by David Pickett

Created on: July 17, 2008

MySpace, we always hear about this and that pervert. We see headlines like "14-Year Old Girl Abducted" and all the rest of it. What is really important is that we look at the actual facts and ask why these things happened. In a very small number of cases, and I mean very small, someone is let into someone else's profile and this person is a pervert or pedophile. The majority of people however, are perfectly normal people just wanting to chill out and talk to friends.

MySpace itself is very secure if all the security measures available are put into play properly. Setting your profile to private is easy and so is requiring someone to know your email or last name. These simple settings take about 3 clicks of the mouse and can protect you from people who are not quite who they say they are. People will always turn round and say I need my profile to be visible to all for whatever reason, but the truth is you don't unless your a movie star or band. If you want people that you don't know talking to you you do so at entirely your own risk and this should be made clear. If your profile is private you can tell and talk to people you actually know and maybe add some people that your friends know but that's it.

If you don't know them, don't add them or accept their adds that they may send to you if your profile is private. People are far too concerned with getting more friends than someone else that they will accept anyone that sends them an invite to be their friend. It is also important to remember that even if someone looks familiar they may not be who you think they are. It is all too easy in this day and age with millions upon millions of images online to find one of someone and pretend to be someone else.

MySpace is a perfectly safe internet venue for teens as long as they understand everything that MySpace has put at their disposal for protection against perverts and pedophiles. Sitting down and discussing this issues with parents is often a constructive way of learning about all the security devices and maybe parents can even learn a thing or to about the way everything works. Talking to people who you don't know on MySpace is the same as talking to strangers randomly in the street. Being safe on MySpace is all about common sense and remembering that the virtual world isn't so different from the real world and that there are people out there who want to cause harm.

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