Fear and Loathing on MySpace.com - Personal Statement Example

Fear and Loathing on MySpace.com The world of the Internet has forever altered the social habits of our population Children no longer cruise the local drive-in or hang out in the mall. They don't go down the street to see the neighborhood kids or gather in a nearby park. Today, they create a digital profile, hook-up with a network, and just hang-out in cyberspace. Parents that are afraid to let their children go without a chaperone to the mall to see a movie are secure in the fact that their children are upstairs in their room. When dad asks his 12 year-old daughter what she is doing on the computer, her likely reply will be, 'Just hanging out'. But who is she hanging out with And who is lurking online in the shadows of MySpace leering at the profiles of these vulnerable tweens While some have hailed MySpace as the greatest social experiment of the century, others have called it a Sears and Roebuck catalogue for pedophiles. Social networking has forever altered the modern childhood relationship. This revolution has left our youngest children, ages 8-13, open to the threat of exploitation and for these kids MySpace is a dangerous space to be in. The greatest threat to these children who visit MySpace is the potential to be sexually solicited. A study conducted at the University of New Hampshire found that 1 in 5 children who have been online on a social network have experienced sexual solicitation (Mitchell, Finkelhor, and Wolak 3012). With the number of younger children creating a profile on MySpace skyrocketing1 this means millions of children are being exposed to this danger. As younger and younger children begin to logon and socialize, we put an age group at risk that are the least able to handle these abusive situations. Though MySpace requests that all users must be age 14 or older, younger and younger children are going online. Education Digest recently reported that, "Agreement terms to enroll say users must be 14 or older, but nothing keeps younger ones from lying about their age" ("'MySpace' Cadets"). Several teenage girls were recently sexually assaulted in Middletown Connecticut by a man who claimed to be younger than he actually was. One of the girls was 12 years old and had met the man on MySpace (Giordano and Lytwyn). Still, the children at risk get younger. A New Jersey Principal became concerned when "one of her 10-year-old students got an inappropriate message from "someone clearly an adult" ('"MySpace' Cadets"). This was on a school computer with close supervision. Younger children are able to deceive the registration process and could end up being molested or worse. The fact is that MySpace does not verify age and there is no way they can. The BBC reported in March 2006 that two men were arrested in the US over sex charges after they allegedly used MySpace to illegally contact their victims ("MySpace Tightens Age Restrictions"). One girl was just 11 years old. Though MySpace has made a token effort to tighten their age restrictions, they are well aware of the loopholes in security. They have even begun to warn teenagers of the danger. Recently, "the site introduced adverts warning teenagers about the dangers of sexual predators on the web" and the BBC contends that, "At the moment, MySpace has no way of verifying the age of users" ("MySpace Tightens Age Restrictions."). Currently there is not way to prevent an 8-year-old from registering as an 18-year-old. How easy is it for someone to pretend to be a different age or gender on MySpace According to computer security expert Richard Carlotti, anyone can do it. He says that MySpace currently uses the honor system and uses the information you supply it. He warns people that MySpace can never be safe for young children. He says, "If it is designed to be used by teen-agers, the security needs to be geared toward them, which means anyone with a 13 year old mind can subvert the system". The only way to increase the security is use biometric identification systems2 that are simply too expensive and impractical. There are no barriers available in the near future to prevent anyone from creating a deceptive profile. The danger that these younger children of 8-13 years old face is their lack of awareness to the threat. The child will go online and create a profile that is full of personal information. Though it may all seem innocent, in the wrong hands it can be deadly. A name, the name of a school, their friend's names, and pictures are all that a predator needs to locate the child. What may seem like nice fun pictures and comments to share with your friends may actually be used to exploit the child. Children of this age group do not realize that a predator can put this all together and use it to get close to a child. How much information can the casual observer find on MySpace Larry Magid, a technical analyst for CBS, recently scanned MySpace for girls that attended the high school near him. He was able to locate 198 girls. He looked a little farther and was able to profile one girl with an astonishing amount of information. Magid documents his findings, "I have a pretty complete picture of her life. I know the day she was born, the hospital she was born in, her full name, where she goes to school, what she likes to eat, what time she goes to bed at night and her favorite fast-food restaurant. She gets along with her parents "sometimes." In the past month she says she has consumed alcohol, eaten sushi, been to a mall, and gone "skinny dipping." She says she has shoplifted at least once, wants to be a lawyer and would like to visit Egypt". A sexual predator could use this information to gain a victim's confidence or make them believe that they are a sympathetic friend. Though this girl claimed she was 16, there is nothing barring the 12-year-old from getting into the same compromising position. The lawsuits that have been filed by parents are just the tip of this dangerous iceberg. The alarm about younger children using MySpace is no longer just the ranting of a paranoid parent or a reactionary public. Law enforcement professionals across the country have also sent up a warning about MySpace. A coalition of 34 state Attorneys General are considering suing MySpace due to concerns for child safety. In reaction to MySpace's recent plans to heighten security Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called the plan "a shortsighted and ineffective response to a towering danger to kids" ("Plan to Let Parents Track MySpace Profiles"). He also contends that users "can easily evade" the software. Another law enforcement professional that has joined the coalition is North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper