Living With the Internet and Online Dangers (Teen's Guides)

176 Pages·2010·4.93 MB·English

by  Corey Sandler

LIVING
with
THE INTERNET
AND
ONLINE DANGERS
also in the
teen’s guides series
Living with Alcoholism and Drug Addiction
Living with Allergies
Living with Anxiety Disorders
Living with Asthma
Living with Cancer
Living with Diabetes
Living with Depression
Living with Eating Disorders
Living with Obesity
Living with Peer Pressure and Bullying
Living with Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Living with Skin Conditions
Living with Sports Injuries
Living with Stress
LIVING
with
THE INTERNET
AND
ONLINE DANGERS
Corey Sandler
To William and Tessa, skilled navigators of this brave new digital world
Living with the Internet and Online Dangers
Copyright © 2010 by Word Association, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher.
For information contact:
Facts On File, Inc.
An imprint of Infobase Publishing
132 West 31st Street
New York NY 10001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sandler, Corey, 1950–
Living with the Internet and online dangers / Corey Sandler.
p. cm. — (Teen’s guides)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8160-7874-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8160-7874-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4381-2971-6 (e-book)
1. Internet and teenagers. 2. Internet—Safety measures. 3. Computer security. I. Title.
HQ799.2.I5S26 2010
004.67’80835—dc22 2009023137
Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities
for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales
Department in New York at [phone] or [phone].
You can fi nd Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfi le.com
Excerpts included herewith have been reprinted by permission of the copyright holders; the
author has made every effort to contact copyright holders. The publishers will be glad to
rectify, in future editions, any errors or omissions brought to their notice.
Text design by Annie O’Donnell
Composition by Hermitage Publishing Services
Cover printed by Art Print, Taylor, Pa.
Book printed and bound by Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group, York, Pa.
Date printed: April 2010
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Introduction vii
About This Book ix
■ ■ 1  Is Cyberspace Bad for You? 1
■ ■ 2  Your Online Social Life 13
■ ■ 3  Shopping without Dropping 23
■ ■   Online Job Hunting 38
■ ■   File-Sharing: Free and Frightful 48
■ ■ 6  E-mail Scams and Internet Fraud 55
■ ■ 7  Internet Drugstores 71
■ ■ 8  Finding That Special Someone 75
■ ■ 9  Maintaining Your Identity 86
■ ■ 10  Viruses: A Computer Can Develop a Cold 100
■ ■ 11  Don’t Click on That Link 109
■ ■ 12  Cell Phones, IMs, and Text Messaging 116
■ ■ 13  Wireless Security 134
■ ■ 1  How to Help Friends Cope with Internet and
Online Dangers 138
Glossary 141
Appendix 1. Helpful Organizations 155
Appendix 2. Text Message Lingo 157
Read More About It 159
Index 160
aCknoWledgments
This book has just my name on the cover, but it could not have
reached your hands without the help of many others.
Thanks to James Chambers and Sarah Dalton, who led the editorial
team at Checkmark Books/Facts On File as well as Jerold Kappes, who
edited the text, and Annie O’Donnell, who designed the book. As he
has been for many years, Ed Claf in was captain of my literary ship.
And most of all, thanks to you for reading this book we have all put
together. We hope it helps you in dealing with some of the new and
sometimes surprising challenges that face teenagers in cyberspace,
allowing you to have fun, meet people, and learn . . . in safety.
vi
introduCtion
living WitH tHe internet and 
online dangers
Here’s the thing: In cyberspace, nobody is watching. Also, everybody
is watching.
How can both things be true at the same time?
Let’s start with the def nition of cyberspace. It is not somewhere
you go to, like a library or a coffee shop or the mall or the comfortable
couch at a friend’s house. It is not your computer, your cell phone,
the cable or the wireless device that connects you to the Internet, or
a Web site. It’s actually not a place or a thing at all.
Cyberspace is where the messages and words and instructions you
send and the answers headed back to you meet, interact, and change
tracks from one destination to another.
When you pick up your cell phone and call one of your best
friends, where does that conversation take place? One side is in your
hand because that is where your phone is located; the other side is
wherever your best friend is standing or sitting. But the conversation
is happening somewhere in between, in a stream of codes sent by
radio and wire: cyberspace.
The very same thing applies when you are exchanging an e-mail,
an instant message, a text message, or a video message with your
girlfriend or your boyfriend. The place where the communication is
taking place is out there in cyberspace.
When you are speaking face-to-face with someone—you still do
that from time to time, right?—the connection is direct. You can see
the person with whom you are conversing, and he or she can see you.
And, for that matter, if there are other people in the room, they can
see or hear you.
But most of the time when you’re on the Internet or sending a text
message from your cell phone, you’re clicking away all by yourself.
No one is watching both ends of the conversation at the same time.
No one is looking out for your privacy or your security or even verify-
ing that the person who is sending you a message is 1) exactly who
you think it is, or 2) even a person, for that matter.
vii
viii  Living with the Internet and Online Dangers
And now we come to that other, seemingly contradictory fact:
Nobody is watching, and everybody is watching.
Although cyberspace is the most modern of ways to communicate,
it is also in many ways the Wild West. There are all sorts of snoops
foating around out there in cyberspace. They may be merely annoy-
ing, like your little brother who tries to listen on your phone call just
to be a pain. They may be nasty jerks who want to infect your com-
puter with destructive viruses. Or they may be criminals who want to
steal your money, ruin your reputation, or cause you personal harm.
The biggest problem of all in cyberspace: It is almost impossible to
know if someone is listening in or watching where you travel on the
Web. Some cell phone calls can be monitored directly or indirectly,
and it is also possible to obtain a list of whom you called or who
called you. E-mails and text messages are harder to crack—unless
someone has managed to steal or guess—your user name and pass-
word; if you leave your computer unattended or do not use a sign-on
password, any passing friend, family member, or stranger can read
your mail.
And then there is this: In most situations, when you use your com-
puter to visit a Web site, the operator of that site (and sometimes even
an unrelated snoop) can fgure out your computer’s location and even
a bit about your Internet account.
aBout tHis Book
It is not the purpose of this book to scare you or to convince you not
to use the Internet or a cell phone or other digital device for com-
munication. The fact is that living and playing and working in cyber-
space can be a very good experience: full of entertainment, education,
shopping, and much of your personal business such as banking or
applying for college or for a job.
The not-quite-so-good news is that because cyberspace has become
so much a part of our daily lives it has also become the home of some
of the same dangers your mother and father and teachers warn you
about in the “real world.”
One of the f rst things we are taught as children is “Be careful
around strangers.” Some of them may want to steal our money. Some
may be even more dangerous to us personally.
In writing this book, it is our goal to help you stay safe and secure
when you are on the Internet, on your cell phone, or exchanging e-
mails, instant messages, text messages, and whatever becomes the
next great thing to arrive.
It’s okay to go to the big city, and it will be okay to leave your
home and go off to college or to your f rst real job. And it’s also okay
to launch yourself into cyberspace and see what’s going on in the
virtual world.
Just be careful out there.
ix