MySpace
 

How many adults out there have created a myspace just because? I have due to my children living away from me and also finding old classmates believe it or not. For a year I kept saying it was for kids but in reality there are just as many adults out there as there are kids on myspace.

yea.. it's a big hit with the kids no doubt.. my kids have their own myspace, and all their friends do.. myspace is also a pretty big hit with bands as well.. I've even seen some movies lately advertising their myspace address. so I guess it's all the rage.. but no don't have my own myspace.

Latenight.

I worry about my children on line
 

My youngest daughter (15) has a myspace page and I worry about freaks
logging on and seeing photos and personal info. I know you cant log on
unless..... but hackers can get into most anything they would like. Caution
is the word with this new myspace. I am sure it has its good points but
our children are just that children. Personal photos on line "NOT" !
To each his or her own as a adult but I know there are some very bad
folks out there so Scarlett enjoy but caution too.

Myspace
 

Myspace seems to be the launching point for most of the zero-day exploits people keep finding in Windows. I wouldn't even consider pulling up a myspace page. We completely block the entire site at work.

Yes well that could be a problem for the inexperienced PC user. I mean folks even today still open the strange looking, unsolicited, e-mail attachment from the person they've never heard of and infect their own machines on a daily basis.

However, for someone with just a fraction of common sense, Myspace doesn't pose any threat to your PC what so ever...

Here's a link to mine, but be sure to turn your volume as loud as it will go prior to clicking the below image.

"The inexperienced PC user" is the category that covers 99% of all office workers.

Also, Myspace is where that GDI cursor bug showed up in the wild a last month. There is absolutely nothing experience could have done to protect you if you were using IE, MS didn't patch it for a couple of weeks. There have been a few others like that, as well.

I have a myspace account, but I never use it. I haven't posted anything on it. I just use it for contacting other myspace users on rare occasions.

As for me, I'm a very savvy computer user. There is really very little myspace can do for me that I can't do on my own webspace. Moreover, there are a TON of things I can do on my webspace that Myspace will never have.

I think MySpace is the devil's playground for the most part. I realize there are some exceptions, but I have seen the pathway it has led my step son down, his mother, and even my own 18 y/o son for awhile until I banned it. The things that these kids say and do on it are atrocious. Parents are not doing enough to monitor their children's activities on it. Stepson's mother has some pretty horrific stuff on her MySpace that the authorities themselves need to view. She is on their talking to adolescents mostly and interacting in a very inappropriate manner for a 50 y/o woman.

I think it's not a good thing but it's just my opinion from our experience.

Actually there is a VERY SIMPLE solution that covers every existing, potential, and future threat posed to IE users.....It's called Firefox and I highly recommend you switch browsers as soon as possible.

http://danwarne.com/pics/firefoxicon.jpg

You know, I was just pondering where the Internet has gone since it was first introduced to the public and what it has brought to us.

Now, we have every piece of information you could ever need right at your fingertips. You could talk to or play games with people in any country anywhere in the world. You can shop and some even work their job right from home now. The Internet has, in a sense, brought people closer to together all over the world. It tears down barriers put up by time and space that would otherwise stand between us and the world.

Bringing people closer together sounds like a great idea until we are reminded that there are people out there we honestly wouldn't want to be closer to (like our friend, Santabot). There are people whose existance downright repel us because they are different, are misguided, or just generally oppose everything we are and stand for.

People, as a society, still haven't gotten over differences among us. People who do not share our upbringing generally make us turn away. Is it their fault? No more than our upbringing is our fault. Aside from that, it's also true that some of these people repel us because of behavior that we find entirely attrocious.

Take romance with minors, for instance. While I do not condone such behavior here in the states where it is quite illegal, there are places in the world where the age of consent is as low as 12. While I was in Florida, we heard stories in our neighborhood of a foreign man from overseas who moved in. He recently became a U.S. citizen and immediately got into trouble with the law. Why? Because his wife, whom we brought with him from his country, was way under 18. It may not be right to be married to a minor, but in his case, I couldn't really shun him for it.

Of course, there are also people who just simply violent or are sexual predators, which I think is one of the biggest fears of getting online and posting personal data on Myspace. A little common sense is appropriate here.

Here are some simple common sense Internet safety tips that may help you stay safe online:

1. Never meet someone you met online unless you've known them and spoken to them online for some time (6 months or more) and have spoken to them via other means. Knowing some of their other friends is helpful. This gives you time to gauge their personality.
   
