Whatever your age, the Internet is a great place to hang out. It`s not only fun, but it lets you keep in touch with friends and family and provides an enormous amount of information.

There are lots of great educational sites as well as places to keep up with your favourite sports, hobbies, music, and much more. If you’re a teen, we probably don`t need to sell you on the benefits of the Internet.

Cyberspace is like a big city. There are libraries, universities, museums, places to have fun, and plenty of opportunities to meet wonderful people from all walks of life. But, like any community, there are also some people and areas that you ought to avoid and others that you should approach only with caution.

By knowing the dangers and how to avoid them, you can take advantage of all the positive aspects of the Internet while avoiding most of its pitfalls.

Situations or Behaviours that make you feel uncomfortable
Not everything that can go wrong in cyberspace necessarily puts you in physical danger. There are web sites, newsgroups, chat rooms, and other places online that contain material that could make you feel uncomfortable. It could be material that’s sexual and/or violent in nature. It could be material espousing hateful attitudes or discussing activities that you find repulsive or unpleasant. It really doesn’t matter what it is. What does matter is that you have the right – and the tools – to instantly remove yourself from any area where you feel you shouldn’t be.

Putting yourself in physical danger
The most serious risk you can face involves the possibility of someone hurting or exploiting you because of information that you post or someone else posts about you online or because of something you do or somewhere you go as a result of what you encounter online.

Financial Risk
The Internet, like so many other places in this world, is home to people who would try to take money from you or your family or just pester you with unwelcome advertising and marketing material. Be especially wary of any “get rich quick” schemes that promise to help earn you lots of money in your spare time. If something sounds “too good to be true,” it probably is.

Harassment
Not everyone in cyberspace minds their manners. When you’re online, especially in chat rooms or bulletin boards, there is a chance that you’ll get messages that are harassing, demeaning, or just plain mean. Don’t take it personally. A message that is demeaning says a lot more about the sender than it does about the person who gets it. Ironically, even people who are nice in the “real” world can forget their manners when they go online. The best thing to do if you encounter messages or people in chat rooms who are acting that way is to ignore them.

General Caution
In addition to displaying information, web sites sometimes ask you for information about yourself. The site may ask for your name, mailing address, E-mail address, and other information before it will let you in. It may entice you to provide information in exchange for sending you a promotional item or entering you in a contest. Never enter any information about yourself without first checking with your parents.

When you enter information on a web site or any place on the Internet, you`re giving up a bit of your privacy. At best, your name will wind up in some database, probably to be used to sell you something now or later. So be extremely cautious before telling the "web master" anything about yourself. This is especially true with sites that contain adult material. Some teenagers have their own web sites or post material to web sites maintained by their school or an organisation. That`s terrific, but if you do post something on the web, be sure never to include your home address, telephone number, or a photograph of yourself. If you do want people to be able to contact you through the web, just give an E-mail address.

Chat Rooms
Chat rooms let you engage in a live conversation with people around the corner or around the world. It’s like being on a party line, only you type instead of talk. Everyone in the "chat room" can see everything you type. The types of chat rooms vary depending on the service you’re using. Some chat rooms are just open conversations. Everyone has a pretty much equal role. Some rooms are moderated where there is a “speaker” who is leading the discussion and participants. Some rooms have chaperons or monitors who are responsible for maintaining order, but even in some of these rooms what you type is displayed immediately. The monitor can kick someone out of the room who is acting in an inappropriate manner, but he or she may be able to act only after the fact.

Did You Know?
Chat is probably the most dangerous area on the Internet for a couple of reasons. As with other areas of the Internet, you don’t know who is there, so never say anything in a chat room that you wouldn’t say in public. It’s not uncommon for people to make “friends” in chat rooms. You enter a room; start a conversation with someone; and, before you know it, you’ve established a relationship of sorts. That relationship could turn out OK, but there are some not-so-happy stories. Chat rooms are sometimes used by people to exploit others. To put it bluntly, chat rooms – especially those used by teenagers – are sometimes also used by pedophiles to find victims. Adults or even older teens seeking to exploit younger people don`t necessarily tell the truth about who they are. You might meet someone in a room who appears to be sympathetic and understanding and offers you wonderful advice and counsel. If the relationship remains strictly online, that could be OK as long as you’re careful not to give out any personal information and you let your parents know.

Caution
It can be tempting to get together with someone you meet in a chat room, but remember – people are not always who they seem to be. The basic rules for online safety apply to all areas of the Internet, but they are especially important in chat areas. Never give out personal information, and never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone you meet in a chat room without first checking with your parents.

