E-mail Safety

• Do not open links or files from people you do not know.
  
• Never respond to e-mails with pornographic or other inappropriate material.
  
• Do not respond to advertisements -- this confirms that you have a working e-mail account, and you will only receive more junk e-mail.

Chat Rooms

Chat rooms can be particularly dangerous. Even when chat rooms are specifically for teens, participants are not necessarily all teens. Someone you meet in the chat room may actually be an adult predator who has made up an identity to hide his or her age. Sometimes these predators will let you know that they are somewhat older than they initially said. This is a hint that you are dealing with an adult, not someone your own age, and you should stop communicating with that person.

Another common problem on the Internet is finding Web sites with credible information. Below are some tips to help you assess a Web site's reliability.
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Assessing a Web Site

• Look for an author, a way to contact the author or organization, and a title, and make sure that the information has been recently updated, particularly if it is about health issues.
  
• Assess the credibility of the organization or author to write on the specific topic.
  
• Check if the links are still working.
  
• According to the Palo Alto Police Department, Check the URL (Web site address) to see what the domain name includes: .com (commercial), .gov (government), .org (organization), .net (network), .edu (educational organization) or a two letter country code (country of origin). This can tell you whether the site's main goal is education or if it is trying to sell you something.
  
• See if the site seems biased or if it is trying to persuade you in a particular direction.

Blogging

Blog is short for web log. Blogs allow kids, teens and adults to write on many topics in somewhat of an online diary. However, blogs are not private like diaries. People of all ages all over the world can read your blog, even people who know you only through your writing.

Blogging can be a fun way to meet people with similar interests, connect with friends who live far away and develop your writing. There are many free blogging services. Some popular ones include "Livejournal" and "Xanga." Bloggers can join groups on these sites that link them to their friends and people with whom they have things in common. Blogging can help teens communicate and develop their interests, but there are also dangers to blogging.

The internet is anonymous. You can never be certain that people are who they say they are. The “fifteen-year-old-girl who also loves swimming” might actually be a forty-three-year-old man in Nebraska who wants to see you in a bathing suit. You might think you know whom you are talking to, but you can never be sure. You can also never tell who actually posted a blog entry or a comment because hackers can break into blogs.

Some teens post photos of themselves on their blogs. This is dangerous because anyone reading your blog can see your pictures and recognize you in public. Some bloggers also post their full name, school, home address or phone numbers. This is dangerous because it makes them too easy for strangers to contact or locate.

Many teen bloggers do not tell their parents that they have blogs because they post things that they do not want their parents to know about. They may think that if their parents find out that they have blogs they’ll make them delete them. However, parents may simply ask their children to use safety features. One of these safety features lets only people accepted as your “friends” read your blog. Talk with your parents about Internet safety and assure them that you are careful on the Internet. Remember that the Internet is public domain that anyone can access, so it is important to be take precautions when you blog.

Two Popular Blogs:
> MySpace
> Facebook
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