Internet Safety

Internet safety and actions related to this subject are discussed in both articles. The first article “MySpace and Sex Offenders: What is the Problem?” discusses the experiment which MySpace ran in order to weed out possible sex predators and reports on the conflict between MySpace and government entities over the findings. The government was concerned about the amount of time it took for the social-networking site to find and remove sex-predators the site contended that due to the lack of a national sex offender database the process was long. Another valid point discussed in the article was that the search considered the names reported by MySpace users and sex offenders could very well use aliases. The second article “MySpace Not Responsible for Predators” reports on the case of a fourteen-year-old girl who was raped and murdered after meeting with a person she befriended through MySpace. This person is reported to have been a sex offender and the victims family are suing MySpace because they allowed a registered sex offender identify himself as a young boy on the networking site. The author in this article sustains that the victim should have made better choices and the parents should have provided better guidance. The responsibility in the matter of internet safety is portrayed through two points of view through these articles. Even though I agree that it would be wonderful that social-networking sites had better control of their users, I am a firm believer that ultimately we are responsible for our own actions and their consequences.

One of the things I enjoy most about the internet, and I think I am not alone here, is keeping in touch with friends and family with whom I could have lost touch if it were not for modern technology. Younger generations use it to make friends and reach out socially. In either case I do not find anything wrong with the concept of social-networking sites. However, in the same way that I do not believe that just because I meet someone who appears to be a certain way I do not immediately go somewhere with that person or share my bank account information with them, I would not go somewhere or share personal information with someone from a social-networking site without some sort of guarantee of who the person really was. Even when meeting someone in person there have been endless accounts that the individual turns out to be different than what judged at first impression. Online precautions must be taken to another extreme. There is no actual way to verify who is typing on the other end. One of my Facebook friends, whom I know personally, goes by the name “Whatdo Ucare”, his parents gave him a more caring name. My cousin is tagged as being in a picture of a bunch of cute puppies, I can calmly tell you my cousin is human. Being conscious of all these innocent changes in profile or misrepresentations, I think it comes down to the personal responsibility we have and, in the case of children, the responsibility they must be taught and the interest and protection parents must have in there online usage.

My stance on personal responsibility is mostly influenced by the examples that my family has given me. On one hand my father in many aspects gave me the example of how not to take responsibility for your actions and my mother how to take complete responsibility for yourself. From them I learned that we cannot blame the situation we are in on other people. Sure it would be wonderful if social-networking sites had the technology to control the age, identity and intent of everyone who joins, but other than a web site that confirms your identity through fingerprints or DNA, I do not see it possible to stop people from misrepresenting themselves. In the meantime I think the public should be aware of the dangers that lurk on the web and take responsibility in order to protect themselves.