Heritage Album - How un-safe for children and teenagers are blog internet sites like bebo and myspace?

How un-safe for children and teenagers are blog internet sites like bebo and myspace?

I was doing a heritage search on my surname for some family tree stuff and accidentally ran across a profile on bebo for my 16 year old niece - her full name, photo and town of residence is posted right on the front page. Most of is seems innocent enough, although quite immature like typical teenagers are. She has some photos in her album with self-captions that say 'slutty' referring to pics of teenage boys sitting or lying on top of her (fully clothed). I was shocked to say the least, and I'm certainly no prude. This all may seem modern to some people, but I can't imagine my brother and sister-in-law would be very happy to see it if they stumbled upon it one day - highly unlikely as neither of them are computer literate at all and hardly search the net for anything. They also have a habit of being oblivious to stuff their kids do. Does anyone else agree that this could be potentially hazardous considering she has her full name, pics and hometown on the net? Blocking the profile for friends only to see is a great idea, but it seems they let on anyone as a 'friend'. There were definitely a few suspect on there that I saw. One in particular is a guy her parents would never want her associating with. He is suicidal and into self-mutilation and drugs. Seems these websites are places for people to do what they want cause they think nobody will ever find out about it.

Public Comments

So long as they are sensible and aren't putting their full address on there, or giving it out to anyone I should think it's actually pretty safe. If people don't have her address they can't really do any physical harm to her unless they are waiting at her school... It probably isn't nice to see these things and it's quite possible that someone will be viewing these pictures for some reason other than they know her and are interested in seeing pictures of her but they aren't actually doing her any harm (other than posting offensive messages which she can remove) I do understand why people are so scared about these kinds of sites however I think a lot of stories are scare-mongering... it is VERY unlikely that someone will be able to find a child just because they give out their hometown unless they are seriously psychotic and that just seems like too much effort when they can find kids walking down any street. It's much more harmful to stop kids from exploring as they will resent you and do it anyway without your guidance to help them through tricky situations. The key is in teaching your children that not everyone is who they say they are and never to meet people from the internet in real life unless with an adult. On a side note, she can make her profile private... my cousins who are under 16 have got private profiles (because they are classed as underage) and so you have to be added as a friend to see their details however, there is nothing stopping your niece adding whoever she wants as a friend!
I once heard the sites such as myspace and bebo referred to as a "catalog" for pedophiles!
Definatley had the same thing with myspace and my niece she was lucky!!! Her friend started chatting to a "15 year old " she turns up to meet him and he is a 50 year old man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lucky enough she got a way my niece and her friend were lucky but not every one is
This is how things turn nasty - someone could find her page on the internet, go around to her town, stalk them, and you know the rest. It is dangerous to put so much information on the internet for all to see, you should tell your niece or her parents that it's not a sensible idea to give out a surname on a socializing website such as MySpace. I never have my photo anywhere, and my full name is not on public view except at my portfolio website.
i agree there are waaaaaaaaaaay to many weirdos out there i dont think young girls or boys should be allowed to put pics on the internet , or such detailed information as home address but maybe i am old fashioned all the best Ian
The only way it could get out of hand if shes giving out her school or her home address or saying where she's going when. Otherwise, it's harmless. People often exaggerate the danger of these kind of sites, saying it could dangerous for their children to even post there hobbies. It has the potential to go out of hand, but if your niece has any sense, she can probably take care of it herself.
Yes! You NEVER give out your full name or your address on a public website. First name and state is cool, that would be harder to trace. As for her pics, that's the pressure of today's world... look at all of the role models... Brittany, Lindsay, Christina.. "slutty" is the "in" thing. Since she's clothed, I wouldn't make too much of it, it might be harmless enough and you could make things worse. But her parents should know what she's doing online for her own safety.
its really up to the person who makes it how safe it will be. you can set your profile to private, so only your friends can see it & you shouldn't add people you don't know if you have that much info on it, you can also chose what info you put. I don't know anything about bebo. but myspace can be very dangerous or very safe you just have to be smart and remember there are predators out there. you should confront her on this or her parents. with that much info she could be found very easily by anyone
janet: those site has a dark site bottom line if you or someone you know have kids under 15 THEY SHOULDN'T BE at myspace. Esspecially girls. i'm telling <typing> from security stand point. It is potentially hazardous, when teen girls acting like sluts, plus she is foolish enough to give their personal information and that why they get in trouble.
One thing you should never do is post any personal information anywhere. Thats just asking for trouble. And to post pics and hometown isn't good either. I agree with you fully, it's hazardous and maybe you should mention it to your brother . Better to be safe then sorry
