MySpace Teens and the Trolls that Stalk Them
MySpace has been in the headlines a lot lately. Kids are getting kicked off sports teams, and out of school, arrests have been made, families are being evicted. I am always amazed at the things I see on mySpace pages. Apparently, I am not the only one that peruses the site for pages of people I know. It appears that some school districts and colleges have a task force to keep tabs on the mySpace pages related to the local communities. Of course, I have seen teens getting other teens in trouble for content but they take particular offense when an adult stalks them.
I basically troll the four mySpace like sites that my college friends use including facebook, webshots community, xanga, and excite. I find all my friends and see who has who in their friend list and how they met and any interaction they’ve had through the site. I have so many friends that these kinds of pages allow me to make sure all of my friends know what I’m up to and keep tabs on them even if I don’t get a chance to see them that often. Most of my friends do a better job keeping their sites updated than I do but it is pretty cool to be able to see who knows who and how we all seem to be linked in some way or another.
Unfortunately, since I live in a small town I inevitably end up looping through friendlists and end up on my step-kids pages. They HATE that. Even though I have always told them never to post anything on the internet that they don’t want me (or the rest of the family) to know about, they still act like I am intruding on their “privacy” if I actually read what they have posted.
That definitely has to go in the WTF? category. They are putting photo’s and stories of themselves on the WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW). How the heck is that private? For some reason, it is all the rage to put the most outrageous things you have ever done, and in some cases have not done but want others to think you have done, onto a mySpace page.
Things have definitely changed since I was a teen. When I did something illegal or morally questionable, I HID it from people. As long as no one knew about it, I did not have to beat myself up about it. When I was caught, I beat myself up about not doing a good enough job hiding it. My “space” was a hand written diary that always ended up in the worng hands somehow, no matter where I hid it or how I tried to lock it. I very quickly learned not to but any real dirt in my easily accessed diary.
Nowadays, it seems to be the exact opposite. Like you can do anything you want as long as you make a public display of it on a mySpace like site. Parents, teachers, and law enforcement, however should ignore these public posts because… because the publisher did not intend for anyone in authority to read it? Rather ignorant for a group that grew up in the internet age. I am of the opinion that if your caught, you pay the price. Then next time you might think twice and think its not worth the price.
There is no way to ensure that something you post on the internet today and take down tomorrow won’t resurface somewhere at the most inopportune times. Even if you take down your content, someone might have copied it on their site and it will probably resurface sometime down the road. I would not be surprised if mySpace like sites are now included in background checks that companies use when they hire people. If it is not already a standard, it soon will be. I guarantee most law enforcement agencies do this on a regular basis. It’s so easy to convict someone that admits it in a public forum.
For all those that are documenting their adventures on mySpace like sites, I offer the following guidelines:
1.) Crimes that are documented on the internet are elevated to the FEDERAL level of the judicial system. This is because the WWW is…. say it with me… worldwide and not under the jurisdiction of city or state municipalites. Skip the pictures and comments about illegal activities. If someone gets pissed about it, you will have a felony record.
2.) Stupid is as stupid does, Forrest. And stupid lasts forever. Your stupid stories and pictures will come back to haunt you.
3.) ANYTHING PUBLISHED ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB IS NOT PRIVATE. People will see it. Everyone can see it. That’s why it is called the WORLD WIDE… oh never mind.
Technorati tags: MySpace, Webshots Community, Xanga, Excite, privacy, World Wide Web, morality, troll
Add comment June 8th, 2006
