MySpaceSafetyTips.com

There are really two aspects of posting too much information online at sites like MySpace.com. The first is the near-term risk that has gotten most of the news thus far, namely young teens posting information and photos that attract the attention of predators. This can be dealt with effectively if parents are involved with their teens online. Much of our book tells how to do this.

A perhaps more ominous problem with all the information teens and young adults post online is the growing archive and retrieval capability of the Internet. The Internet is fast becoming a place where all statements immediately cease to be under the control of the person who posts the statement. Yet, search and retrieval capabilities permit those statements to be found and identified with the individual who made the post.

Colleges are already searching MySpace to find extra information on their applicants. Employers will be doing this as well. And perhaps medical personnel as well, searching for clues that might relate to a person's medical condition later in life? Certainly potential boyfriends and girlfriends will use the capabilities.

When you post on MySpace and similar sites, you are publishing, you are creating a permanent record that will be available for others to see, pretty much forever into the future.