Betty teaches you the importance of keeping your OFFLINE identity separate from your ONLINE identity
Betty
Cyber Defender & Clubhouse Supervisor
Betty learned the hard way about sharing too much information online when rumors she had spread through her online blog upset some of her friends. Since then she has made it her goal to educate everyone about what information is inappropriate or unsafe to share online to prevent others from getting hurt.
As a Cyber Defender, Betty focuses on the most important information you should never share online, your offline identity.
A stumble may prevent a fall
- English Proverb
Tea and crumpets
Interests:Chatting, macrame, collecting teacups
October 21 2008
Personal Information: Politicians and their permanent records
Elections are always a very interesting time to be a citizen. Throughout
the course of a campaign, the candidates’ lives are closely examined by
everyone. Journalists and other politicians are eager to find examples
of mistakes they have made in the past in order to make people question
their judgment and their decision making. This negative campaigning,
also called mudslinging, can sometimes unearth some pretty bad “secrets”
that can potentially ruin people’s careers.
My dear cadets, remember what I said about your permanent record? Thirty
years from now it probably won’t matter what your hair looked like, what
shoes you wore, or even if you didn’t get the greatest grade on that
biology test. But it will matter what you posted online, especially if
you become a politician.
Anything you say and do online will still be around when you’re an adult
and can easily come back to haunt you. Just look at former Congressman
Mark Foley. He had to resign from Congress after it was discovered that
he had been chatting inappropriately with high school
students online.
Mark Foley may not have realized that his actions in
Cyberspace were easily traceable or that anyone would look into them,
and as a result his reputation was destroyed. Learn from his mistake,
cadets, and don’t ever let anything that could ruin your reputation or
your future end up in Cyberspace.
posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information
August 5 2008
Personal Information: Creating a safe Alias
Your alias or screenname is the most important part of your Online identity, so you want to take care when choosing it. You want it to be something fun that you're going to like, but you also want it to be as safe as possible. Here are some tips for creating a good alias:
- Don't use any of your personal information in your alias. This includes your name (even if it's just your first name), your age, or where you live.
- Choose something that is gender-neutral, meaning that people won't know right away if you are a girl or boy.
- Follow good netiquette and choose something appropriate and respectful.
An unsafe alias can make cyber criminals and weirdo strangers think you are an easy target, and you might get more attention from them than you'd like. Be sure to choose carefully, especially if you plan on using it for a while.
Here's a list of aliases, some are good choices and some are not. Do you know which ones are unsafe?
PittsburghPete
i8aBug2
BananaMonkey
SparklesGrrl
uRstupid
GreenMonster44
CoolBeans
ToughGuy13
posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information
June 10 2008
Personal Information: Your Permanent Record
It's so easy for anyone to publish information to the Internet these days. Whether you're posting content to a blog or social networking profile or commenting on someone else's blog, photo, or video stream, you are leaving little traces of yourself all over Cyberspace. You may not realize exactly how permanent or public these traces are.
Once something is on the Internet, it is there permanently. Even if you wanted to remove it, chances are it has already been copied and archived on several other machines and passed around so many times that you'll never be able to remove every copy. That's why you should always think really hard about something before you publish it on the Internet.
Everything you publish can be traced back to you and reflects on your personal character. Think of it as your permanent record. You wouldn't want to get suspended from school because your principal found pictures of you misbehaving at a party, would you? Or to get turned down for a job 10 years from now because they found out that you had published important secrets on the Web when you were younger and decided that they couldn't trust you. It's becoming a very common practice for colleges and workplaces to use search engines to look up potential students and job applicants to find out what kind of person they are, and many people have been turned down because of what they put on the Internet.
Instead, why not use your Internet permanent record to your advantage? Make sure that the only things published by or about you online are good things. Things that show you are an honest, considerate, hard-working person, and someone a college or employer would be honored to have as part of their organization. Remember: think before you publish, every single time!
posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information
May 13 2008
Personal Information: Your ONLINE/OFFLINE identities
Your OFFLINE identity consists of all of your personal information, like your name, age, and where you live. Your OFFLINE identity is the real you, the one your family and friends at school know and love. When you're in Cyberspace, you never ever want to reveal your OFFLINE identity or any of your personal information to anyone. It can be very dangerous to do so!
Instead of using your OFFLINE identity in Cyberspace, you need to create an ONLINE identity for yourself. Usually this just means coming up with an alias or screenname, something like FunkyMonkey or iLovePinkSocks, just as long as it doesn't contain your real name or any of your personal information.
