PLN 14

My Space, Blogger, Face Book; they all have one thing in common: personal information. Everyday, people post information on the web without even realizing that even the smallest detail can be used to Google someone. Create your online profile by Jeff Utech focuses on safety on the web.

Create your online profile relates to the world in many ways. Thousands of people out there have my spaces. A lot of those people are just trying chat with friends, however, many of those people are out to hurt others, in one way or another. Everyone hears about kids who get attacked by online predators on the news but everyone figures "nah, that will never happen to me, I am careful." But a lot of times, we aren't half as careful as we think we are. We never really grasp how important it is to be careful about using personal information on the web. One of Jeff's students said, “We know all this stuff is there, we just pretend it isn't.” We have all been chewed out by an adult because we said to much about ourselves on the web.

This article really related to me. I was always paranoid that someone track me down using information they got on the web, so I never got a my space. It even took a lot of convincing before I decided to get an email. A lot of my friends have my spaces, and it scares me to think that people can type in their name and get listings on Google. I was always scared to give out too much information, so I never let my friends talk about me on their my spaces. I was always "AL" or some other nick name that I am sure made people think, "what kind of freak show names their kid THAT?" when my friends posted things about me.

Now that I have a blogger account, I am a little less paranoid. I can type in my name and find listings, and in a way, that still scares me, but I know that I am smart enough not to put any information about myself that could ever help someone I don't know find me.