PRIVATE INFO: Public Internet

[Galatea]

For those of you that are shocked and upset about some of the recent happenings, a word for the wise. Not only is it likely that the more personal information you give out that unstable people who are lurking and twisted will decide to cross over into real life, but the more sexual information you share, the more you are piquing the interest of the highly unstable.

I would advise against the following:

1. Don't let everyone know where your various body piercings are
2. Don't let people here know how frequently you have sex and how much you like it
3. Don't let people here know how often you have a new partner and how sexually open you are
4. Don't let people here know what your crotch grooming is
5. Don't let people here know all the various sexual postions that you think are great
6. Don't let people here know how much you enjoy watching porn
7. Don't post pics of yourself in provocative poses
8. Don't post pics of yourself in provocative clothing
9. Don't share the details of sexual chats you have had in or on other forums.

It isn't that hard to find out where people live (even if you don't advertise it all that much) but when you do and post these other things, you are signaling to the deviant that you are available and in their twisted perceptions of reality, you are signaling that you are interested in their unique kind of attention.

Do you have a right of free speech to discuss some of these issues? Sure. Does this mean you deserve to be hounded? No. Does that fact mean the unstable will recognize this right? No. Are you setting yourself up for the unstable? Yes.

Be careful.

[MissAnnie]

Are You Already Being Cyberstalked Without Your Knowledge?
Follow these directions to find out if you or a member of your family is already being discussed in public areas of the Internet:

Go to http://www.google.com and type in your name, and click "search" to search for any references to you on web pages. Look at the results to see if any of them relate to you.
Repeat the search, but this time type in your telephone number.
Go back to http://www.google.com and click on the "Groups" tab. Enter your name and click "search."
Repeat the search, but this time with your telephone number.
You can do the above checks for each and every family member.


What Are You Revealing?

People often reveal a lot of personal information because they don't anticipate the danger that lurks beyond their computer. Here are some do's and don'ts to help you keep yourself and family members safer:

Pick a username for your e-mail address that does not reveal your gender, age, or geographic area. Do the same when picking identity names (screen names or "aliases") for any chat rooms, instant messenger programs, or discussion forums you might want to participate in. Some women use the strategy of picking male or masculine-sounding usernames to reduce the likelihood of being approached or cyberstalked, but as the number of men reporting being cyberstalked is increasing, that may become of less and less advantage in time.
Pick a username for your e-mail address or identity that does not reveal your last name at all, in part or whole. Usernames like JSmith2@yourrealdomain.com reveal information about yourself (assuming that you are really J. Smith).
If you have children who will be online, teach them to never give out their name or any personal information online without your permission. Do not rely on "parental controls" software.
Do get one or more free e-mail accounts and use them for participating in any online activity such as usenet, chat, instant messaging, mail lists, or discussion forums. Only give your primary e-mail address to very trusted sources such as your family and closest friends.
NOTES: There are different ways of retrieving your e-mail. One of the most popular methods is "POP3" (Post Office Protocol version 3). When you use POP3 to retrieve e-mail, an e-mail that is sent to your e-mail address is sent to a mail server that you connect to through a mail program like Outlook Express or Eudora. You then download the mail from the mail server onto your hard drive. The POP3 approach to retrieving your e-mail enables you to view and write responses to e-mail while you are offline and to sort your received e-mail into folders that you create on your computer. Most POP3 clients such as Eudora let you choose whether to leave the arriving mail on the mail server or to delete it from the server after you download it to your computer.
Another common e-mail protocol is called IMAP (Internet Mail Access Protocol). Although IMAP allows you to download the e-mail to your computer, it's really set up for those who want to leave their e-mail on the mail server (i.e., not download it to their computer) and who want to only read and respond to e-mail while online. The IMAP approach has advantages if you are concerned about having files on your computer that might be accessed by others, but it is not as convenient as POP3 mail because you generally can't read and respond to e-mail while offline. Although IMAP allows you to create folders for your e-mail, those folders do not exist on your computer's hard drive, but on the mail server.

Both POP3 and IMAP are ways in which you can retrieve your e-mail. Neither protocol can send e-mail. For that, you need another protocol, SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).

There are many free e-mail services that will enable you to check mail from their web site or by retrieving your mail from your regular mail program or client. Some may be strictly web-based (i.e., you can only retrieve your email by logging in to their web site), while others have allow you to use POP3. Some free e-mail services that are quite popular include Yahoo, Hotmail, and HotPop, but you can search for many others by entering "free email" or "free pop3 email" in a Google search.

In checking into free e-mail accounts, do consider whether you want to be able to download e-mail to your computer for offline reading or if you want an account where the mail resides only on the mail server. Also read their privacy policy. Many of these free services insert their own advertising or banner on your e-mail. Also check to see the limits for file sizes, how long files are preserved on the server, etc.

If your children will be signing up for services online, get them free e-mail addresses, too, and teach them to never give out their real (primary) e-mail address to anyone online. Instruct them to let you know immediately if anyone is asking them questions about themselves or offering to send them anything.
When signing up for your main e-mail account or any free e-mail account or any online services, do not fill out "profiles" with your real details. Give as little information as possible, and consider providing false information. Unless you're sworn to accuracy, you're usually not breaking any laws by being dishonest on those profiles. Some people also use a variety of fake usernames and profiles so that if they start receiving unwanted commercial email ("spam"), they can figure out what company sold their name and email address to the list.
NOTES: When you sign up for free online services, check the privacy policy for those services before signing up to see if they will share your e-mail address or other information you provide with other companies. If you're not satisfied with their privacy policy, don't sign up. You can generally expect to receive unwanted e-mail from any free service you sign up with, advertising other products, etc. To avoid getting inundated with unwanted mail of this kind, it is best to either sign up with an "expiring alias" e-mail address or to use one "free" or "throwaway" email address that you reserve for such signups, so you can pretty much ignore or trash all mail that arrives to that address.
If you meet people online in chat rooms or via mail lists, instant messenger programs, or usenet groups, do not assume that they are telling you the truth about who they are and do not give them any personal details about yourself.
While there are some touching stories of couples who first met online and then married, there are many more cases of people meeting online, getting involved, and then having a falling-out or online cybersexual relationship that becomes problematic. Just as many stalking cases begin with romantic relationships gone bad, many cyberstalking cases begin with online romantic relationships that turn ugly. At the present time, we don't know whether online relationships are more, less, or equally likely to result in stalking or cyberstalking when compared to offline relationships, but to keep yourself safe, you might assume that you will run an increased risk due to the ease of anonymous harassment and cyberstalking.
Continue to Next Tips File -->

Top


OVERVIEW TIPS PATHOLOGY NEWS LAW IMPACT THERAPISTS RESOURCES SEARCH

© Copyright 2001, 2002, 2003 ~ All rights reserved ~ http://www.cyber-stalking.net