Cyber socializing:Are internet site like my space potentially dangerous?

Cyber Socializing

2006

A Social Network Service (SNS ) is a type of software that is focused on building and verifying social networks for whatever purpose . As of 2005 there exists more than 300 social networking websites (Wikipedia , 2006

In layman 's terms , an SNS is a website where people share information contacts , pictures , journal entries , music , videos and other types of media . The two most popular of these sites are Friendster .com and MySpace .com (Ibid . These sites host user accounts where the users pros and other personal information are made

visible to other users of their choice . These sites can be very attractive especially to young people because they offer an avenue for people to meet , share ideas issues and common interests . This has been found to be a very powerful social tool . On the other hand , these sites can also be considered very risky considering the amount of information that flows through them People (especially women and children ) have been victims of a string of cyber-crimes and communities are voicing their concern on the matter This delves into the safety of these sites and will try to look into the solutions that the community has been trying to set in place

SNS 's were intended for building up networks and allowing the users to meet new friends and even find potential dating partners . But sadly just like any other unregulated internet service , there are undesirable effects that have arisen . There have been many reports of cyberstalking cyberbullying , and other forms of online abuse or harassment

Studies made by Hinduja and Patchin (2006 ) found that one-third of their 1 ,388 youth subjects have been victims of cyberbullying . These victims have either been ignored (43 .2 , disrespected (39 .8 ) or threatened (18 . Sexual assault and violence that stem from online abuse are usually committed against young users because are less cautious CyberAngels .org (2006 , non-government internet watchdog organization reports that Some 45 million children in North America (including 21 million teens ) are now online . It is estimated that one in five has been solicited for sex in the past year and 725 ,000 have been aggressively pursued . One in four has been sent pictures of people who were naked or having sex . Much of this activity is taking place in chat rooms , which are frequented by nearly two-thirds of all young computer users

There are many situations where the napve and unwary are often misled into a comfort zone where there is , in fact . Sharing information over the internet will always bring about security problems especially for those who can be too trusting . These acts of online abuse have become a growing concern among parents and teachers and some schools have protested against these SNS websites for allowing children as young as fourteen to participate in such an unsecured activity

As a response , sites like MySpace .com have agreed to install security measures including the limiting of pro visibility of users who are minors . MySpace .com prohibits minors...