Think Before Posting Your Info Online
Details Put On Sites Such As 'Facebook' Could Come Back To Haunt You
-
Play CBS Video Video Logging On, Trapped Forever In the last part of the "Too Much Info" series, Tracy Smith looks at the consequences of putting personal information on the Web. For example, once a photo is put online, it's permanently archived.
-
Video Falling Victim To MySpace A young MySpace.com user tells Tracy Smith her own horror story about what happened to her when she invited a man she met through the Web site to her home.
-
Video The Dangers Of MySpace Tracy Smith takes a look at myspace.com, the popular social networking Web site for teens that's also become a place for predators. Experts have advice on how to avoid being a victim.
-
(CBS/The Early Show)
-
Interactive Protecting Children Online What to say to your child about Web porn and online predators, and how to look for signs of porn on your PC. Plus: warning signs that an adult may be communicating with your child.
In the third and final installment of the series "Too Much Information" on Wednesday, Smith explains that what you say about yourself, photos you share, and similar actions could haunt you for years.
When you create a profile on popular Web sites such as MySpace or Facebook, Smith says you're sharing pictures and intimate details with millions of people; not only friends, but also police, the FBI, parents, teachers, prospective employers, pornographers, advertisers, even the media.
Click here for online safety tips for parents and teens
Smith spoke with University of Washington students Courtland Beale and Abhi Banerjee, who are being probed by the school as a result of pictures Beale posted of a Super Bowl party in Beale's university apartment in February. The images were put onto Facebook, a popular social networking site for students.
The pictures showed cups from which school officials presumed alcoholic beverages were being consumed.
A week later, a housing administrator saw the pictures and opened an inquiry.
The investigation into underage drinking led to a summons and penalties, which led to discussions about eviction. But, angered by the ordeal, Beale picked up and moved out.
"I don't need a pair of eyes, you know, on me, when I'm inside my apartment," he told Smith.
Facebook, the collegiate version of MySpace, limits membership to those with e-mail addresses ending with "edu."
Beale gave access to his profile to thousands of students, and even faculty, but not the administrative staff. They looked anyway.
"I feel," Beale says, "that the staff has basically taken the lock on the diary, and taken bolt cutters and just snapped it to, you know, look to see what we're doing, which I don't think is right."
"It's kind of like big brother," says Banerjee. "They're spying on us or whatever. … It's a policing action."
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
More From Tracy Smith
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
