Social Networking: Safe or Not?

Social Networking: Safe or Not?

The internet has become one of the most useful tools of our time. It has become a device that unites people of every race, age, and personality. But with such an apparatus comes the misuse of it. Sexual predators have always adapted to modern ways to interact with their prey. Social networks such as Facebook can now pinpoint your location or the city that you are near giving predators the time, date and location of their victim. Profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Xanga, etc., contain open information about a person that is open to others. "One out of five American children say they have been sexually harassed or solicited while online, usually in Internet chat rooms or via instant messaging and e-mail" (Hansen).

Some or most predators disguise themselves as another person when making contact with a victim. Most of the time predators create profiles and disguise themselves as a person whom the victim would find attractive. From this the conversation and exchanging of information begins, and so does the trust building (Hopkins). When a person becomes comfortable with one another they often plan times to "hang out" and meet one another. But what the victim does not know is that the person who she has been in contact with is not really who he is put out to be. The person they meet is there to hurt, rape, and, at extreme times, kill. Take this story for example:

Scott Tyree, 38, met Alicia Kozakiewicz, 13, on an online network. Tyree spent a month gaining Alicia's trust. They scheduled to meet on New Year's Day. Alicia's parents soon realized that there daughter was missing and called the police. A source told police that Tyree had been planning on driving to Pittsburg (Alicia's hometown) to pick her up and that he had last contacted her though Yahoo. The policed traced Tyree back to his home where police found Alicia strapped to a bed. Police soon found Tyree at his job and arrested him (Hansen).

Unless you know the person with whom you are friending and talking too, you should not add them. This should be one of the main safety precautions people should take.

Social networks such as Facebook and MySpace have loads of information about the people who use it, which are mostly kids, teens, and adults. The biggest concern is with the youth and teenagers; their names, pictures, friends, and information are a click away for a predator to track, stalk, and contact the person. "The social-networking sites have become, in a sense, a happy hunting ground for child predators" (Greenblatt). In most cases the victims are girls and young women, whom are the easiest prey. Predators sweep girls away by telling them things they want to hear making the two have an attraction towards one another; this is known as "grooming" (GreenBlatt).

The case of Peter Chapman illustrates how sex offenders will hide their true identity and use social networking sites to lure their victims. Chapman was a 33 year-old sex offender that used a fictitious name and claimed to be a 17 year-old boy on Facebook. His Facebook profile attracted more than 14,600 visitors, and approximately 3,000 became online friends. All of his Facebook "friends" were girls ranging in age from 13 to 31. Once they became his friend on Facebook, he would try to redirect them to private online chat rooms where he would invite them to provide sexually explicit details about themselves. One of Chapman's Facebook friends was a 17 year-old girl named Ashleigh Hall. Chapman used Facebook as a tool to groom Ashleigh. Unfortunately for Ashleigh, she had no idea she was communicating with a sexual monster. Chapman kidnapped, raped, and murdered Ashleigh (Hopkins). Thankfully Chapman was caught and "convicted of these crimes and is now serving a life sentence in prison" (Hopkins). Unfortunately many people do