The age of social networking is upon us.   There are so many on-line areas where people can meet new friends and reacquaint with old ones that it’s hard to choose which one to sign up for.  That is why so many of us have accounts with several sites.  MySpace, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook are thriving with members in the millions all over the world.  These are the places we connect professionally and personally.  They are where family and friends who live far from you can see photos of the new baby.  These sites are amazing!  But, if a child is left alone on these sites, the results can lead to disaster.

When you have young children, you teach them to never wander far from home and to never talk to strangers, yet many parents don’t warn their children about the dangers of wandering the Internet alone.  This must be done because using the Internet is a big part of any child’s life if he or she is in school.  The Internet is used for studies, but what about when the kids are done studying for the night?  Parents need to learn where the danger lies and monitor Internet use so they can teach their children how to surf the Internet responsibly.

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and others have a minimum age for their users of 13 years old.   At 13, kids are curious, but they don’t have the maturity to make good judgments when it comes to many situations.  They feel that nothing bad can happen to them; it only happens to others.  Lately, in the news, it’s been demonstrated how tragic events can happen to innocent kids that started off as simple Internet posts.  Kids need to learn that some people they play on-line games with are strangers and should not be allowed to know about their lives.  There are many parents who feel there is no harm in allowing their child to play games like Cityville, Castleville or Farmville, but do these parents know who their children’s “neighbors” are?  Do parents realize that kids can go to the on-line gaming community to find “neighbors” from all over the world?  Every day, kids are “friending” strangers; these strangers are most likely adults.  If you warn your kids about strangers in real life, why not warn them about strangers in the virtual world?

In the 60s and 70s, parents were said to have a “live-in babysitter”…the television set.  Now, in 2012, parents no longer use the television as a babysitter; they use the computer and social networking.  There is a huge problem with this:  on-line, anyone can be what they want to be!  A 13 year old girl can claim to be 21 and an aspiring actress, a 14 year old boy can claim to be a 30 year old doctor and a 56 year old man can claim to be a 16 year old.

In the 1990s, the chat rooms of America OnLine were the place to be.  Technically, a person was supposed to be 18 years old to be able to access the adult chat areas and no one over 17 was supposed to access the “teen” areas.  Well, remember that on-line, you can be anyone you want to be.  There were teens in adult areas and adults in teen areas.   I worked with a person whose husband enjoyed “playing head games” with teenagers.  This was a 46 year old man who made two profiles:  one was a 16 year old girl and the other was a 16 year old boy.  When he went on line as the 16 year old girl, he would chat with the “other girls” about such private things as their dating habits and how they were coping with PMS.  When he went on-line as the 16 year old boy, he would try to pick up the young girls.

This man’s wife thought this was very “amusing”.   She would come to work and talk about how “clever” “Joe” was to be able to fool these kids.  What he was doing was wrong on a lot of levels, but one of the most disturbing facts of this was that this couple had a 16 year old daughter.  This is how he was able to talk to the girls about cramps and other problems of PMS; he learned from his daughter.  I once asked my co-worker how she would feel if a middle-aged man would talk to her daughter like this, she had no response.  She also had no response when I asked how she would feel if her husband got caught up in an FBI sting for pedophiles.  After a while, she stopped mentioning “Joe’s” on-line adventures.  I don’t know if he stopped or if she just realized it was not something to be proud of.

As mentioned before, social networking sites have a minimum age of 13 years old.  That does not stop the kids from lying about their ages.  In fact, many parents help their kids make profiles showing that they are 13 years old or older.  There are many kids I personally know of who are 10 or under who have their own Facebook pages.  They tell their parents that all of their friends have pages, and the parents give in.  It’s an old trick, but it still works.  The account is set up and the kids are left to explore.

All over the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, there are millions of people signed on to Facebook.  They are there to keep in contact with family and friends.  They also use this social networking giant to find childhood friends they haven’t seen or heard from in years.   When there is any type of celebration…a birthday party, a wedding, birth of a baby…Facebook is where the pictures and videos are posted so friends and relatives far away can be a part of it all.  There is something you need to remember:  once published, those pictures and videos are public property and can be used without your permission.

Think about the photos and videos that you or your friends have posted.  Can any of them come back to haunt you years down the line?  That picture of you at a frat party, dancing around half naked could pop up as part of an advertising campaign years later.  Imagine being a CEO of a large corporation and one day, noticing the snickers of your employees as you walk by.  Could they have just seen you at your drunken worst as a Facebook advertisement?

