Staying Spotless
in a Sea of Slime - Part 5
by
Clark L. and Kathryn H. Kidd
Question:
Which is the best user name for the actor in Star Trek-- BillShatner,
William S or BeamMeUp? The answer is in this article-and we'll tell
you why it matters.
In previous
columns, we've been pretty graphic about the evils that are lurking
on the Internet. But most people who spend time online have a positive
experience when they do so. There are some general safety guidelines
that should keep you safe on the net, if they are rigorously followed.
This column will give some suggestions that will enhance your online
safety in three areas. Later we'll focus on other ideas. Just remember
that the rules must always be kept. It only takes one visit
to a chatroom to undo all the good that you've done by following
the other protective measures.
Selecting
your User Name. Because most of you will connect to the
Internet through some type of dial-up connection, it will be necessary
for you to identify yourself, not only with some kind of user name,
but also with a password. If your service provider allows you to
choose your own user name, choose one that will reveal little about
yourself to others. In particular, avoid user names that reveal
details about your age or your gender. Choosing names such as "HotBody,"
"TinyAngel," or "CuteBabe" is just asking for trouble. Women and
girls are more subject than males to online harassment, so they
should take particular care in selecting their user names.
You should
also avoid user names that reveal your true identity, particularly
your last name. Having your last name makes it easy for predators
to find you using one of the people searching services that are
readily available. For example "BillShatner" would be a bad choice,
"WilliamS" would be better, and "BeamMeUp" would be the best of
all.
Parents should
also make sure that all user names selected by their children will
meet these guidelines. User names such as "TopDog" and "WittyOne"
may not be as impressive as the child's own name, but they will
cause fewer problems. Surely Mom and Dad and Junior can reach a
compromise that will be acceptable to all.
Selecting
your Password. Your password is a critical item of information,
because it is the sentinel that keeps others from accessing the
Internet through your account. Anyone who knows your password can
connect using your user name, causing all kinds of problems for
you. It is hard to emphasize too much that family members need to
keep passwords a secret from everyone with the possible exception
of you, the parent. And it's a good idea that husbands and wives
also know one another's password, as an extra incentive to avoid
temptation.
Assume your
child sends an e-mail to a friend who is a little bit mischievous,
if not downright dishonest. >From the e-mail, the friend can determine
the user name of your child, and the name of the online service
that he uses. There is a pretty good chance that the friend has
access to the same online service, or can find a computer where
the software for that service has been installed. Now the password
is the only piece of the puzzle that prevents the friend from connecting
as your child. If your child has revealed his password, or selected
one that is easy to guess, the bad guy is in.
Although this
may appear far-fetched, it really is not. There are groups of very
serious pranksters and criminals who spend a lot of time trying
to guess passwords so they can get online using a stranger's account.
There are also "password cracking" programs that are written just
to try and guess passwords. Once outsiders gain access, you can
be sure they'll cause trouble. After all, if their purposes were
honest, they wouldn't need to steal someone else's identity.
When choosing
a password, following these guidelines will make it difficult for
your password to be guessed by a person or a password-cracking program:
•Use at
least six characters.
•If your
online service recognizes both upper-case and lower-case characters,
use a mixture of each in the password.
•Use a
mixture of letters, numbers, and other symbols that are allowed.
•Do not
use any word found in any dictionary, and do not add a number to
the front or back of a dictionary word. Password cracking programs
try such combinations.
•Make sure
your password has no relationship with your user name. Avoid the
obvious trick of spelling the user name backwards.
•Do not
use any item that makes up part of your personal identification,
such as your phone number, address, Social Security number, any
of your names or the names of family members - including the trusty
family pet. Avoid backwards spellings of any of these items as well.
If children
have trouble remembering complex passwords, consider using some
type of memory
device that will remind them. For example, the nursery rhyme "Sing
A Song of Six Pence..." could be used to remember the password "SASO6P.
Try to avoid
writing down your password. If you must write it down, store it
away from the computer, such as in a drawer, or in a book. Writing
the password on a sticky note and placing it on the computer monitor
is a bad idea.
Some services,
such as America Online, allow you to store a password on your computer
so that you don't have to enter it when connecting to the service.
This only works on your own computer, so a neighbor could not connect
using your user name from his computer unless he had the password.
You may want to consider this option for your children for a couple
of reasons:
•If you
establish the password for your children, they will never need to
remember a password to get connected. They just need to select their
user name from the list of family names and hit the Enter key to
connect.
•Because
they don't know their own password, your children will not be able
to connect to the service from another location, such as a friend's
home.
Of course,
there are some disadvantages to using stored passwords. Because
no password is needed to sign on, anyone with access to the computer
can connect using that user name. Family members could connect with
the wrong user name, or even outsiders visiting your home could
connect. This could be a problem if you have different names defined
with different levels of access authority. (For example, eight-year-old
Horace, who has been firmly restricted to eight-year-old subjects,
might get a real education if he signed on using Dad's user name.)
But there's nothing to stop you from using stored passwords on some
user names but not others. For example, the kids can connect without
passwords, but Mom and Dad still need to enter theirs.
Under no conditions
should the master user name (the first one that was specified when
the account was opened) be allowed access without a password, because
that is the user name that controls the access levels for everyone
else.
Online
Profiles. Commercial services such as America Online often
allow you to build an online profile that can be displayed by others
who want to learn more about you. Although the profile looks quite
innocent on the surface, there is a great potential for mishap.
If someone gets annoyed with a message you write or something you
do online, he can easily display your profile and find out about
you. Or if your online communication reveals you as someone who
is ripe for being stalked, the online profile could lead the predator
right to your door. Using some of the people-searching services
that are readily available, people can locate your address and home
phone number from just a few clues.
If you must
use an online profile, follow the rules about privacy that have
already been discussed. Profiles will usually allow you to leave
items blank, so you need not reveal anything about yourself that
you don't want known. Services that support profiles also usually
allow you to search for profiles that match certain characteristics.
For example, if you assemble plastic hobby kits, you could search
for others who live in your state, and who share the same passion.
Although this seems like a convenient feature to you, the user,
such features are also convenient for sex criminals and scam artists
who are searching for local prey.
One final reason
for avoiding online profiles is that they expose your e-mail address
to the world. There are people who compile lists of e-mail addresses
and sell those lists to those who send junk e-mail. Once they get
your user name from an online profile, they can also determine your
e-mail address. The predator doesn't have to know your name; all
he has to do is to search for all online profiles that contain,
say, the word "the." More specifically, someone starting an online
dating service may want to have a more exclusive mailing list, and
may search for any profile with a marital status of "single" or
"divorced." In any case, building an online profile is like throwing
open the doors to the world and saying, "Please send me some junk
e-mail!" As we explore in future columns, junk e-mail is something
you definitely want to avoid.
Click
here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.
© 2001 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
| 