Chat rooms are sometimes organized around topics, so avoid any topic area that makes you feel uncomfortable. But just because a chat room is designed around a particular topic doesn’t mean that other topics aren’t discussed. Even if the room is “teens only,” you have no way of knowing if everyone really is a teenager, so you still have to be on guard. Be especially careful of chat rooms that get into subjects that might be associated with sex. It might seem interesting or even fun to discuss actions that you might never consider engaging in, but some people who fantasize about things also like to carry them out.

On some services and web sites you can enter into a private chat area where you can arrange to meet friends. In some cases, those rooms are truly private. But in other cases they may be listed in a directory of rooms. If so, there is nothing to stop others from entering those rooms. One trick to avoid harassment, especially for women and girls, is to choose a gender-neutral name – like your initials or a word – to use in a chat room. It’s fine to be cute or funny with the name you choose, but be sure it doesn’t identify you and doesn’t have any meaning or implication that might encourage others to bother you.

E-mail
E-mail is typically a one-to-one communications system. Just like regular mail, you write to someone and they can write back.

Did You Know?
Increasingly, people and companies are using E-mail to send out messages to thousands of people at a time, encouraging them to buy something, do something, or visit a web site. The process, known as “spamming,” can be intrusive and annoying. Because E-mail is essentially free, “spammers” can send out thousands or even millions of messages at little or no cost. Some use spamming to try to entice people to visit sexually explicit web sites. Each E-mail message that you send and receive contains a return address. What many people don’t realize is that the return address can be fake. So, just because you get a message from “grandma@cottage.com” doesn’t mean it’s really from grandma. It could really be from “wolf@bigfangs.com.”

E-mail also contains other information called a “header” that provides more information about who sent the message and where it came from. Understanding the header information can be difficult, but if you ever receive an E-mail message that is belligerent, threatening, or contains material that makes you feel uncomfortable, you should report it to your Internet service provider and ask them to investigate where it came from.

Caution
Be careful how you respond to E-mail from people you don’t know. Remember that the sender might not be who he or she seems to be. Never send a photograph of yourself or any personal information to someone you don`t know. Also, E-mail can easily be copied and forwarded to others. So if you do send personal information to friends, be sure that they are willing to respect your privacy.

In general, it’s best not to respond to spam mail or mail from someone you don’t know. By responding, you are verifying to the sender that you have a valid E-mail address, and that information can be used to encourage a person who may send inappropriate E-mails or get you on even more lists. If you receive a message that contains material that is sexually explicit, violent, or advocates something that is illegal or simply makes you feel uncomfortable, show it to your parents and report that message to your Internet service provider.

Newsgroups, Forums and Bulletin Boards
Newsgroups (sometimes called bulletin boards or forums) are places where you can read and post messages or download or upload files. Unlike chat rooms, newsgroups are not live or "real time." If you post a message it remains on the newsgroup for people to look at later. Newsgroups can also be used to post files including computer programs, pictures, illustrations, and stories.

Did You Know?
There are newsgroups on almost every possible subject, and they are often used as ways to get questions answered and share information about hobbies, musical groups, or any other subject of interest. Unfortunately, newsgroups, like other areas of cyberspace, have risks.

Caution
The biggest risk is that you might post something that reveals information about yourself. Even if you are responding to a particular individual`s posting, what you type, in most cases, is available for anyone to see. So, once again, remember the basic rules and never reveal identifying information about yourself. In many cases, the mere act of posting something makes your E-mail address public. Even if you don`t say anything revealing, your address will be available for people to send you E-mail that could be bothersome, and newsgroups are a favorite place for people who send out junk mail ("spam") to gather addresses.

There are newsgroups that contain sexually explicit stories, illustrations, and photographs. In some cases, this material may be illegal, especially if it contains images of people who are younger than the age of 18 or certain other material that has been defined as "obscene." Some of this material can be disturbing and should be avoided. It is dangerous to post anything in these types of groups because anything you type reveals your E-mail address which could reveal your identity. Remember anytime you post to a newsgroup you are broadcasting your E-mail address, even if you don’t include your actual name.

Basic Rules of Online Safety for Teens
The most important thing to remember is that when you’re online in any kind of a public forum, you’re out in public and anyone can read whatever you post. You should never post anything on the Internet that you wouldn’t want known to the public at large. You should also remember that people you meet in cyberspace might not be who they seem to be.

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