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MySpace and Predators

When parents educate their children about ‘stranger-danger’, they normally only refer to this danger as being out in public and away from the family home. They believe that once they are inside the home, then they are safe and protected from the big, cruel and nasty world outside. However with the development of online communities such as MySpace, Facebook and Livejournal, a reality check is needed. The way in which stalkers, pedophiles and rapists now lour in and find their victims has drastically changed with the development of new communication technologies. According to Danah Boyd (2007a), there are two groups of people who are interested in teenagers and young children and their MySpace profiles; one of which are people who wish to prey on them – predators. The statement that this paper aims to make is:
Stalkers and pedophiles have adapted to the times and are now more
dangerous than ever thanks to MySpace

One of the reasons why MySpace poses such a potential risk to young users is because of all the personal information which they post on it (Carlin, 2006). As the format for MySpace emerged out of a dating service, the type of information which is posted is that of the user’s sex, age, place of residence, hobbies and interests. When they sign up to become a member, they are asked to fill out a form with all of these questions. Teenagers don’t event think that this information could be used by someone in a malicious way. This site has become a civil society in teenage culture (Boyd, 2007a). Teenagers post so much personal information up without even a second thought. They give out their phone numbers, what they have planned for the weekend and where they are meeting up with friends. This is all the information that a predator needs if they wish to attack.

Along with very personal information that it posted on users profiles, are photographs of themselves and friends. Many of these are very suggestive and leave nothing to the imagination. To a predator like a pedophile, this is all they need to see to start a fascination with that user (Carlin, 2006). Some parents are aware of this fact and that their children’s profiles are containing to much personal information and therefore insist on checking it regularly. However, this has lead to teenagers producing what Boyd (2007a) calls mirror networks. This is when users create a second account with fake names and details. This way if a parent asks to view their child’s profile then they can show them the clean edited one with their real identity and still have the other profile where they have as much personal and revealing information posted as they wish. This unedited and unmonitored profile is what predators search for.

A type of predator that has become a real issue with the development of online communities is cyber stalkers. They use Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to find their victims (McReynolds, 2006). Through using this IP address, these cyber stalkers can track down a victim and work out exactly where they live (McReynolds, 2006). This is a very alarming thought. According to Caleb Jorden, a computer science major at the National College Advertising and Marketing (McReynolds, 2006), users cannot protect their IP address from being shown and that there are even some sites that have programs installed to track users IP addresses once they enter a site. Many young teenagers who frequently use MySpace do not know this. They believe that as they are in their own home that they are safe from stalkers. However as these new communication technologies have developed, predators have changed the way they operate and they now
have an easier way of following people that they never had before. They are able to have a more secret identity and can stalk users without them even being aware of it (Israel, 2006).

Another way in which MySpace has become a predator’s paradise is through the adding of friends. Predators make fake profiles in which they pose as younger teenagers in order to attract the attention of other teenagers. Teenagers and other young children who are members of MySpace add just about anyone who makes a friend request. For them, it is like being at school and the more friends you have the more popular or cool you look (Boyd, 2006). Sixty-nine percent of 13 and 14 year olds talk to people they don’t know online (Israel, 2006).Young teenagers and children don’t think that when they add or accept someone as a friend that they could be adults pretending to be teenagers. They just believe and assume that MySpace is full of fellow kids their age (Ehrlich, 2006). Once a predator has been accepted onto a person’s profile, they slowly work their way into their victim’s lives. With so much personal information on display for the public to see, a predator can make it look like they and their potential victim have everything in common. Sometimes these predators are so careful and invest so much time into their victims that it can take as long as a year for them to finally try and meet them (Israel, 2006). All through that time, the victim is unaware to the dangers that lurk on the other side of the computer.

Since MySpace became a household name for many teenagers and young children, predators have been able to consume a hidden identity and work their way into young user’s lives. Long gone are the days when you headed to the local park and had to look out for suspicious people lurking for now they have a better place to be. A place where they can’t be identified as easily and a place where they can chose who their next victim will be. Through using personal information provided on a profile, a predator can make it seem like they are very similar. They can use the IP address and find out exactly where they live and use the photographs that are displayed as a way to become fascinated with certain individuals. Through the development of these new communication technologies, the safety of our children needs to be reassessed. No longer is the home the safest place for teenagers and young children because you never know who they might just really be talking to on the other end. Predators in today’s society have realized how to manipulate and use these new technologies to their advantage and now more than ever before are they dangerous.

Reference

http://archive.recordonline.com/archive/2006/02/12/myspace.html
http://media.www.trumanindex.com/media/storage/paper607/news/2006/03/09/News/Cyber.Stalkers.Seek.Out.Myspace.Users-1661265-page2.shtml

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/06/eveningnews/main1286130.shtml

http://www.exploreanywhere.com/myspace-dangers.htm

http://www.wsls.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSLS/MGArticle/SLS_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834398486

Boyd, D. (2006). “Friends, Friendsters and MySpace Top 8: Writing Community Into Being on Social Network Sites.” First Monday 11:12, December. http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue11_12/boyd/index.html

Boyd, D. (2007a). “Why Youth (Heart) social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life.” MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning, Identity Volume (ed. David Buckingham)

Boyd, D. (2007b). “None of this is Real”, Structures of Participation (ed. Joe Karaganis)

http://archive.recordonline.com/archive/2005/04/17/myspacew.htm

http://mashable.com/2007/01/29/myspace-shares-sex-offender-data/