Facebook is now a publicly traded company.  What this means is that their main goal is to make the largest profits ever to keep their current stockholders happy and to interest new investors.  Selling of user information to third parties is one of the ways that Facebook plans on making larger profits.  Along the side of your page, there are several different advertisements, each with the comment “Like this page”.  Some even have a notation that one or more of your friends “Likes” the products or companies, which is supposed to entice you to also “Like” them.  Well, each and every “Like” is registered by Facebook, who will, in turn, place that advertisement on the pages of your friends who haven’t already “Liked” that product.  With every “Like” that you click on, hundreds of people are being targeted for that particular advertisement.  Now, multiply that by the millions of users around the world!  If the information of all these people is sold for, say, $1 each, the profits would be huge.  Then, add in all of the new Facebook users that sign up daily.

Whenever you “Like” something, you are endorsing that product or company.  You are letting your friends know that you are going to purchase the product, are interested in purchasing the product in the future, or that you are a frequent shopper at that particular store.  Soon you will see that the pop-up advertisements on the right side of your Facebook page are mostly for products or stores you “Like”. 

I’ve seen and heard many stories during my time as a Private Proxy Client Services representative.   I get calls from people asking about our services all the time.  Unfortunately, a lot of these people are seeking our services after something has already happened to compromise their privacy.  Lately, a big issue is the privacy of children.

Many new parents are so excited, that they think nothing of posting every baby picture they take to social networking sites.  They shoot videos of first smiles, first laughs, first steps, first baths and post them on YouTube.  Because they are proud parents, they want the world to see their gorgeous children, so the videos are usually public.

What these parents don’t understand is that by making your pictures and videos public, you are endangering your children.  Baby’s first bath might seem like a cute, innocent picture, but this video could be captured and placed on a child porn site.  This is also true with pictures.  Imagine if one of the pictures you posted of your child in her first bikini was posted to a child porn site.

Child porn sites aren’t the only dangers.  Anyone who can see your pictures on your social networking site can see where you are located.  In other words, if someone was determined enough, he or she can find you and your child.

The “Download Your Information” tool was first introduced by Facebook in 2010. This was used to retrieve all users’ videos and photos, wall posts, sent and received messages, and about 5 other categories of information that users uploaded. Downloadable as a .zip file, users were able to make a back up of what they have previously uploaded to the social networking site.

Privacy issues about Facebook’s access to private information and its advertising services prompted critics to ask the company to improve the tool. They urged the company to let users know of other information that it stores about them in its database. The aim is for users to become conscious of how much data they have shared so that they could have more control over it.

The founders of Glassmap, a new real-time location sharing service, have made clear their company’s stand when it comes to privacy. It is observed that many online users are becoming more involved with software services and applications. In fact, some of them describe their day as “incomplete” if they cannot share pictures, post comments, or add friends. There seems to be a strong force that links a user to a certain software service or application.

Glassmap has been criticized for alleged user privacy violations. Its “Post to Facebook” option in its registration process was the one that triggered such an unfavorable reaction. If the option was left checked, the Facebook user’s Timeline would show an invitation to join Glassmap. This, critics say, exposes users to more privacy risks, even though they might also be benefited from it. The company said that Facebook told them to eliminate this “feature”, which it did.

The founders encourage real dialog about online privacy instead of wasting productive minds and technology on petty controversies. According to them, there are four important areas that need to be given real attention. These are real-time adaptability, transparency, the right amount of privacy, and user-service symmetry.

There are about 800 million Facebook users around the net. With this staggering number, it is safe to say that this social networking giant is really becoming a household name. These users are from different groups – according to age, profession, online preferences, or even reasons for joining. This internet giant has drastically changed the lives of these people. In fact, many of them could not let a day pass without having shared pictures, posted comments, visited digital links, and so much more.

The pressure put on those who still refuse to join the social networking phenomenon is really strong. Whether they are technophobes or privacy advocates, these people are not spared from the draw to conform to what others are interested in. There were those who, for many years have continued to resist, but are now hooked on making more and more “friends” every day. Actually, they admitted that they should have known of the benefits of having a social networking account way earlier.

Hindi maipagkakailang lalong nagiging tanyag ang pag gamit ng mga mobile devices. Sa kabila nito, lalo din namang nadadagdagan ang bilang ng mga cyber crimes. Sa ngayon, ang internet ay accessible o bukas halos sa lahat, gamit ang smartphones at iba pang digital devices. Ito ang isa sa malalaking dahilan upang ang mga maykapangyarihan ay maghanap ng makabagong paraan upang labanan ang ganitong uri ng mga krimen. Hindi na umuubra ang mga nakagawiang paraan; kailangan ang maparaang pagharap dito, gamit din ang teknolohiyang gamit ng mga cyber criminals.