who contends, "You've got 10-, 11- and 12-year-old kids who are on the site -- that's a problem. Parents are lulled into thinking that this is a safe site for children ... but they are a mouse click away from predators and porn" ("Plan to Let Parents Track MySpace Profiles"). The warning signs are coming from the professional people who are closest to the crimes. It is more than just a handful of disgruntled parents and anecdotal stories. MySpace is a dangerous place for children. The medical community has also noted the dangers of young children going online in forums such as MySpace. Doctors report that the harm that comes from being sexually solicited online goes far beyond the physical danger of being lured into abduction. In a study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that younger children become more distressed by solicitations and tend to experience more aggressive solicitation (Mitchell, Finkelhol, and Wolak 3014). The study went on to note that the risk of sexual solicitation was heightened when the child was alienated, depressed, or experiencing some form of personal crisis (3013). Younger children who are already emotionally distraught leave themselves vulnerable to becoming even more distressed due to a solicitation episode. The distress that a child may experience from MySpace could last a lifetime. Another danger that children face with the Internet is the issue of digital persistence. The images and comments that are made today will linger on the Internet forever. They may come back to haunt or embarrass the child at an older age. While older teens may just simply disregard this danger, young children have no understanding of its importance. According to Boyd, "Most adults have learned that the mistakes of one's past may reappear in the present, but this is culturally acquired knowledge that often comes through mistakes. Most youth do not envision potential future interactions". Children may be innocently squandering their future employment or educational opportunities by posting an inappropriate digital profile. Advocates of MySpace contend that it is not an Internet problem, it is a parent problem. Supporters of young children using MySpace place the blame on parents for failing to properly supervise their child's online activities. Lila Burgos, columnist for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, says that, "blaming MySpace for not protecting their children is just as logical as suing McDonald's for making you fat". Bugos believes that educating very young children to the threat of online pedophiles is a more reasonable route than restrictions on MySpace. "Responsibility has to be taken by the parents and family in informing a minor how to conduct themselves in these situations" (Burgos). This sentiment is also echoed by advocates of free speech that maintain posting on MySpace is a guaranteed right that even extends to children3. Under these provisions, the parents are the only control over the content of a child's profile and MySpace does not have a right nor obligation to regulate it. While everyone agrees that parents should take a more active role, placing the child at risk because of a failed parent has never been socially acceptable. We have rules and laws that govern many activities that are restricted by age. You need to be a minimum age to drink, drive, or vote. Society does not just leave it to the parents to decide when and if a child can drive. While it's certainly advisable to inform your children about the risk of sexual predators, it may not be enough. Parents can not watch their 12-year-old 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The child would not allow it. Kids can use computers at a friend's house, the library, or at school away from their parents. Children are continually warned about the dangers in the world and still fall victim to them. The sexual predator is a cunning monster who will patiently prey on the child's mental and emotional makeup. Children at this age are very naive and trusting. The predator will wait and work their way into the child's life almost unnoticed and the child will welcome them in. These are situations that children can not learn through conversation and parents may not have an awareness that it is even happening. To sum it up, MySpace is a dangerous place for children ages 8-13. There are no reasonable prospects of it ever becoming any safer than it has been in the past. Young children will pretend to be older to get in with the older crowd. Creepy old men will pretend to be younger to get close to the children online. Free speech and parental responsibility are honorable ideals to pursue in regards to a child's online activity but are too little and too late. The innocent child will suffer because of parental failure. As long as MySpace stays online, children will network and pedophiles will shop. Works Cited Boyd, Danah. "Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Heart MySpace." American Association for the Advancement of Science (2006). Burgos, Lila. "Protecting Your Kids - All MySpace's Responsibility" Arizona Wildcat Online 31 Jan. 2007. 25 Feb. 2007 . Carlotti, Richard. Personal Interview. 21 Feb. 2007 Giordano, Tom, and Larissa Lytwyn. "Trendy Website Raises Red Flags." Easton Courier 9 Feb. 2006 [Shelton, CT] . 25 Feb. 2007 Magid, Larry. "Protect Kids On MySpace." CBS News 3 Feb. 2006. 25 Feb. 2007 . Mitchell, Kimberley J., David Finkelhor, and Wolak. "Risk Factors for and Impact of Online Sexual Solicitation of Youth." JAMA 285.23 (2001): 3011-14. American Medical Association. 25 Feb. 2007. "'MySpace' Cadets Are Up for Sudden Death." Education Digest 72.1 (2006). EBSCO. 22 Feb. 2007. "MySpace Tightens Age Restrictions." BBC News. 21 June 2006. BBC. 22 Feb. 2007 . "Plan to Let Parents Track MySpace Profiles Met With Skepticism." USA Today 18 Jan. 2007, life ed.: 7d+. EBSCO. 22 Feb. 2007. Appendix 1 Estimates are that MySpace will have 180 million members by September 2007. Over 50% of teenagers are a member of an online socializing site with 85% subscribing to MySpace. 37% of 12-13 year olds that use MySpace have created an online profile. Data from: http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/interactive/article_display.jspvnu_content_id=1003528487 2 Biometric Identification Systems are digital readers that read and interpret biological information to verify identification. Fingerprints and iris scans are the two most commonly used forms of biometrics. 3 The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has defended cases involving MySpace postings for children as young as 14 under the right to free speech. www.aclu.org/freespeech/internet/index.html Read More