one can know if that person is truly who he says he/she is, one has to be extremely careful.

This is true in a variety of ways: E-mails, for example, can be forwarded with a click of a mouse. Photo-sharing sites that allow you to control who sees your pictures don't prevent those people from downloading the photos to their own computer and doing whatever they want with them later. You or someone else can post something personal about you to a Web site. Even if someone erases it, the search engines often keep a cached, or archived, copy that will keep showing up in search results. And these results can lead to people finding you, despite how much you do not want them too. In addition, it can lead to what many would call "cyberbullying". When one puts up something that is not something that is already known, some may find it as something that is embarassing, people find that out and can haunt the owner for the rest of their lives. In fact, there have been proven cases were cyberbullying has lead to people resorting to suicide.

Putting too much personal information online can also open you up to being cyberbullied. "Sadly, friendships don't always last forever," Aftab says. "Someone who was a friend could become an enemy after a little fight. If that person had access to all of your pictures, e-mails, IMs, and videos, they could potentially use them against you."

One has to make sure they remain as safe as possible. In that case one must make sure they go to all the stops in order to make sure that they will not be a case of cyberbullying. Some things that one can do is

Stay Safe WHEN GOING ONLINE, PLEASE FOLLOW THESE TIPS:

* Be as anonymous as possible. Don't post any identifying information, such as your name, address, phone number, school, team, or town.

* Don't use your real name for your username.

* Don't post anything online that you wouldn't want your family, friends, teachers, and neighbors to see.

* Remember that whatever you post online stays online in one form or another.

* If you doubt whether you should post something, ask a responsible friend or adult for their opinion.

* Make sure to log out of your e-mail accounts and social networking profiles after using a public computer.

-         When a website asks how old you are, tell the truth.  The age restriction is there to prevent you from getting into trouble.

-         Don’t put any personal information on your page.  Don’t put anything that can give you away, like a last name, address, or a place you hang out a lot.

-         When you post a picture, check to make sure you aren’t wearing a shirt with a school logo.

-         Lock out anybody you don’t know.  If somebody sends you a friend request and you don’t know who they are, don’t accept it.  Even if somebody is a friend of a friend, don’t accept it right away.  Ask who they are friends with, and then check with that person.

-         Delete any comment that somebody posts on your page that could give you away, for example, if a friend posts a comment with your last name, delete the comment.

-         Don’t trust the information about a person, they can make that up. They can be older, live somewhere else, look different, etc.

-         Unless you know the person, never meet anybody someplace.  Even if they have pictures and they look harmless, those pictures could be false, and not really them.

-         Be nice to people, don’t give anybody a reason to hate you.