Central Michigan Life

The popularity of Internet social networking on thefacebook.com has some worried about online predators and identity thieves.

Thefacebook is an online directory that connects people through networks at colleges and universities.

What has officials like Dean of Students Bruce Roscoe worried is that students share personal information such as addresses and phone numbers that are available for anyone else in the network to view.

“I don’t think students need to be paranoid about this, but I do think they should be cautious and careful,” Roscoe said. “It is not a good idea to communicate personal information via the web as in many respects one loses control of it once it is posted.”

Offering this information on the Internet could put users at risk for identity theft, harassment and stalking.

Sexual Aggression Services Coordinator Steve Thompson works with these types of predators on a weekly basis. Recently, he dealt with a case involving a woman who was sexually assaulted by a man she met online.

“Most of the time, listing information like this would be fine. But a directory like thefacebook would be a haven for a stalker or predator,” he said. “Internet stalking is a phenomenon — once someone gets a hold of a victim’s specific information, it is easy to track them down.”

Thompson said thefacebook makes it a lot easier for a stalker to stalk. It eliminates one step for an online predator.

Instead of seeking a target, like in a chat room, and taking the time to get them to offer their personal information, it’s already on thefacebook, with a picture attached, he said.

Thefacebook offers options for users to adjust privacy settings to allow only people within certain divisions of certain schools to see it. Users also can set it so that only people who share something in common (house, year, a course and friends) can see information.

Users can create different privacy settings for the four different parts of their profile: Contact information, personal information, courses and friends.

“Safety and privacy concerns are one of our top priorities,” said Chris Hughes, spokesman for thefacebook. “Most facebook users aren’t giving out any more practical information like phone numbers or addresses than a regular citizen would for their local phone book.”

Julienne Peterson, Northville freshman, lists both her residence hall phone number and address on thefacebook and isn’t concerned.

“Anyone can find that information anyway through the online directory. Only people from CMU can see my profile or my friends from a different school. I am quite aware and paranoid of sexual assault and I have taken many self-defense classes,” Peterson said. “And why would someone just pick me out of over 500,000 people on thefacebook?”

Ashley Kerkes, Milan freshman, also lists her residence hall phone number, address and personal cell phone number.

“I am not that worried about people randomly showing up because I think all people are generally good. I think that if I ever had a problem, I would immediately take off my personal information,” she said.

Novi freshman Teresa Asevedo has thought of the possibility of being stalked by other users of thefacebook.

Asevedo said she lists her residence hall room number and phone number.

“This information can already be found out easily by anyone using CMU’s Web site and searching for me,” Asevedo said. “I refuse to put my cell phone number or my home address down on the site because I think that is getting a little too personal.”

Home addresses are commonly listed in CMU’s directory as well.

Aside from harassment and sexual predators, identity theft is another problem posed by listing personal information on the Internet.

Peterson thinks information on thefacebook doesn’t create any additional problems from information already available through CMU.

Thefacebook is something students should be able to use with ease, instead of having to worry about the potential risks, Thompson said.

“I wish in our culture we didn’t have to deal with these types of situations, but unfortunately we do.”

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