2. Don't trust photos that people send you. They may not actually be them.
   
3. Despite the bad reputation webcams have been given due to the pornography industry, webcams can be your best friend for identifying someone online whom you may want to meet in person. They cost $20 at Wal-mart and they are nearly impossible to fool, so persuade your online friends to get one and consent to webcam interaction. Yahoo Messenger has a webcam feature that is great for getting to know people and it will show you EXACTLY who is sitting at the keyboard. Sexual predators who wish to keep their identities secret will not consent to this, so it's a good method to filter out potential threats.
   
4. Posting your photo online isn't always a bad thing because having nothing but a photo, a sexual predator isn't going to track you down with only that.
   
5. Be careful posting an address or telephone number online! E-mail is more secure and if you want to arrange a telephone conversation, send your number through e-mail!
   
6. Use nicknames anywhere you can and avoid using any real names!

I may think of more later, but this should do for now. Later! :D

:clap:

Sorry, but I have to spread some reputation around before I can "give it to AnimeSpirit again"

LOL

Switching from IE isn't an option for many people.

Utilizing FREE software is an option for anyone with an internet connection and administrative access to their PC. If you AREN'T the system administrator then you're probably being paid to do something other than browse profiles on Myspace, and shouldn't be there anyway.

Edited my layout again....take a look. You might be surprised! Here's a hint, it's not heavy metal, death, or demonic in nature what so ever....but that's why you better look quick because it won't be there for long.

http://www.myspace.com/brainsmashr

The problem is that children use myspace to communicate "underground" where they learn how to defeat most if not all parental controls. For example Kids are using a U3 Smart Drive to circumvent "net nanny" type software. Short of standing over your child while he or she is typing, it is hard to be sure what they are doing all the time. That might be ideal to always stand over your child, but in the real world, I'm not always going to be all the places that a keyboard might be. I don't have a perfect solution other than to raise my kids to do the right thing, because I'm sure they can outsmart me if they try hard enough.

Rhertz, you are absolutely correct with your post. In our home we have even banned the kids from being on MySpace. Now I can not control what they do at school on a computer or elsewhere but while they are in the house it is off limits. It has certainly made a big difference in their attitudes alone. One of the things that appalls me the most about the teens on MySpace is their language. Some of it seems to be more foul than anything I would expect to hear in a prison. They also seem to have no fear of putting all of their information on their page with no thoughts given to who may be seeing it.

It is indeed surprising that kids put everything on their My Space page for anyone to see! Their parents, their teachers, their employers can check in and see what these kids are really about! My kids do have them but so far I haven't been too shocked by their posts and pictures. I have to remember when I was their age I was doing similar things but then again not telling and showing the whole world about it. Hmmmm....guess it's time to go do a little snooping, er, I mean checking up on them!:)

Yes well what can I say...there are to many horror stories out there to not warrant providing some measure of safety for your children.

I just hope you understand that MySpace isn't the bad apple spoiling the bunch....It's closer to the truth to say that MySpace is a product of it's environment and that your children have computer skills far exceeding your own. My guess is if they are teens you have done little more than inconvenience them.

Oh I am quite sure my children are far more adept with computer skills than I many times. I at least have not put the gun in their hand, the pills in their mouth, etc. I have made it difficult for them. Also I can get on and check their last log in date!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They don't know that Mom knows how to find their MySpace page and info quite as well as I do. I love to play stupid for them and let them fall into the trap!

Good work Tbelle! And if they want a U3 Smart drive for their birthday, be very suspicious. The only thing that really works are "server side" filters like N2H2's Bess filter which are common in many schools.

Please tell what you do when the trap is shut ? How do you get on to look at their space ? I am still not that crazy about myspace for my kids or anybody else placing their photos on a web site. Crazy world it is :rolleyes:

How do I get to look at their space? I can never tell my secret in public on the board!!!;) But let's suffice it to say the kids should pay more attention to who they make their "friend"!:laugh:

I wonder if Mom wasn't so busy using underhanded tactics to spy on her kids if they would be a little less sneaky and more open with her?

Ummm Brain you obviously don't have kids so you'll never understand truly what us parents are referring to. I spend very little time checking up on my children. I simply don't have to. It's just there if I need it. My children have been raised well and therefore as of this day have made pretty good decisions.