Whenever you're in Cyberspace, only use your ONLINE identity to be safe. If someone starts asking you questions about your personal information or your OFFLINE identity, the best response is to just ignore them. If they continue to bother you even after you tell them you don't share that information in Cyberspace, you should tell a trusted adult about them. You can also block people to stop them from sending you emails and Instant Messages.
posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information
April 15 2008
Personal Information: What exactly IS personal information?
If you haven't completed your Communications Level 1 training mission yet, all this talk about personal information might be confusing to you. I'll try to clarify what we mean by personal information and also to explain why it's so very dangerous to share it in Cyberspace.
Personal information is any information about you that can be used to identify you or find out where you are. This includes not only the obvious things like your full name and your address, but some other less-obvious things, like your car's license plate number or what sports team you play on.
Really sneaky Cyber Criminals and weirdo strangers will use everything they know about you, from your alias to your favorite food, to try to trick and harm you. Knowing your personal information just makes it that much easier. They might try to find out where you live and come break into your house, or try to steal your money, your identity, or your car. They might even lie to you about how old they are and try to get you to meet with them in person to hurt you or even kidnap you. The more personal information you reveal in Cyberspace, the more in danger you are putting yourself and your family in.
You can refer to Hint Sheet #2 for a list of examples of personal information. I'd recommend printing it out and keeping it near your computer as a reminder. You can also read all my blog posts on personal information to learn more.
posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information
February 26 2008
Personal Information: Protect your friends
You want your friends to be careful about not revealing any of your personal information online, but you in turn need to be careful not to reveal any of theirs. You should check with them before posting anything about them online. The same rules for what is personal information apply to their information as well as yours.
Also, be sure to help them learn how to keep their personal information safe online. You may know a lot more about it than they do!
posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information
January 29 2008
Personal Information: Check your friend's posts
If you have an online profile, you're hopefully using extreme caution and monitoring everything you post there to make sure that you don't reveal any personal information, right? Of course you are, cadets! But what about your friends? Another risk with some social networking sites is that your friends can post comments on your page and could very easily reveal some of your personal information.
Be sure to check through what your friends are posting because even if you are very careful, they might not be and may be putting you at risk! Some sites even allow you to moderate comments so you can check through everything before it goes on the Internet. Remember, once it is on the Internet, you can't take it back!
posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information
December 20 2007
Personal Information: Hidden Personal Information
Photos and videos can have all sorts of personal information in them that you could reveal without even meaning to if you post them online. This information could be used for identity theft or cyber bullying, or it could even reveal your offline identity.
You could give away your school or a location you like to visit often by posting a photo of that place. A photo of you wearing a school or team t-shirt, a scout uniform or baseball cap could help a Cyber Criminal figure out what your interests are and even where you'll be after school.
Why, I just had to give a stern talking-to to a friend of mine who wanted to post a picture of a flower in her front yard. She didn't even realize that in that photo you could see her house address, the name of her street, and her car's license plate number!
Before you click, check each photo thoroughly and don't post any that reveal personal information! Blur out or alter any risky parts, or better yet, don't post them at all. If you need to share a photo with a friend, show it to them in person. It'll be easier to talk about, too!
posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information
November 27 2007
Personal Information: Combining small facts
Cyber criminals and weirdo strangers can be very sneaky and very patient if they are trying to find out your offline identity. They probably won't come right out and ask you for it. They'll slip it into the conversation, hoping that you won't notice. They remember everything you tell them, and they'll stick around for a long time to find out what they want to know. Even sharing little things like what kind of car your parents drive or what color your house is can help them figure out who and where you are.
That's why you have to always be on guard, Cyber Defenders! Even the littlest things that seem so harmless can be dangerous to share.
posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information
July 11 2007
Chat Rooms
I love going to chat rooms. You can meet such interesting people there if you know how to look and what to say. But chat rooms can be dangerous too. Just the other day I was in a room where a man asked for my home address. It scared me a bit. If I had slipped up and answered him, he would know too much personal information.
No matter what you do online you must be careful about what personal facts you share. A good idea is to never tell anyone on the internet anything that can be used to track you down.
posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information
June 13 2007
Dear Cadets,
Now I know what you're thinking. Why on earth does Betty have a picture of herself on her blog when she tells me all the time not to put pictures of myself online? Well honey, as an adult, I understand the risk I am taking and the consequences of having my picture here.
You'll also see that my photo is my work picture, not some picture of me at a party having a good time! It's very important to be aware of how you are respresenting yourself Online. I don't want my great Aunt Matilda coming across any embarassing pictures of me online, so I make sure there just aren't any there to find!