MySpace.com - They're always watching

Wrentham

Norfolk

Plainville

March 2006 - Opinion

Penn Chen

These days, there are many things that are controversial. One of them is the online website called myspace.com. It is mostly used by teenagers all around the country. While it is entertaining to go from one person’s Myspace to another’s and exciting to get comments or friend requests, there is a flip side to that fun.

For all who don’t know, Myspace is an online website that anybody can gain access to. On the page, a person can put their picture and information about themselves. Other people can “request” to be friends and leave comments. If you don’t post something about yourself it doesn’t mean that someone else won’t. An example of this happened when a student created a Myspace for a teacher without his/her permission. The student who created the site was never discovered; however, if the creator had gotten caught, the teacher could have pressed charges. In a circumstance where the law would be involved, it would also create the need for the school to be involved.

A few years ago, a girl from King Philip met a guy online. She decided to meet him and was abducted. With the help of her parents, the police were able to track her down. She was found in New York a few days later. Even though that doesn’t seem like a long time, being in an unknown place with someone that kidnapped you against your will is not my idea of a good time.

That is not the only case in which a person was stalked or captured. Cases like this occur all over the United States. Most stalkers go after females, but there are males that can be victims as well. In some cases the kidnapped are not as lucky as the girl from KP. Not all of the prisoners are found alive.

The people who are capable of abducting an innocent internet user are not ethical, and they are not stupid. They are able to piece together the information that people put online to find you. You hardly have any control as to who views your site. The best you can do is not put anything about yourself online so the crazy kidnappers have nothing to go on to find you.

The point of this article is NOT to order you around and tell you what you can or cannot do. This is to warn you against the dangers of using a site like Myspace and of what happens to people when they aren’t careful. Do not think something like this can’t happen to you because you are very careful of what you put online. If someday you let your guard down for a second, it just might. Therefore, take caution and be careful of what you post on the internet. You never know who may be looking at it.


Developed by Brad Hutchinson