FBI: Blogging Can Be Dangerous
Posted on October 30, 2005
An article in the Clarion Ledger discusses a recent murder case where the victim, a 21-year-old University of Mississippi student named Suzana Best, may have been discovered through her blog. Suzana Best had a blog on MySpace.com, which is probably the most popular blogging site for young adults. An FBI agent told the Ledger that blogging increases the possibility of something bad happening to you.
Edward Parmelee, a special agent with the FBI's cyber crime squad in Jackson, told the Ledger, "Blogging, in a sense, is the equivalent of hanging out at the mall. You can be talking to friends, but there could also be someone standing behind you listening to your conversations. Providing personal information for anyone in the world to go online and read increases the potential for something bad to happen."
The agent also added that many bloggers have a false sense of security.
One of the problems with blogging, Parmelee says, is that "youngsters can get lured into a false sense of anonymity by sitting behind a computer screen ... they don't see the creepy old guy in the yellow raincoat who is out to do them harm."The article also points to the Missing Kids website which has information for both teens and parents about how to protect themselves from online sexual predators. The teen website is called Don't Believe the Type and the parents website is called HDOP: Help Delete Online Predators. Update: Missing Kids has since added a Cyber Tipline, which is operated in partnership with the FBI.