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May 8, 2008 11:32 am US/Central
Networking Sites Can Lead Strangers To Teens
(CBS 11 / TXA 21)
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Caroline Lempert, 10, plays games online featuring Laffy Taffy, Chips Ahoy or SpongeBob.
CBS News
Lori Varnell with the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office is committed to spreading the word about the dangers of the social networking sites like Facebook and myspace.
Once again, she teamed up with CBS 11 and TXA 21 to show how posting information on these sites can lead a predator right to your door.
With that small amount of info, and using very public data bases and Web sites, we found an Argyle high school student through his Facebook profile.
His parent's drivers license, their address, social security numbers his neighbors' names and even this young man's tennis and band schedule quickly followed.
Varnell said one of the dead give-a-ways is telling everybody what school you attend.
"On Facebook you're organized into different groups," she explained. "And those groups are based on where you go to school many times."
When someone signs up on Facebook, someone in that group needs to affirm you as being part of that group or in this case part of that school.
"I am not a member of Argyle Independent School District, a student there. However, I was affirmed as a student there," Varnell noted in explaining how she found the sophomore's information.
"In my opinion there no reason kids need to be on that at all," the boy's dad said after Varnell and the news crew showed up at their front door and explained the story.
"I'm really surprised at all the information you found and how easy it was to access it," a shocked mother said. "If they need to communicate with somebody, just go talk to your friends. You don't have to put it on a Web page. We're getting pretty impersonal with the things we do."
These parents offered further advice for other parents, as well.
"Talk to your kids more. Quiz them more -- more exactly about what they're doing on the Internet. … Ask them if they have a myspace or Facebook page because I never asked if he had it. Maybe if I had he'd have said 'yes' and I would have known."
If your child 'must' have a Facebook page, make sure they never use their real name or date of birth," Varnell advises.
Another suggestion is to make your pages private and never add anyone to your page who you have never met in person.
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