Slashdot Mirror
Teens Actually Do Protect Their Online Profiles
Thib writes "A study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project reveals that the majority of teens pay attention to what they are revealing about themselves in their online social profiles. For instance, while many routinely use their first name or include a picture, 'fewer than a third of teens with profiles use their last names, and a similar number include their e-mail addresses. Only 2 percent list their cell phone numbers.' The study comes to light just as state legislatures once again begin to mutter about the dangers of online predators. From the article: 'According to Pew, 45 percent of online teens do not have profiles at all, a figure that contradicts widespread perceptions that the nation's youths are continually on MySpace.'"
That's still a huge number of people who have exposed themselves to risk.
between "listing" information and "giving" information. The online predator thing is obviously a problem, no matter what you say. Too many teens are willing to "give" their personal information via personal chats and e-mails. But yes, the truth of the article is that not very many teens will simply list their personal information on profiles.
Why is it that politicians are always addressing the symptoms of societies problems?
How long till they want to simply ban the internet?
What is it that causes people to prey on children in the first place? I think there should be more investigation into that.
I am far more worried about senior citizens being preyed on than any child online.
I suggest you read Slashdot
Last name isn't exactly a hard to acquire piece of information. For example a large number of schools publish the first and last names of their honor students, some with pictures (and I don't mean yearbooks, I mean newspapers).
I don't mention my last name when discussing something online, and my first only comes out after I've known someone for at least a year, but I don't doubt these pieces of information would be hard to acquire for someone who really wanted them...
There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
Last names aren't exactly the most revealing piece of info evar. Besides which, there is more than one case here: Someone could post their first & last names on a social networking site, such as Facebook, with a "friends-only" profile setting (the default) so that only people they authorize can see it (as I do), or they could just put it out there. There's a big difference, and I would have to wonder if the study took that into account. Also, people might have varying levels of personal info available on different sites (eg. have more info on a Facebook page than a /. or digg page, for the above reason).
I'll admit it, I have a MySpace account. I also have an account at Stickam, which is sort of a MySpace for webcam users.
I'm amazed at the disparity in personal information revealed by people between both sites. The same folks who are more than willing to put their full name, life story, names of friends and significant others, etc. up on MySpace suddenly get shy on Stickam. It seems that there's a comfort in the presumed disconnect of MySpace, where you can post pictures of yourself, and Stickam, where you're live on camera.
Women on MySpace seem to want to advertise their, erm, promiscuity. Their profiles are full of innuendos, double-entendres, and other sexual references. They post all sorts of suggestive photos of themselves. Yet women on Stickam are quite assertive about their privacy, most profiles over there have bogus location info and don't give any hint of personal information. The funny thing is, I know for a fact that in certain cases, it's the same women. They whore themselves on MySpace but they protect themselves at all costs on the site where they've got a live feed.
It's probably a good study for a psych major somewhere. Why do folks "trust" MySpace, why are they willing to post personal info there, but when it comes to their webcam they get shy?
That sir, is the most important part of this entire article.
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
Of course, part of the reason so few get abused by people they meet online is because people are careful. But kids aren't as stupid as many adults think. If a child is old enough to chat and set up profiles online, then explaining to them about how people may try to trick them to do bad things isn't that hard.