- In this report
- Overview
- Phishing
- Viruses
- Spam
- Spyware
- Social networking
- A safer net
- How criminals deceive
- Where criminals plot
- State of the Net
- Properly erasing hard drives
- Ways to stay safe online
- Canadian online security
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September 2007
Social networks: Kids at risk
Sites where millions of minors post their personal interests and contact information, such as MySpace and Facebook, have become
fertile ground for child predators. This spring, MySpace, the largest social networking site, which is owned by media giant
News Corp., revealed that thousands of known predators were registered with the service. Several state attorneys general demanded
their names, citing many cases in which predators had exploited minors contacted through MySpace, according to North Carolina's
attorney general, Roy Cooper. MySpace handed over more than 7,000 names and closed those accounts.
But the danger remains. In households we surveyed, 13 percent of minors registered on MySpace were younger than 14, the social networking service's minimum, and 3 percent were under 10. And those were just the ones that parents knew about.
Hemanshu Nigam, chief security officer for MySpace.com, doesn't dispute our finding. In fact, he says, MySpace kicks off close to 8,000 profiles weekly because of age misrepresentations. The company is taking other steps to keep under-age children off its site, such as offering software this fall that lets parents know if their children are using MySpace for social networking and giving their registered user name, age, and location. As for age verification, Nigam says there is no viable way to implement such a technology.
Solutions. How you protect your children from the dangers of social networking depends on their age and maturity. The most popular approaches used by parents we surveyed was having many family discussions about the dangers of online predators and how to safeguard personal information, and keeping the child's computer in an open family area. Other important safe social networking strategies used by surveyed parents included keeping track of the child's screen names and accounts, using parental controls supplied by the Internet service provider, monitoring the child's online posts, and using software that blocks inappropriate sites.
But the danger remains. In households we surveyed, 13 percent of minors registered on MySpace were younger than 14, the social networking service's minimum, and 3 percent were under 10. And those were just the ones that parents knew about.
Hemanshu Nigam, chief security officer for MySpace.com, doesn't dispute our finding. In fact, he says, MySpace kicks off close to 8,000 profiles weekly because of age misrepresentations. The company is taking other steps to keep under-age children off its site, such as offering software this fall that lets parents know if their children are using MySpace for social networking and giving their registered user name, age, and location. As for age verification, Nigam says there is no viable way to implement such a technology.
Solutions. How you protect your children from the dangers of social networking depends on their age and maturity. The most popular approaches used by parents we surveyed was having many family discussions about the dangers of online predators and how to safeguard personal information, and keeping the child's computer in an open family area. Other important safe social networking strategies used by surveyed parents included keeping track of the child's screen names and accounts, using parental controls supplied by the Internet service provider, monitoring the child's online posts, and using software that blocks inappropriate sites.
