Your life in a showcase

November 22, 2009 ntates
Tags: Internet privacy

Nowadays it’s very popular among adults, youngsters and children to share their most intimate details with their friends on the Internet. People use blogs, websites, Hyves, Twitter etc. to tell their friends about themselves or others. This is not without a risk. Many of the readers may appear to be friends. In reality they have a whole different agenda. I’m going to highlight a few dangers of this popular pastime.

First, the information you share, is also accessible to everyone else. Therefore anything you write or show, can be used against you. Innocent words or pictures might end up in a different context. Criminals use all sorts of methods or sometimes even blackmail to pressure you, in exchange for not revealing your personal information.

Secondly young children are extremely vulnerable to be exploited by all sorts of perverts. Some of these adults look for a chance to get in contact with children in order to persuade them to tell things about themselves or worse to expose themselves. At first they try to get the confidence of children by presenting themselves as someone of their own age. Later on in the ‘relationship’ they’ll try to make real contact by setting up a date. The consequences can be disastrous and children may be damaged for life.

Short, adults can think for themselves, but children need to be protected. They have to be made aware of the dangers of sharing personal information on the Internet. This should be an important task for parents, teachers and other educators.