Cyber stalkers seek out MySpace users

Many students use MySpace.com and other Internet forums as a diary, but some online predators use them as an opportunity to find their next victims.

Police arrested and charged a California man for sending sexually suggestive messages to a fake profile of a 15-year-old girl and later agreeing to meet her, according to an article on CNN.com posted Tuesday. Police also have arrested other sexual predators in cases involving MySpace, including one Monday in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Senior Heather McKnelly, who uses MySpace to keep up with friends, said she has received more than 15 questionable messages from unknown people.

"This one guy from my town was like, 'Hey, this is my phone number, why don't you come over to my house tonight? I'm having a party,'" McKnelly said. "I didn't know him."

However, McKnelly said she protects herself online by limiting the personal information she posts on MySpace.

"I have my town and where I went to high school, and I went to another college before I came here and the fact that I go to Truman," McKnelly said. "I have my IM name on there, but no address or phone number."

McKnelly said she posts pictures online to stay in contact with out-of-state friends.

However, her friends are not the only ones who are able to view the pictures.

"I have pictures on there, and random people will be like, 'Sexy pic,'" McKnelly said. "It's freaky."

Officer Richard Walters of the Kirksville Police Department said people should understand how dangerous it is to post personal information online.

"There are real dangers of putting information on the Web, and you need to let them know how dangerous it is and how dangerous it can be," Walters said.

Some people aren't aware of how vulnerable to cyber stalking they are. Sophomore Olivia King said she has photos but limited personal information revealed in her MySpace profile. She said she couldn't believe cyber stalking occurs so frequently.

"It's just really weird that this happens," King said.

Jayne Hitchcock, president of Working to Halt Online Abuse, said she thinks Web log, or blog, sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Livejournal don't protect users from cyber stalking.

"These Web sites could do a much better job in educating their users about how to make their profiles safer," Hitchcock said. "I feel that the majority of them, MySpace included, don't do a good job of this at all. Their goal is to get as many people to sign up as users as possible, and safety seems to be their least concern."

Another way cyber stalkers find victims is through their computers' Internet Protocol address, which is a number assigned to a person's computer. Through that number, cyber stalkers can track down exactly where a person lives.

Senior Caleb Jorden, a computer science major, said students cannot protect their IP address.

"Your IP shows up in a lot of places," Jorden said. "It'll show up in most of your e-mails. It'll often be pretty visible, especially if you are doing things like file-sharing. That's very dangerous in general and not a good idea to participate in."

Jorden said certain sites contain programs set up to track a user's IP address once he or she opens the page.

"Browsing Web pages, if someone has a malicious Web site, and they have a computer log as to see who visits their Web sites, they can track your address that way," Jorden said.

Jorden said students should remember who could access their information before posting it on the Internet.

"Anything you put on Facebook, Xanga, any site like that can be read by anyone," Jorden said. "And the law enforcement is becoming more adept to using that information against you."

Jorden said he suggest students search for their name on Google to see what of their personal information is on the Internet.

"Sometimes you would be surprised as to what people find - your phone number, e-mail address, stuff like that," Jordan said.

People who believe they are victims of cyber stalking or want to find out more about it can visit the Web site http://www.haltabuse.org or http://haltabusektd.org to obtain more information about how to prevent themselves from becoming a victim.