SOCIAL NETWORKS AND CRIME

I was looking at my niece's facebook page and I saw that she had taken off her pictures and all the postings and profile information. I called her and I asked why she had decided to do that and she told me that in the news in Ecuador they had been talking about the different ways criminals were operating. One of them was using social networks as a way to get to meet the victim. They get to know their family, friends and network and they commit so-called "express kidnappings."

After that conversation, I can't stop thinking about the fact that our decisions to be part of social networks make our privacy vulnerable to any type of crime. That doesn't mean that it always has to happen but it makes me aware of the importance of knowing what type of information we share on the web.

Coincidentally, I watched on the news about some teenagers using facebook to post pictures of a rape they committed. The computer expert that was interviewed just said that once your pictures are online it is very difficult or almost impossible to get them off. I guess this poor girl's nightmare is going to be on the web for a long time.

Now, I wonder if it's worth it to be part of the social networks and being connected to people we sometimes don't even know very well. Do we get something back from all of these interactions? Why do we want to see what other people are doing? What do we think - that people's comments on our postings mean that we are close to them, or even more that they care about us? How about our safety? Is it worth it to be exposed to have someone badly use our information? How about teenagers and all these cases of cyber-bullying? I guess being connected is "cool" and people don't think about the other ramifications and taking precautions to avoid negative things.  Like any tool, social networking can be used for both good and bad.