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Teens easy prey for web vultures

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/ ... 61,00.html



TEENS are putting themselves at risk from internet predators by posting personal information on their MySpace pages.

Randomly visiting MySpace profiles, the Herald Sun discovered scores of young Victorians posting their dates of birth, surnames, suburbs, high schools and workplaces.

Some even post mobile phone numbers and personal email addresses in comments to "friends".


I just came across this article an thought it was a little shocking what kids are doing online these days. My problem is they don't even know the information they're putting out there is dangerous. Their parents need to do a better job of being aware what their kids are doing online and the type of information they're posting. There are plenty of sites out there to help parents monitor their kids and keep them safer. I know MySpace has a safety page, and there are also sites out there like NetSmartz411.org teaching parents about internet safety. It may just be me, but reading articles like this is just scary!

You don't think that a child taught about the dangers of the internet is less likely to post information that would make him/her more at risk to predators? I'm sure some kids would still do it, but I think overall children would be less likely to post personal info. Either way, at that young an age, parents should be aware of everything their children do online, which is why I think its important they talk to them and monitor their online habits. If they see they're practicing unsafe habits, parents can be there to discipline them and explain what/how they're being dangerous and stupid.

BTW, I checked out that link and thought it was pretty neat. I had no idea there was a global task force fighting child abuse (including internet predators).

magenta flame;665799 wrote: It's just the police forces of the world who were all doing the crime fighting in regards to this issue that eventually got together . SO if a predator is in a different country to the child they can still get him/her. It's a cross border thing as the internet has become. It's great! Love it!




It does look useful. I looked who I would contact here in the States and it said to report to the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children and actually linked right to their CyberTipline site. They are actually the same organization running the internet safety site I posted about too.

I liked the short video/commercial too! Very scary for the predators