Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Three Things To Look Out For On The Internet

We are living in an age in which information, good or bad is literally at our fingertips and with this readiness of information comes a set of responsibilities that many, if not all of us were not prepared for.

We were not prepared for others stealing our personal information, for the ease in which we could keep in touch with our loved ones, for the ability to walk down our neighbor hood with our fingers, as with Google Maps and the list goes on.

However, as with many other things, there are certain things that we should protect our loved ones and ourselves from, as we use this ever changing technology and three of these things are:

Strangers

Strangers have been using the World Wide Web to lure many, but especially children into danger and while the authorities have been playing a part in trying to stop it, we also need to do our part.

We could and should use software to help us, but this could only help us to a certain extent. We also need to use our common sense whenever we are in chat rooms and are generally interacting with others.

Some strangers may seek to befriend us, with the main intention of causing us physical harm or stealing our finances. Therefore, we need to be very cautious when corresponding with strangers.

Cyberbullying

Perhaps by now, we would have all heard of this and that is cyberbullying. If on the other hand, we have not heard of it, it is a form of bullying, or intimidation, if you will, that takes place online.

Perhaps we were victims of this behavior at school, or, we were the ones, who were taking advantage of other, well, it is the same thing that is taking place in the cyber world. Indeed, children have committed suicide after becoming victims of this vicious behavior.

However, while children are more venerable to this, adults are also targets of this terrible form of attack.

Personal Site

If we have a blog or any other site in which we contribute our thought to, we need to check it at least twice a week, to make sure that the information that is there, is approved by us. Sometimes others may make comments about what we had posted and in some cases, such as on a social website, someone may have posted a not so flattering photo about us, therefore, we need to keep on top of the things that are in our control.