Social Networking

Social Networks are websites where people who share a common interest or relationship can gather to share ideas and communicate. Millions of people login to sites like MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, and many others. Using networks like these, families that may not live close by can share information; coworkers or schoolmates can share ideas and get updates. Like much of the internet there are positive aspects of social networking; however, there are many negative aspects that need to be addressed. Some of these negative aspects include identity theft, and fraud, to child porn and child stalkers.

Webmasters and Security professionals are constantly trying to safeguard the users of social networks against the negative aspects of the internet. There are millions of dollars put aside for age verification software, identity recognition databases etc. All of these safe guards are steps in the right direction, however there is still a human aspect that security personal can not account for. Websites rely on its users to be honest and give them the information they are asking for. A child molester under a false name and valid email address can easily setup an account, a child of 12 can pose as 18 with just a click of a button. Although technology has added security to social networks anything short of facial recognition or fingerprint verification still leaves room for dishonesty. Much like a burglar adapts to new security features in a home, in the same way someone who wants to do bad things on the internet will find away to do it.

In class we read two articles dealing with security issues on social networks, specifically MySpace, but the same can be said of anyone. I thought that the first article "MySpace and Sex Offenders: What's the problem" dealt with the issue in more a report type way. The author offered little insight to where the problems might lie. The second article "MySpace Not Responsible for Predators" deals with the author's opinions more than the first article. The author believed that the websites are not responsible for the safety of its users, the responsibility lied on the user themselves.

I think that my personal view of social networks and security lean more in the direction of the second article. When thinking about the problem with security on social network sites two personal context areas come to mind. The first context is Family, this context comes more into play with minors on the web and on these social network sites. I have come across many parents who have little idea what they're children are doing online. In my own family I have seen cousins and nieces who have website profiles giving fake ages and stats. Many of my family members and friends at one time or another have met people offline that they have met online. I think it is up to the parents to not only monitor what the child does online but also monitor what they do offline as well. It is inexcusable to me that there are children downloading instructions on how to make bombs, and then making these bombs at home. The parents always say they didn't know what was going on. Growing up in a two income family, my parents were always working, however they made sure to take the time to find out what was going on in our lives. Without a strong family children are falling prey to people online who are telling them what they want to hear. Children and parents need to sit down and talk about the dangers of social networking and how to avoid becoming a victim. Without guidance from parents and common sense of they're own children will be in danger no matter what safe guards the websites use.

The second context that comes to mind when talking about social networks is Professional. I have worked in IT for the past 10 years. As part of my career I have studied network security and protection. I have come to the realization that there is no easy way to address security on the internet. There is tracking software and monitoring tools that can be used to see where the users are on the net. There are information captures that can gather any illegal activities that are on the net. There is no way to confirm an identity over the internet one hundred percent. Even if date of births and social security needs to be entered, they can still come from incorrect sources. The security of a website and it's users is in a large part based on the honesty of the users. For this reason the users need to be aware of the dangers of giving information out over the net and meeting people they don't know offline. In the end we are all responsible for our actions online or off.

Social networking has become important in our society. There are many areas where users of these networks are exposed to dangers, however they can not be taken down. In my opinion the social networks benefits out way the negative. Millions of people and companies rely on the information exchanged by they networks. If users and parents of minor users were more vigilant there would be less cases of safety issues on the internet.