To me, a myspace account is only unsafe if you make it unsafe. Most parents get mad if their kids have a myspace (or an account on something like myspace). It makes me upset that kids are getting these accounts. That is one of the reasons stalkers go to these websites because they know a young child is more likely to give out info. But if parents would monitor their kids they would have less of a problem. I am not worried about getting stalked because my site is private, I don't have any info about where I live, and I only have people on my site that I know as friends. No stalker is going to take the time to try to get into my site and stalk me when they can easily get on some 14-15 year old's site and get their exact address. No joke, I've seen where kids have their info like where they live, their phone number, and even their social security number! Not to mention the pictures (as you mentioned). It really is sad that kids think they have to show off their bodies or make "remarks" about their selves to get noticed. I'm only 18, but I'd like to think that I am more mature than some people my age, and that I think more sensibly than some as well.
I do agree that it is unsafe for children to put personal info on the web. I think that if children are on the web there parents should be monitoring what they do. My daughter has a myspace and she loves it and she is only 8. the difference is she does not even know her own password. We sit down together and I log on. I have her profile set to private so no one can see it except who is on her friends list. That friends list consist of me, her dad, a couple aunts, cousins, and her grandma. That is it. No one else will be allowed. It is a neat experience to her to be able to send pictures and comments to family. She gets to express herself and I get the satisfaction of making sure she is not talking to any one but family. I think more parents should be this way. If you monitor every thing they do then you know something will not get out there that is not supposed to be out there. We love sending pictures to grandma on myspace everyday. But grandma and other family is the only ones that can see them. That gives me piece of mind.
You know your in her lifestyle maybe you do need to take off the city /address of where you live and her full name people put on pictures that way all the time and nobody says anything just let that go. thats to much i would say
Well im a teenager and I can say one thing. As long as the child has a dependable mind of his own he will be ok. For instance I have a myspace but if I ever get a friend request I would ask them the following questions. Who are you, How old are you, How did you find me, What is your sex, and why he or she made a friend request. If I have perfect guarantee that its someone who i know there is no need for any of that. My general rule with internet friends is the following. If they start having issues with me I can easily do something about it. Meaning I know where they live or which school they goto or I may have there IP address to shutdown their ISP. Having all info with is private is of couse no problem at all unless there are some spy ware out there. Another rule this the internet it that first and last names cannot go together with a picture. Town of residence is is honestly not a big deal since IP addresses and easily locate that kind of stuff and a teenager should have some sort of mind to defend them self from evil minded people. Well heres my conclusion. Keep it a private profile (away from public) and know who you are dealing with.
my 15 year old neice 'met' a lovely lad on my space, she had also put all of her details on her profile, she chatted to him for about 6 weeks, he only lived a few miles away, she eventually arranged to meet him, the 'lovely young lad' turned out to be 42 years old, had already done time for child abuse and only out of pure luck did we manage to get him stopped and arrested again, he is now in prison for 4 years. hopefully from this story you will see how 'safe' these sites are. She must not use her real full name and she must not give out her details, it really is far too dangerous. i have been using MySpace for 2 years and i am safe, but there really is a big difference between a grown man using it and a young girl, people on MySpace don't even know my first name. take care and good luck.
I agree but not only for teenagers. Well I'm a teenager I have a life, I have friends and I don't need MySpace-like sites to communicate with my friends or to gain new ones. I know that We can never guess when we come across with an insecure person. Yes this is a virtual world It's the Internet. But when you give your real information to the people It's becoming your real life. You're starting to live your life on the Internet. Of course most of the odd people can't do anything to me or any other people. But I can never know. I'm not the most strong person in this world. I can't really protect my self from everything. But I've signed up for it once. Because I'm human and I wonder what's that MySpace everyone talks about. I didn't put any of my information (even my name) I didn't put any of my pictures. When people asked my name or tried to communicate with me there, I said You don't need to know and I have deleted it after a while. Social network sites sometimes can be dangerous for even an adult. You can never know who You'll meet next. I always say It's just better to use the Internet just for knowledge and fun and make friends in your 'real' life. And I only laugh at those 'private profile' things. This is the Internet and nothing can be private If you're in it. Only thing I well know is 'My name (and any other information) never ever will be on the Internet!'
Your niece should have her profile set to private only. She should NOT have her hometown on there. I think her state would be okay, but that is it! I'm 30 years old and don't have my hometown listed or a public profile for that matter. I have pictures of my OWN kids on there and wouldn't want some creep digging through my pictures and all.