Chat and Instant Messaging (IM) are great ways to
meet others and network with people who have
similar interests. It is very important to
understand that most things on the Internet are
accessible by anyone in the world and thus open
to all the different shades of human kind, good
and evil.
Chatting with someone in another part of the
world with the same interests and goals as you
can be enlightening and rewarding. On the other
end of the scale, chatting with someone who you
don't realize is acting a role while they are
gathering information about you, can infringe on
your privacy and jeopardize your safety. Just as
there are good and bad people in the world,
there are also good and bad people online.
Often, as people become familiar with using chat
or IM they let their defenses slip. They are
usually in comfortable and safe surroundings such
as their home or the library, so it may feel safe
to share small bits of personal information.
Why it is important to be cautious about what you
share is in these spaces is because all those
little bits of information added together can
lead to quite a detailed profile about a person.
A profile may contain names, locations, likes and
dislikes. Who would want to gather someone's
personal information you ask? Marketers may be
looking for specific targets or demographics to
gather information for commercial purposes.
A more sinister reason to gather information is
to target vulnerable individuals, create a
profile of them, gain their trust, and then
exploit or harm them. Children and vulnerable
adults who are not experienced or knowledgeable
about online safety are at risk of being targeted
and exploited.
Another thing that people often are not aware of
is that our usual ways of discerning if someone
is good or bad can't be used. We can't see their
expressions or physical actions.We can't hear
their tone of voice and we don't observe them
other than in the controlled setting of chat or
IM. Under these controlled settings someone can
easily act different from who they really are and
can often do this for long periods of time
because they are actively involved in the role
they are playing online. In other words don't
think because you have seen someone act the same
online for a long time that they will be the same
offline. The longer people portray themselves a
certain way online, the more believable they may
seem. There are people online who experiment with
different roles for their own growth. There are
also people online who assume roles for illegal
and harmful purposes.
THINGS TO BE AWARE OF IN CHAT
For example, a person in a chat room will often
focus on chatting with only some of the people in
the room. They may forget that the rest of the
room can still see what they are typing. They may
think that other people in the chat room aren't
watching or interested in their conversation. Yet
there may be someone there who is watching
(lurking) or who is looking (trolling) for a
specific type of person who they believe they
could exploit.
NOTE: When you are
engaged in chat or instant messaging you should
always be conscious of what you are saying and
what information you are giving out.
THINGS TO BE AWARE OF IN INSTANT MESSAGING
Instant Messaging can seem like a safer method of
communicating, but that is not necessarily so.
You still need to be aware of what you are saying
and guard against giving out personal
information. With IM you have more control over
who sees what you are typing because you aren't
in a chat room with a group of unknown people in
it. You may have a list of people who you
interact with one on one, so you feel safe, but
anyone online can ask to join your buddy list.
They may say they are a friend of a friend or be
referred by someone you know. The same caution
applies, you can't really tell who is on the
other end. No one thinks that someone on the
other end of the IM may be a stranger using a
friend's computer and their IM.
A practice that is more common with IM than with
Chat is to share a file. Be very cautious about
accepting files directly to your computer, they
can contain viruses or viral programming that may
go undetected by anti-virus or anti-spam
software. Even your best friend could send you a
file they don't realize is infected.
(If you do want to accept a file, give that
person your disposable email address. This helps
reduce the chance of a virus entering your computer
and limits the chance that personal information
will be accessed.)
How information can be collected in chat
rooms
- Some people in Chat Rooms are
"Trolling", they have a target and are
looking for certain information or certain people
that meet a criterion
-
- They may be quiet and just listen as they
gather the information they are looking for
- They may throw specific phrases out to
the chat group as bait, to find the people
who respond in a way that meets their
criteria
- They aren't necessarily targeting a
specific person, they can build up profiles
of people in the chat room who meet their
criteria
- Some people in Chat Rooms may be
"Stalkers" they have a specific target
person they are trying to exploit
-
- They may use the same techniques as
someone who is "trolling" but they are
targeting one person
- Someone who is "trolling" may turn into a
"stalker" if they find and start to pursue a
specific person in a harassing way, whether
or not that person is vulnerable
- Someone who tries to engage in a private
conversation with you may be trying to build
trust. Be cautious of the personal
information you share
- Conversations in chat rooms are usually
recorded and logged in the background by the
administrators of the site
-
- Although it seems to a user like their
conversation is deleted when they exit a chat
room or when the chat window runs out of
space, in fact the owner of the chat site has
a text log of all conversations. This text
log can be kept indefinitely, it can be
searched for key words, it can be shared.
- Normally a chat site log is not kept very
long, often it is just overwritten. That
said, if a chat site is owned and operated by
an individual or an organization that is
acquiring information for a hidden purpose it
is wise to be careful what is typed in a chat
room.
The Best Way to Protect Your Privacy in a
Chat Room
- NEVER SHARE ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION such as
your real name, your age, your address, your
city, your school, your workplace, or your phone
numbers.
- Use a pseudonym
- If you must register use generic or made up
information (someone, someplace, somecity
- Use a disposable (free) email, such as yahoo
or hotmail
- If the Chat Room offers a tool to delete your
chat information, use it
- Be aware that your conversations are visible
to everyone in the chat room, who may be anywhere
in the world, even your next door neighbour
- Be aware that your conversations are being
recorded
- Don't give out any personal information to
anyone
- Be suspicious of anyone asking for personal
information (and be cautious if they persist in
wanting the information)