Young generation of Orkut and Facebook

http://www.cybervictims.org

Many of us adults got to see a new world through social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook etc. We got reconnected with our old friends, connected with like minded friends and found our new ‘groups’ to learn, share and unlearn several things. Many of us adults may have been victims of cyber predators in these social networking sites, many have actually turned an offender ( may be unknowingly or unintentionally) in these sites…………….many have blamed the police for not being able to help them in distress. What about the children who learn from their parents/peers to have their own ‘rooms’ in these sites?  In India this had created many sensational news in past ‘internet years’; remember Bal Bharti school case ? the DPS case ? Children had taken to severe bullying and resultant they turned out to teach their counterparts by more aggressive misdeeds like spreading defamatory words and even sleuth pictures through MMS. Well, we the elders can not blame the children either; they were actually “aping” adults to take revenge through cyber space knowing pretty well that ‘no one knows that you are a dog in the internet’. I would not have believed this maxim until the day I myself saw two hardly 12 years old kids opening their profile pages in a public cyber café under the guise of  two young adults…..yes, I heard them giggling when they told each other “I am 21 and you are 22”. They had chosen screen names that swiftly hid their own identities and they were encouraging other friends to do the same. I grew curious and I asked them is it their school project? They smelled something wrong and immediately closed their accounts and fled off. I grew even more curious because I was then working in a project on cyber bullying. That was the time when café owners were not obliged by law to take down the residential addresses of the ‘visitors’. When I asked the café owner did he know these kids, he nonchalantly answered “koto lok ashye jay….ami ki jani?”……,meaning “so many persons come and go, how am I to know”? Well, probably these kids were one of the thousand kids who used to travel out side their own area to escape the parent’s vigils to do such mischievous works.

But within no time, finance ministry reduced the prices of the personal computers and almost every Indian home having moderate income, could bring a PC. This probably made the situation a little more complex, because now the children preferd to stay indoors and visit their friends through these social networking sites. Well, there is no harm in hanging out in these sites, but what must be remembered is, these children may not know the bad side of the internet. We do not have a “Megan Meier” case in our country still now. But I am sure, many children are facing cyber bullying without knowing what it is, how to handle it and why it should be stopped; many are getting in to traps because they are befriending unknown individuals who may not be “children”; many girls are loosing the joys of childhood and fast catching the perils of girlhood even though they are not physically assaulted or raped. What pains me more is that we do have some laws to punish elders when they try to victimize others including children. But we do not have focused laws when the child is a hi-tech offender. 

Offcourse, it does not mean that we should restrict our children from reaching the computers. Remember India is the highest producer of software professionals and we must encourage our children to enhance the glory further. Hence, it is wise to teach every child to be responsible for his/her internet venture. Here are some advises for parents:

1.Encourage your child to speak to you regarding his/her internet experience.

2. Tell him/her to not to fight in the cyber space.

3. Tell him/her that the world is now watching the whole family. Hence it is upon him/her to behave properly in the cyber space.

And children…….

1.      Be careful when you are in the cyber space.

2.      Use Orkut/Facebook for your good….. trust me, I learnt so many good things from Orkut/Facebook.

3.      Do not make it your “life”……. Leave it when you do not like it.

4.      Remember, if you do any mischievous work, your school might take very strong action against you; they may even rusticate you. Hence do not victimize others.

And above all, be good in the cyber space. You never know how much you can get from the cyber space if you know how to use it properly.

 Please Note: Do not violate copyright of this blog. If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (2011), “Young generation of Orkut and Facebook

”, 20^th February,2011, published in http://cybervictims.blogspot.com/

That space is yours and you must not SHARE the KEY

http://www.cybervictims.org

Couple of years back a friend of ours had proudly announced that he no more cares for postmen or the snail mails through post offices. He now ‘owns’ an email id and would love to get updates, new year wishes from his friends in his ‘inbox’. He happily distributed his email id to all of us and wait…… he gave away the password too. This was the time when Indian users of the internet were slowly getting accustomed with the concept of email transactions and there were no consolidated laws to protect the internet /computer users from the big bad world out there. In no time, our friend’s email id was no more his personal id, it became almost a ‘public id’ and he felt every one had known his private life. He closed his email id and went back to snail mails. However, he ensured that no one opens his post box without his permission and kept it under strict vigilance. Nearly 12 years have passed and now almost all of us are equally vigilant with our email inboxes. The first and foremost thing we learnt from our friend’s experience was never to share the “key” of the inbox with anyone; not even with boy friends, or even husbands. Well, we do vow to share each secret of our lives with our lovers when the hearts bond strongly, with our spouses when we get married, with our close friends when we trust each other ; but  I made it a point to not to share my passwords with anyone after I owned my own email id  in due course. The worst result one can expect when one shares his/her own password is, to find himself/herself in a messy situation like misuse of email id, hacking, cyber terrorism, monetary crimes ( if the email id is used for business and official transactions), defamation ( when the personal informations are taken out and publicized without your knowledge) and offcourse,severe spouse- abuse especially when one of the spouse is more dominant and feels it is absolutely right to monitor the other even in the cyber space.

 In 2010, on behalf of  Centre for Cyber victim Counseling (CCVC), we did a baseline survey where we found that 46.6% respondents share  passwords of their email ids and/or other profiles with others (see Halder, D., & Jaishankar, K. (2010). Cyber Victimization in India: A Baseline Survey Report. Tirunelveli, India: Centre for Cyber Victim Counselling. @http://www.cybervictims.org/CCVCresearchreport2010.pdf ). Yes, in some circumstances, sharing the passwords with business partners or even spouse becomes inevitable especially when one can not access internet due to unavoidable circumstances and still needs to keep up with his/her acquaintances. But then think of the risks: a very recent news report states that a  spouse "hacked" her husband’s and her father in law’s email ids to gather evidence for dowry harassment. In course of prosecution, she denied that it was hacking and maintained that the passwords were provided by her husband himself. Indeed, the case got a U turn and she got a “clean chit”( see “Sharing passwords with spouse is risky” by Pankaj Sharma (23^rdJan, 2011) in DNA. Retrieved on 5^th February, 2011 from http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sharing-passwords-with-spouse-is-risky_1497980). Now, the case may need more investigation to establish the truth; but what makes a point in this case is, if it was really a consensual act on the part of the complainant himself to pass over the secret to the to the other party, he may not claim the benefit of innocence in the process of victimization. Definitely this could make a perfect case of breach of trust when financial loss is incurred. But imagine the plight of the complainant if he really had shared the password! The bitter promises of long techno-legal battles,  the harassments and finally the uncomfortable feeling when in the cyber space may never leave the poor soul to rest in peace .Such instances must not be taken lightly as many readers may feel this was a case of ‘washing dirty linens in public’; Do not forget

1.      cyber space can be used as a double edged weapon;

2.      If you share passwords with persons you do not trust or you fear that the relationship is vulnerable, trust your instincts. Be ready for legal battles such as this;

3.      Do not allow your children to use your emails/profiles and do not share your passwords with them. You never know, they may ‘leak’ your well possessed password.

4.      Change the passwords regularly.

Have a safer cyber venturing

Please Note: Do not violate copyright of this blog. If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (2011), “That space is yours and you must not SHARE the KEY”, 10th January,2011, published in http://cybervictims.blogspot.com/