How safe are social Web sites

PROVO — When teenagers say "everybody's doing it," they are probably right. At least, that is if they are referring to social networking Web sites like myspace and facebook.

These two sites are ranked in the top ten of overall hits on the Internet, both leading against popular search engine Google. An online phenomenon, these sites are also giving cause to worry.

Social Web sites such as facebook and myspace allow users to create and view profiles. Profiles can contain items such as interests, hobbies and dislikes. They also leave room for such personal information as phone numbers, date of birth, gender and address. Users can also upload and share pictures.

With these sites' easy access to literally millions of profiles, Paul Bishop, a 28-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, called Web sites like these "fertile grazing grounds for sexual predators, hotbeds of profanity and trashing, as well as tools for bullying and intimidation," according to Meridian Magazine.

Chris Ahearn, who works at The Attorney Generals Office with the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children task force, said when someone is willing to supply their information, he isn't sure they can be protected from predators.

Communication fostered by these Web sites may seem harmless, but the truth is there is no way to verify that the person on the other end is who he or she claims to be.

"It's just an inherently unsafe circumstance because that person they are communicating with and arranging a rendezvous for can present themselves in any light they desire without that child being able to confirm information, and if that individual happens to be a sexual predator they put themselves in a very precarious situation," Ahearn said.

Ahearn suggests parents take more control over what their children are doing, because consequences can be extreme. Even if parents believe predatory experiences are relatively rare, Ahearn said he doesn't think anyone should be taking chances when the stakes are high.

"I'm aware of several sexual assault cases that were the result of communication on myspace," Ahearn said.

Although Ahearn said he didn't know much about facebook, Kenneth Solen, an ecclesiastical leader at Brigham Young University, said the dangers of the two are "pretty similar."