How to Protect Yourself Online
1.People are more vulnerable than most realize. When people go online they are too trusting and naive when it comes to personal information. Most share information that they would never give someone they met casually off-line. Would you tell the person standing next to you in the grocery store checkout line your address and phone number? Of course not, but it’s no more different than doing so in a chat room, often unknowingly.Thomas Sabo
2.Many chat programs and Internet service providers (ISP) ask you to fill out a profile about yourself. What most people don’t know is that this information is frequently available to anyone who wants to see it online. So if you fill out your profile with detailed information about your life, you are vulnerable. Also, say you are chatting with someone and tell them your last name and what city you are living in. All they have to do is search one of the many databases available on the Net to locate more information about you.
They could easily locate you with only a last name. The amount of personal information available on the Web regarding people is astonishing.
3.Whenever you fill out any form online, check to see what the site’s privacy policy, is.
Who will see your information? Will it be sold? If it’s open to other’s eyes, don’t fill in the blanks. And if you have created your own website, don’t feature any personally identifiable information. This would include pictures with identifiable features such as sweatshirts with school names and recognizable landmarks. And certainly don’t post your personal address on your site. Just ask yourself, “Is there anything on my site that could help someone find me?” If there is, get rid of it.
4.Absolutely. Most people don’t know that there are abundant directions and databases online that list their addresses, email addresses and phone numbers. Several directions now boast reverse look-ups. This is where I can type in your email address and find out who you are or do the same with your phone number and address.I can even find out who your neighbors are. In some states, I can pull-up your driver’s license onscreen. So the trick is to get your information removed from as many of these databases as possible.
Start by searching for yourself, everywhere you can. If you can find you, so can they.
5.They don’t learn the rules before venturing into cyberspace. They don’t look before they leap into a chat room or onto a discussion board. In such cases, you can easily break the rules and upset others. And you never know who’s angry until it’s too late. Off-line we all know the rules of proper social etiquette. However, online most don’t know that there is a similar set of rules we call Netiquette. These rules are necessary for staying out of trouble. A lot of cyber talking cases occur when people unknowingly bend or break the rules. To enter an established and unknown chat room and interrupt ongoing conversation to draw attention to yourself should be seen as no different than wandering into a bar or a party where you weren’t invited and don’t know anyone. Would you draw attention to yourself there?
6.You can use a free service like Anonymizer which cloaks you completely. Any Web site you have visited will not be able to trace your Internet service provider. To play it safe with email,use a free web-based email account such as Hotmail when writing to strangers. There are many such services. This way no one can track where you live by tracing your Internet service provider who might be local only to your city.Thomas Sabo Earrings
7.The safest place to chat is in a chat room with people you know off-line. This may sound odd, but kids do this a lot. They get home and get online with the people they just left at school. Otherwise use a genderless, non-provocative screen name and remember that the moment you get into a chat room with people you don’t know, be careful. Keep in mind, these are strangers you’re talking to. They may sound friendly, but online anyone can be anything they want. You shouldn’t share confidences with them anymore than you would with a stranger sitting next to you on the bus. If you do, you are putting yourself at risk.
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