Betty teaches you the importance of keeping your OFFLINE identity separate from your ONLINE identity

Betty

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.

Favorite Quote:

A stumble may prevent a fall
- English Proverb

Favorite Food:

Tea and crumpets

Interests:

Chatting, macrame, collecting teacups

August 17, 2010

Netiquette - Phone Etiquette

My dear Cadets, being back in 1986 has got me thinking – we spend so much time communicating online that maybe, just maybe, we have been neglecting our phone etiquette. Technology may be a great unifier, but I’m starting to think overusing it might let us forget that what it’s like to deal one-on-one with real people! Here’s a list of things to keep in mind when you’re talking to someone over the phone.

  • If the person you’re speaking to is at work, keep the conversation short and courteous.
  • If you dial the wrong number, apologize before hanging up.
  • Try not to call a business or person at a time that’s inconvenient, such as near closing time or during hours when the person might be eating.
  • Answer your phone with a simple “Hello” and certainly not “What” or “Talk to me.”
  • When creating the message people hear before leaving you a voicemail, just leave it simple. No one wants to listen through three minutes of a terrible-sounding song just to leave you a message!
  • Above all else, just be nice! Speak clearly and calmly and do your best not to lose your temper

If you follow these simple tips you will have much more pleasant experiences on the phone. Remember, Cadets, it always pays to be courteous!

posted by Betty
topics: Netiquette

July 15, 2010

Safe Online Communication: Bulletin Board Systems

Before blogging and before forums, computer users talked to each other through something called a “Bulletin Board System” or “BBS”. This system let users log in to a central hub of information to share programs or post messages to each other. In many ways, it was a lot like an early version of the Web. It was very popular from the 1970’s to the mid 1990’s, though once the Internet went public it lost most of its popularity.

Though BBS malware was rare, it did happen! Just like in 2010, cyber criminals would try their best to destroy Bulletin Board Systems and ruin everyone’s good times. Unfortunately, some things never change. If it weren’t for cyber villains like the BBS hackers of the past, the Carnegie Cyber Academy might not have ever been founded!

posted by Betty
topics: Safe Online Communication

June 16, 2010

Personal Information: Public Tweets

Hey Cadets! Do you use Twitter? Well, if your “tweets” are public, the U.S. Government is logging them all in a database! That’s right, the Library of Congress now has a record of every time you wrote “I’m having a really awesome meatball sandwich” or “My socks are bunched between my toes and it’s driving me nuts!” or anything else you’ve ever tweeted about.

The Library of Congress says that they’re keeping track of the tweets because they are a great research tool. They hope that future researchers can use this Twitter database. I know that it really will be a terrific research tool for future generations but…I don’t know. I don’t think I’m comfortable with my tweets being kept in some database forever! Though I suppose if I really wanted to keep something private, I wouldn’t tweet about it publically in the first place. What do you think about all this?

posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information

May 14, 2010

Personal Information: Online Wish List

Shock! Awe! Fear! I can’t believe it, Cadets! After reading Commander Omni’s blog about ego surfing, I decided to give it a try. And do you know what I found? One of my wish lists! At first, I thought it was nice that anyone who searched my name could see what I wanted for a gift. Maybe now people will stop getting me socks for my birthday! But then I realized something. The wish list also showed my home address.

Imagine my surprise! Anyone who looked up my name would know exactly where I live! That’s like having a big blinking sign over my house that says “Hey Weirdo Stranger, come on over!”

I immediately signed into my account and set my wish list to private. That should keep stranger danger down to a minimum. My fellow Cadets, if you’ve got a wish list on the Internet, make sure you have it set to private! If someone wants to know what you want for a gift, they’ll just have to ask you!

posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information

April 14, 2010

Netiquette - Spoilers!

How angry am I? So angry! And why? Well, it all started yesterday as I was reading through a forum for my favorite TV show. One of the posters must have assumed everyone in the forums saw the last episode, because he wrote exactly how it ended.

Thanks for ruining it! I’ve been so busy lately that I missed the last episode. I was going to watch it tonight, but no sense in doing that now! Ugh. And to think, this all could have been prevented if he let the readers know his post contained spoilers.

My fellow Cadets, if you’re going to reveal any fact about a show, book, movie, play, etc, that your reader may not know, tag it as a spoiler! The easiest way to do this is by writing ****SPOILER ALERT**** before the spoiler and ****END SPOILERS**** afterwards. By doing this, you will keep your readers happy and they will not have to worry about you spoiling anything for them.

Oh, and finally, PLEASE don’t put any spoilers in the title of your post! At least give your reader’s a fighting chance to decide for themselves if they want to read the spoilers!

posted by Betty
topics: Netiquette

March 10, 2010

Case Studies: Facebook Bomb Scare

Thank goodness for social networking sites! Four students from a New Jersey high school were discussing the best way to blow up their school over the Internet, and, luckily, they were doing it on a social networking site. One of their friends saw the discussion, printed out a copy of it, and handed it in to the high school principal the very next day. Taking the threat seriously, the principal evacuated the school, had the plotters arrested, and saw that local police searched their homes. The arrested students said that they were just joking and that they were surprised anyone took the threat seriously.

Joking?!? And I thought jokes were supposed to be funny! My fellow Cadets, if you see anyone making threats against a school or anyone you know, whether you think they’re joking or not, tell a trusted adult right away. Imagine if the students were serious and no one had told the principal what they were planning? I can hardly stand thinking about it!

School threats are never funny, no matter what. The student that came forward with the information did the right thing, and I’m sure her classmates and teachers really appreciate it!

posted by Betty
topics: Case Studies

February 26, 2010

Personal Information: Online Quizzes

Beware, my fellow Cadets! Beware the dangers of online quizzes! What's that? You think I'm overreacting? Well, I think you're underreacting! Of course I know that's not a word!

Ahem. Sorry. I'm better now.

In all seriousness, online quizzes may be fun, but they are very risky! Say, for example, you want to find out what type of dog you are. So you sit t1here and you start entering all this personal information. After that, do you know what happens to all that information about you? The company that runs the quiz is keeping track of all of it! Then they take all of it and sell it to advertising companies!

And on top of all that, the quizzes are not even accurate! So just think, not only did you just give away all your personal information, you might not even be a poodle after all!

My fellow Cadets, please think twice before filling out any online quizzes. A few minutes of fun isn't worth putting your information on the Internet for anyone to have!

posted by Betty
topics: Personal Information