Although we may think that we are safe by just setting our profiles to private, nothing is really private on the internet. Hijackers, rapists, stalkers, identy theft, and scammers lurke the internet left and right. It's our responsibility to decide what is right and what is wrong. By showing your picture, age, and state you have narrowed down many details for these internet predators.
Sharing information is not all bad. Many people start buisnesses and such by giving certain information, but you have to remember that most of the information you put is not erased. You also have to worry about what your friends put on their pages about you. You can be the most cautious person and still get scammed because your friends weren't as smart and careful as you.
Even the supposed free things you see advertised on the sides of your webpage are not to be trusted. Yes, they are free but the things the people buy with your information is not. They usually will not take the money out of your account, but take out a large sum of money for a loan and you will usually not notice until years later, then it might be too late to fix the problem. Many people go into debt like this everyday and there is not much to do to fix it.
Therefore you must be careful at all times on the internet! Never share information unless you know it will be private. Do not post your personal information on a comment on a friends page. The internet is fun and very useful, but all good things have a bad side. Although it is not as easy as we all think to be safe, it is also not impossible.
The Final Bow
13 years ago