Sa state ng California sa United States of America, itinatag ang bagong eCrime Unit upang manghuli at maglitis ng mga internet crooks. Ang team na ito ay binuo ng isang state attorney general at kinabibilangan ng dalawampung abogado at imbestigador. Bihasa sila sa mga makabagong paraan upang matunton at matukoy ang mga maysala. Kabilang sa mga tinututukan ng team na ito ay mga email scams, piracy, child pornography, online fraud, at marami pang iba. Kawawa lamang ang mga taong nabiktima at patuloy na nabibiktima mapa-offline man o mapa-online.

Naipakulong na ng team ang isang lalaking nahatulan ng guilty sa kasong hacking ng mga email at Facebook accounts. Marami nang nabiktima ang lalaking ito na ang karaniwang modus ay pasukin ang account ng ibang user. Pagkatapos ay maghahanap siya ng mga kontrobersiyal na larawan ng may-ari ng account. Tatakutin niya ito na ikakalat sa internet ang mga larawan kapag hindi sinunod ang gusto niya.

Ang internet ay napakahalaga sa ekonomiya, sa mga tao, at sa mga negosyo. Dahil dito, hindi na kailangang maghanap ng biktima ang mga cyber criminals. Napakaraming maaaring maging biktima ng pagnanakaw ng mga impormasyon. Ang taong 2012 ay nakikinikinitang magiging taon ng matinding pakikipaglaban sa online crimes. Naranasan noong isang taon ang napakaraming mga scams at inaasahang marami pang darating ngayong taon.

Ito naman ang dahilan ng pagpapaigting ng kampanya laban sa ecrime. Ang bagong eCrime Unit ay naglalayong makagawa ng isang bagong trend ng pakikipaglaban sa online crimes. Sinabi ng attorney general mula California na gusto nilang manguna sa makabagong paraan sa paghahanap at paglilitis ng mga maysala. Gamit ang internet technology na siya ring gamit ng mga criminal, mapatutunayang ang batas ay mangingibabaw sa lahat ng oras.

One “desperate” woman from New Jersey committed another not-so-unusual case of identity theft just to get even with her ex-boyfriend. Her “ingenuity”, a case of impersonation, has nearly succeeded in ruining another person’s image online. She was able to create a fake Facebook page using her ex-boyfriend’s name, photo and some personal information. After creating the page, she then posted inflammatory comments. While a judge ruled that she can be accused of identity theft, legislators have to think further about the case’s wider implications for cyber speech.

The woman took the identity of her ex-boyfriend, who works as a police narcotics officer. The posts that were mostly self-destructive appeared to be made by him. There was one comment that talked about his being “high all the time”. Others mentioned his disreputable activities like frequenting prostitutes and escort services, and that he had herpes.

Impersonation, however it is done, is aimed at obtaining a benefit for one’s own self or to injure or defraud another. Way back in 2006, the issues of online impersonation and cyber bullying came out and quickly spread. It all started with the suicide of a 13-year-old girl who became a target online by a fictitious 13-year old boy. The case concluded with the “boy” being identified actually as the mother of another teenage girl.

Social networking sites are always looking for ways to offer new features and services. There is a competition in giving better online experiences to their users. From time to time, controversies arise about privacy issues, which have always been resolved. Facebook, Twitter and Google+1 are very popular sites and were created to cater to all groups of users. Almost anybody, regardless of age, can make friends with anyone else and from anywhere in the world.

MyYearbook is a relatively new social networking site that is now gaining wide popularity among teens. This site was created for teens ages 13 and up who want to meet new friends online. Its creators were two high school students, brother and sister David and Catherine Cook, and started in 2005. The two asked the help of their older brother, Geoff to help them with their project. This site was finally launched at Montgomery High School, which was the school they attended.

There are some internet users who happily share their experiences with Anonymous Proxy once they discover its many benefits. Among its advantages, many say that faster speed ranks first. I can also tell of my own personal experience and how I better enjoyed my online surfing. I instantly solved my problem with speed in uploading my blogs by using an anonymous proxy.

It is good to know more advantages that can come from using an anonymous proxy, specifically to bypass filters. Aside from speed, it also blocks much of the spyware and junk that is sent to your computer. This saves you from the common problems that users come across. While this can be solved by using technical skill, it is very burdensome to encounter this problem repeatedly.