Myspace Danger
Up until now, all of our articles have talked about how to get the most out of your Myspace page. But today I'm going to change course a bit and discuss the darker side of cyberspace: how to stay out of Myspace danger.
Even though it's much more fun to talk about tricks and clocks and skins, the fact is that Myspace danger is a real problem. The very things we all love about Myspace are also the very things that contribute to the Myspace danger factor. And the biggest Myspace danger is that you really have no idea who it is behind that page, and there's no way to prove it until you actually meet the person and find out.
That doesn't mean that we all have to close down our Myspace pages and go home, though. There are definite precautions we can take to protect ourselves from Myspace danger, both online and face to face. This week we'll talk about online precautions; next week, we'll talk about what to do in a face-to-face situation.
The first thing to be aware of is that meeting someone online is NOT the same thing as being introduced to them in person. Let's take an ordinary blind date as an example. Someone you know sets you up with someone they know. You already have one person who can vouch for your blind date. That safety net doesn't exist online, which is one of the major reasons why Myspace danger is so real.
BE AWARE: People under college age should NOT be cyber-dating or cyber-socializing with people they don't know personally from beforehand. Websites like Myspace (and Facebook, for that matter) are gold mines for pedophiles and other sick people. So if your 14 year old sister is doing it, tell you parents and don't worry that she might hate you for it. It could save her a lot of pain, and even save her life! The same thing goes for your kid brother. Don't be fooled into thinking that only girls are at risk. Boys can be taken advantage of, too.
That said, there are four basic online safety rules:
1) Never, but never, post ANY private information about yourself. That includes all contact information - your address (home, dorm, work), all phone numbers (home, dorm, work, cell), etc. Don't post your personal email address, either. Get a free email account (like the ones offered by Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail), and make up a fake user ID, like designer@ yahoo.com. That way, if you do get cyber-stalked, you can just cancel this special account without canceling your regular email and notifying everyone in your address book of the change.
2) If you've met someone new on Myspace - whether boy or girl - only communicate by email at first. Don't give out your phone number for a long time. Save all the emails you receive from this person, and compare the information. It's easy for even an amateur faker to sound good for a week or so, but it's much harder to stay consistent for a long period of time. If anything seems even remotely fishy, take the person off your page and look for other friends.
3) Always ask for a few pictures. Compare them. Do they appear with other people, or are all the pictures lone stills? If the latter is the case, that's a red flag. And if the person says they don't have any pictures and/or refuses to send some that's a MAJOR red flag and you should stop all contact immediately.
4) If you've gotten this far and you feel you want to meet the person, first move to phone calls - but DON'T give out your real phone number. Set up a time and talk from a pay phone. After you do this for a while, and you still feel that this person is normal, you can exchange phone numbers as long as you have Caller ID. That's because if something does go wrong and you end up getting stalked, you'll be able to block the calls. If they've blocked their number so that it shows up as "private caller" or "out of area," don't accept the call.
These four precautions will help you stay safe while still having fun on Myspace. Next time, we'll talk about guarding your safety when you actually go meet someone you've found on Myspace. Until then, have fun, enjoy, and be cyber-smart!