Being safe on the internet.
Being safe on the internet is something we should all do and practice, so here are three things that you can do to keep others and yourself safe.
Personal info, When it comes down to your personal info you shouldn’t ever share those passwords, whether it be banking, social media, or house address. These things should never shared on the internet because it could lead to identity theft or worse.
Links, Do any of us check the links we click on before actually clicking? no? Well today you should start, in this day and age scamming is a very prevalent and dangerous thing because it could lead to black-mail and other things. A way that a person can get all your sensitive info is by links, they are called grabify links or IP loggers, and they are disguised as a different things like a YouTube, or Pintrist link. If you were to click on one of these the person could go to the website and see your IP address what city and country you live in and possibly you home address, and after that they can and probably will black-mail you into giving them money while threating to leak the said sensitive information. So before you click on any links make sure you check the URL, if it seems to short, it drag it into an open tab and see if it expands. You can also hold your mouse over top of the link to see what it says because it can be camouflaged.
Secure Networks, Using safe networks is always a good place to start when using surfing the web, because this can prevent from critical information from being leaked or hacked. Because believe it or not from using WIFI in a coffee shop some peoples information has been taken without them even knowing, here are some examples if what a hacker can see and find out about you on public WIFI. The sites you have visited are visible, the data from the unencrypted sites, your IP address and the sites IP addresses that you visited, and the applications you use for online activities.
Being unsafe on the Interenet
Doxing on the Internet is very illegal, this is because Doxing is actually posting someone’s personal information on the web without their consent. This also goes for any addresses of any kind or persons, because this can lead to identity theft.
Swatting, is when someone calls a “prank” call on the police stating somebody’s address to bring a large amount of armed officers to swat the house or apartment, this is VERY illegal and dangerous because the person that is getting swatted may do or say something wrong and get hurt in the process.
Sending illicit photos on the internet is not illegal (If consented I think) but if you send these the person receiving can do almost anything they want with said photos, they can download and post them online or send them to other people.
Works Cited
Pearce, Lynne. “How to Stay Safe Online.” Nursing Standard, vol. 32, no. 29, Mar. 2018, pp. 22–24. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.32.29.22.s18.CloseDeleteEdit
Geerdts, Christopher, and Alison N. Gillwald. “Developing Smart Free Public Wi-Fi in South Africa: Can Public Wi-Fi Help Redress Digital Inequality, and If So, How? Emerging Lessons from South Africa’s Diverse Implementations.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2017. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3043690.CloseDeleteEdit
Can Public Wi-Fi Be Monitored? (alphr.com)
Personal/Social Competency Reflection
My strengths as a digital citizen include reporting harmful or false information. This contributes to my community because it can prevent the people from looking and learning false or hurtful information.
My choices on the internet have consequences, so before I post anything, comment I think about how this could affect the person or me in the future.
Some of my goals as a digital citizen, is to get outside of the house more and not spend so much time on the internet. Ways I can complete this goal is by reducing my screen time by 2-5 minutes every week until I’m down to a time where I, and my parents think it’s an acceptable amount of screen time.
