Tell us what you think

Hello. This is the Be Smart Online blog. Here you can comment about the short articles which will be listed about this interesting and important topic - Online Safety. All comments will be moderated so, while you are advised to be polite in your posts, don't be shy to express yourself. Keep in mind that you don't need to show your name when you comment. Obviously the moderators will leave out anything which is inappropriate to publish but would still give the necessary advice as needed.

Chatting dangers

We all know that Internet chat can be a very useful tool. Many people use it to have a cheap means of communication with their loved ones abroad, for example. Imagine having a brother or sister living in Australia or the USA but you can still keep contact regularly and constantly without costing you anything (apart from the Internet service itself). Which Chat programs do you use or have you used? Have you ever heard of mIRC? 

There are people who use the Internet for other purposes. Their intentions are to harm others. Certain chat programs let you meet people you don't know (such as mIRC and others). People may also ask to be friends with you on Facebook or any other Social Network.These can be dangerous as you can never tell if the other person is telling the truth about himself/herself. The teacher has shown you some videos which warn you about this danger.

Tell us what you feel. Do you regularly chat on the Internet? Were you ever contacted by someone you don't know through chat? Did you ever go meet someone who you had only met on chat before? If yes, did you go alone? What do you think you can do to keep safe?

False Information

Even though we can find information about mostly anything on the Internet, it does not mean that all this information is correct or up-to-date. It depends on many factors such as, who the author is, when the information was posted or what the author's intentions were!

Sometimes we receive Emails with such false information. Some tell us that by eating something we can get serious deseases, some tell us that by doing something we can be healthier...and so on. Usually all tell us to forward the Email to all our contacts. Such Emails are 99% of the time Hoaxes or Scams. A Hoax means the intentional transmission of false information.

You can easily check on these by entering the Email subject in a search engine (such as Google) and looking them up - you will normally find information about such hoaxes, explaining how the information is false.
You should find the following list of websites useful:

• http://www.hoax-slayer.com/
• http://www.snopes.com/
• http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/emailhoaxes.php
• http://www.scambusters.org/scamcheck.html
• http://www.hoaxbusters.org/

You can also take a look at the Top Five Signs that an Email is a Hoax.

There are also websites which give false information on purpose. Some for example are racist websites which try to distort facts. Others websites give false information just for fun but may easily trick you into believing they are serious! The teacher can show you some of these sites or give you their addresses.

To be safe from such false information we should never believe Emails we receive that tell us to forward them to all our contacts. We should also check who the author of any website we visit is - the author can be a person or an organisations such as a University. We should also check when the website was last updated - as information becomes outdated very fast nowadays!

Tell us what you think about false information found on the Internet.

Social Networks

Maybe you don't know what Social Networks are. Most of you use them though. With Social Networks we mean web-services such as Facebook, MySpace, Hi5 and many others. Do you know any others?

Maybe you are also familiar with Bebo, FaceParty or Friendster. There are many more others.

On Social Networks you create a profile and people can choose to become friends and share information, post videos or images. It is a really good thing and with such services you can make friends or keep in contact with colleagues, ex-school mates, relatives abroad or trace lost old friends!

One danger in Social Networking is that it is so easy to create a fake profile! Some, for example, register to Facebook even though they are under 13 years of age! It does not take a genius to fake one's age no? So, if someone has nasty intentions he can still tell you that he is your age when in fact he may be an adult! You cannot really know who is talking to you if you don't know the person in real life!

Check [HERE] to see what Facebook has to say about the minimum age requirements.

Another danger is when posting images. Some post images of themselves which should be kept private. There are people out there who may use such pictures for undesirable purposes. Moreover, if you delete a picture you had just posted there is no guarantee that nobody saved it in the meantime! Remember the video shown during the presentation? You can watch it again underneath:

What do you think? Did you encounter problems from Social Networks? Did anyone try to meet you after becoming a friend on Facebook or another Social Network? Give us your comments.

Viruses and Spyware

Viruses are small programs, intentionally created to damage your computer software. Viruses enter your computer via certain attachments received by Email or while installing certain software downloaded from malicious websites. Viruses can also be downloaded from P2P (Peer to peer) applications such as Napster, Kazaa, iMesh, eMule and even Torrents. So be aware of the risk!

A virus usually multiplies once it finds its way on your computer, and starts infecting many important Operating System (Windows) files. There are many sorts of viruses, some are called Worms, others Trojan Horses. Trojan Horses not only demage your software (which starts working erratically) but they can also give access to your files for other people. The person who has this access can delete files on your computer, install files, see what you are watching on your screen, steal software/files, or make your computer to crash! [for more information visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_horse_(computing)].

Spyware is a different sort of "headache". It does not damage your software but it is still very annoying. Spyware usually is software installed on your computer without your permission and can be downloaded from certain websites or also from P2P applications. It is not usually distributed by Email. Spyware can make adverts pop-up on your screen, it can make web-sites automatically pop-up or it can force you to use a certain Search Engine instead of the one of your preference.

Have you ever experienced a virus on your computer? And what about Spyware? What do you think you should do to prevent, as much as possible, such infections?

Cyber Bullying

All bullying is a crime. It is not a joke as some might wish to consider it. Cyberbullying is bullying through the use of the Internet (or mobile phones). Bullying can have a very bad and lasting pshycological effect on the victim. The bully on the other hand has problems as well. Keep in mind, if you are a bully yourself, that the police can be involved and you can be accused in court for your acts. A word for those of you who have been bullied (any kind of bullying): Talk to someone who can help you - maybe the school counciller or your PSD teacher - someone you trust.

Your teacher should by now have shown you Joe's video of how he was bullied. Now take a look at these other videos and add your comments. Kim is the bully in Joe's video. Then there is Joe's mother, and his teacher. See what they have to say:

Online pornography

The Internet has made it even more easy for anyone to access porn even though certain sites require age verification or are against payment. Some might argue and ask: "so what's bad with that?" or "Why is porn bad?"

It is a well known scientific fact that when one starts watching porn at a very young age one gets the wrong idea of sexuality and how to relate with the opposite sex. In fact pornography depicts women as simply objects of pleasure who at our disposal anytime. (Nowadays the same can be said about children and even to some extent, men). This dehumanised idea of the opposite sex can have serious repercussions later on in life especially when establishing lasting relationships.

Another danger with porn is that it is addictive. The more one views the more one needs to view, and the cruder the imagery has to be. According to studies, because of this need for more, there is a risk that one ends up committing sex related crimes.

Think about it. Is it worth risking?  Feel free to express your thoughts here.

Sexting

Few know what Sexting means but probably have been doing it anyway. It is the act of sending sexually explicit material via mobile phones such as naughty texts or pornographic images of oneself via MMS.

What you probably miss out of this is that such messages and images are not private. They can be shown to others and even shared via Bluetooth! You don't know who ends up reading/viewing them!

Be aware that distributing such material is considered child pornography (since you are still under age) and it is a crime. Moreover you also risk that your phone is confiscated so that all evidence against you is retrieved - even if already deleted!

Quoting from Wikipedia: "In 2007, 32 Australian teenagers from the state of Victoria were prosecuted as a result of sexting activity. Child pornography charges were brought against six teenagers in Greensburg, Pennsylvania in January 2009 after three girls sent sexually explicit photographs to three male classmates."
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexting]

The following video is really cool and would show you better why Sexting is risky!