It's interesting how people without kids seem to want to give us parents advice the most isn't it? I have been very fortunate that my girls and I have a very open relationship. I'll say I've even been startled by some things they have confided and entrusted in me. I think it's okay to make sure that any inappropriate photos or language or too much info. aren't being placed on My Space. If so I just ask her to take it down AND she knows I glance at it every now and then. One can never be too careful especially with daughters!

Yeah, I was born an adult too and don't have any first hand experience at being a child, and with the exception of Anime, more recently than most folks here too.

BTW, creating alternate personalities for the sole purpose of spying on your children falls smack dab in the middle of going overboard, in my opinion, regardless of how you justify it to yourself.

Of course, and not having children means I lack the intelligence to form opinions. Just like people should shoot heroin in their veins before having opinions about illegal drugs and try butt sex a time or two before having opinions about sodomy and/or homosexual relationships too, huh?:nono: :nono:

Yeah, thank god we don't all live on your planet.

I know brain will not read this :laugh: He is our resident expert on going overboard and yes with a opinion none the less :laugh: Could Brain really be Sybil ? Hot, cold, cold, cold, hot, hot, hot,hot,cold,hotttttttt :mad!: He could be this months poster child for Bipolarity :eek:
Attachment 674

They are coming to take me away ha ha....they are coming to take me away hee hee....:laugh:

We could just make him the new SB Dr. Spock. Always get his advice first on how to raise your children.

In the immortal words of Ronald Reagan, "Trust! (but verify)" :D

But trust is earned not just freely given.

And exactly who was it that advised you to manipulate and lie to your children in the guise of an alternate personality?

Do you REALLY think that do as I say not as I do bull**** is working?

Brain, you need to learn to read. I never said I lied to them. I just play stupid. There is a difference. The minute if one of them asked me if I ever look or has the first question, I'll give them an honest answer. The point of it is with our rules and guidance they don't get on it anymore.

But you know the minute you become a parent and walk in the same shoes as the rest of us, I'll freely listen to your advice. Until then, argue with us about something else.

You play with da sheet and you get da sheet on you :rolleyes: There is no give in him only take :eek:

I agree with you sir. Some people are best just ignored. They words are about as worthless as the ticks on a dog's behind.

I think he is more like a parasitic hook worm :barf:

Well that's really nice, but here on EARTH, intentionally misrepresenting yourself, IS lying....and in fact, under certain conditions, misrepresenting yourself is illegal (identity theft, insurance fraud, etc, etc)

and although you haven't actually broken any laws, you HAVE in fact violated the very first MySpace term of service agreement (Congratulations on being part of the problem)

Eligibility. Use of and Membership in the MySpace Services is void where prohibited. By using the MySpace Services, you represent and warrant that (a) all registration information you submit is truthful and accurate; (b) you will maintain the accuracy of such information; (c) you are 14 years of age or older; and (d) your use of the MySpace Services does not violate any applicable law or regulation. Your profile may be deleted and your Membership may be terminated without warning, if we believe that you are under 14 years of age.


So the question is, if you have to resort to questionable activity then what exactly makes you any better than those you're trying to catch?

Simply put, as far as I can tell your children are LEARNING their "questionable activity" from YOU or do you feel as a parent you ARE NOT one of the most influential people they have encountered in their life thus far.....

...and if it's not "questionable" then why are you using underhanded tactics to spy on them instead of talking to them in the first place:peace:

And let's not forget numbers 6 and 10 on the partial list of prohibited activities.

6. attempting to impersonate another Member or person;

10. # using any information obtained from the MySpace Services in order to harass, abuse, or harm another person;


and I think we all understand that you are in fact impersonating another person, fictious or not, for the sole purpose of obtaining information in order to harass your children for their MySpace activities.

So I ask you again, what makes you better than the "criminal" if you have to "break the law" in order to catch him? Now there is a difference between not strapping your child in a car seat and creating a fictious MySpace account for the sole purpose of spying on your kids, but still.......

Okay here is my 2 cents worth...after Columbine; the “experts” advised parents to spy on their children. We were told to know everything that goes on with your children. Afterwards, I started searching my child's room almost weekly. He had NetNanny on his computer, so I would check the log quite often. We never had any trouble with our child. We tried to set a good example for him by not doing the following things, drinking, smoking, and using profanity. He never knew I checked his room out. You have to stay a step ahead of your children, so if they do something wrong, you can address it immediately.

Tbelle, my child is almost finished with college and My Space was not around when he was living at home, but if it was I would certainly check it out. His NetNanny would shut it down if bad language was on the page. LOL. Perhaps you need to install something like it on your computer. It works very well.