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New_to_the_Net_Safe_Chatting
| New to the Net: Safe Chatting
New to the Net: Safe Chatting By Linda C. Allardice
One of the first places I visited when I signed up for my
Internet service way back in 1993 was the public chat rooms. It
was so fascinating to have all these strangers gather together
and talk about everything from politics to just how much they
really hated their bosses. My mouth gaped like a sea bass when I
noticed some folks spilling their guts onto the computer screen
and admitting to stuff that should be kept secret – such juicy
gossip I couldn’t get at my hairdresser on one of her busiest
days.
Chat rooms are still enormously popular, but the rules of safety
remain as steadfast as a palace guard.
If you’re new to the Web, you’ve got to be extremely careful in
chat rooms. There are some major don’ts you need to follow to
keep your chatting an enjoyable yet safe experience.
Don’t ever for whatever reason enter your real name,
address, city, phone number, password, or any other personal
information into a chat room discussion.
Oftentimes, a perpetrator who may want to hack into your
computer -- or worse your home -- can come up with clever ways
to get inexperienced Internet users to reveal personal
information. They might get you to talk about landmarks, places
of interest in your community, where you work or go to school to
zero in on your location.
Don’t respond to Instant Messages if you don’t know the
sender.
Instant Messages are those private messages that pop up on your
screen apart from the main chat room. Some are easy to detect as
spammers when they send you an IM saying they are a model and
want you to look at their pictures. That screams “yes, I am a
porno perp” loud and clear. Some spammers have password sniffers
on their end that can snatch your password if you reply to the
message. One they have your password they can have a field day
with your account. Spammers might send you an IM that says
“Warning: you cannot continue in the Chat Room without entering
your password here.” This catches many new Internet and some
veterans off guard and they mistakenly comply with the request.
Go to a private chat room if possible.
Some Internet providers allow patrons to create their own rooms
that are somewhat semi-private. It’s a great place for family,
friends or business associates to hang out without getting
clobbered by unwanted intruders and spammers. Another drawback
with public chat rooms is that everyone Tom, Dick and Harry gets
your screen name and clogs your e-mail box with junk mail.
If you dare enter a public chat room, be prepared to have an
e-mail box full of credit card offers, specials on Viagra, and
sites that promise nude pics of your favorite celebrities for
FREE.
If you don’t want to fight, find another room
Stay in a chat room long enough, and the place begins to turn
into a bar with someone eventually typing in capital letters
(viewed as SHOUTING) claiming God doesn’t exist. Or someone will
spill enough racial slurs onto the screen that would even make
Archie Bunker cringe. These arguments can get pretty heated
because everyone is anonymous, shooting their mouths off, and
taking some nasty shots at others. Don’t engage in hate speech
or get involved with those trying to make trouble. Some chat
rooms allow you to ignore certain people, or even allow you to
report those who are disrupting the chat room.
* Don’t let your children enter public chat rooms without
supervision
Too many children are taken advantage of in these chat rooms and
terrible things have happened to them. Sometimes, they believe
they are chatting with someone their own age, when they are
really chatting with an older person who spends his time on the
Internet trying to lure children into a trap. Make sure your
children never reveal their names, telephone number, address,
school name, password, state, city, or where their parents work,
in a chat room or IM.
No one wants to be taken advantage of, so it’s especially
important that you keep your guard up when you enter public chat
rooms. Enjoy chatting with folks from around the world, but
remember to keep that line of
not-giving-out-personal-information deeply drawn in the sand,
and don’t cross it. . .ever.
About the author:
Business manager of Bay City Marketing. Stay on top of the
latest in employment, marketing and business trends. Go to
http://www.geocities.com/baycitymarketing
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