Do you think children and teens should be posting their age and photos online?

As I see it, so what if know where they live or their age? Just because they know how old you are doesn't mean they can find you. Anyways, I am sure that they wouldn't care if somebody was 12. They could easily walk outside and find another 12 year old. Or if they know your school name. So? I'm sure there are schools closer to them then the one that kid attends. It would be different if they said my name is ... and I live at... ... way, ... NY. My parents aren't home between 2 and 6:30 everyday. My bus stop is at the corner of ... and ... Here is a picture of me so you can abduct me and not another kid. I don't get why they would post that information, but that doesn't help predtors anyways.

Kids should be very careful when posting on line. They think because they don't post their name and address they are safe. Well I once read a story about a police officer who worked with the crime prevention unit. It was his job to track down online child molesters. He told the story of how he talked to one 13 year old girl online for a few months, over time he found out - where she went to school, the fact she played soccer, what her jersey number was, what days she had practice and that she walked home after practice. He didn't get all this information at one time. He got it bit by bit. Then one day he went to her school on a day she had soccer practice and followed her home to see which house she lived in. Her parents were not at home since they had not left work yet. he went back later that evening and talked to the parents and the girl and told them about his job and how lucky their daughter was that he was not a real molester because if he could track her down then someone else could have also. The girl was shocked because she thought she had been so careful. That is how a real child molester works, they are usually working several potential victims at one time and they will take their time finding out little bits of information here and there that they can use to track them down and catch them alone. It is all a game to them and they enjoy the hunt almost as much as molesting the victim once they find them. Parents need to monitor what their kids tell to other people on line. You never know who is at the other side of the computer.

Parents should take more reponsibility-but they (we) don't. I have seen dozens of children's pictures on this site and other message boards. Many family sites list towns or show locations that would make it easy to locate the people in the pictures. Also I know many kids lie about their ages just to sign-up or get into sites for older kids. When we first started using the Internet it was definitly a no no to give out your name. Now most kids have E-mail addresses using first and last names-and they have pictures and profiles posted all over the Internet. Be honest-how many of you use online photo storage sites? Did anyone ever see the episode of CSI where the crazy mother copied and pasted herself into photos of the little boy and tried to claim he was hers??

My kids are not allowed to post photos or age,location,etc online. I think that is the worst thing that a parent can allow them to do. my kids both have controls on their screennames and I know what sites they go to as I get a report each time from the server. I also can trace their steps and see what they have done. You as the parent have to take precaustions in your hands as they could be lured into something.

No, I don't think they should. I can probably lead to misuse or abuse of those pictures, even illegal practices, and I wouldn't like them to be hurt. I don't think kids or teenagers realise how public (and therefore, dangerous in some ways) internet is.

it needs a special care and consideration on parents end to watch for the activities of their kids, this would be really irresponsible to let them do whatever they want as they really dont know whats right and whats wrong for them. Most of the Parents usually care to let their chidren go out, they wont let them go out alone as they know that the circumstances and the ppl out there may not be favourable for there childern always.. but they cant realise the important fact that internet is almost just as stranger world for them as the outdoor world is.. They can face bad situations,... can meet bad strangers, and can result in negative outcomes same as they can do by going out alone... So i totally disagree that parents should allow there childern to use internet.. speciially chatting unchecked

I don't think teens should be posting any sort of personal information including their age and photos. That opens doors for some things they may not want. I think it is normal for kids to trust people but I would sit down with mine and have a long talk with them about internet safety like I would if they meet a stranger on the streets.

i dont think stating your age is that bad, but location or school etc thats a bit much, you cant trust people these days.photos arent that bad i dont think, but could get out of hand if u put your location down.

For the most part I believe in the principle of reciprocity as far as information is concerned. You have no idea who is going to access your information on the net, to be so open with information is dangerous , and (this may sound a little harsh but it's true) Stupid. My guess is that these kids are giving out information without the knowledge of their parents. It's really hard to keep up with kids these days, they've acquired the tecnical means and knowledge to do a lot of things that only adults could do earlier but they haven't lost the sense of self assurance and security (nothing bad can ever happen to me) that is a part of childhood.

Yes, that's a big mistake and that child is opening themselves up to being a victim of a predator. However, the parents may be totally unaware that they are doing this. Even if it is forbidden in the home, that child may be able to get to a friend's computer and do it from there. My kids know that they are not to speak to anyone on the internet they don't know ever and so far, they keep their communication to their circle of friends.

I think in most cases, their parents wouldn't know about it, after all I don't think parents know alot about the things I do on the internet, I doubt they even know what myLot is. But if I was a parent, with children that age, you have to be a bit more careful and watch what they. You never know what they can get expose to or the trouble they can get into once things go wrong. Especially when its comes to sharing personal details, you really have to watch them.

No, this is not good! My kids arn't old enough to do things like this, they're still on nick jr, but when they are ready, I plane to talk to them about it. If you talk to your kids before it happenes, I don't think you'll have to snoop like some parents tend to do, at least not so much. I don't think adults should be so open online either. I don't have any pics of my kids, and try not to give info about where I am because I have kids. The internet isn't going to change for the better. We have to take the steps to make sure our kids are safe online and off.

There is so much that goes on online i do not even nelieve kids should get online unless they have some one watching them. my kids play on the computer in the living room only when i am in the room. Prenst should know what there kids are up to always.

We almost can't control their posting on Internet. Ai this age, they want to do anything they like. They want to be known and to my mind, It's normal. We can't stop a natural process. On another aspect, it's dangerous, we are unable to protect them from all bad guys on Internet and that's important. What shall we do? A rule is impossible, because we can't build a system that is able to identify users' age unless we spend a lot of money. The most imperative key is themselves, their awareness. Being sceptical is always good for Internet users.

My guess is that alot of parents don't know what their kids are posting online. It is very dangerous for these kids to be posting any information about them online, especially their photos. My son has a myspace and he does have a photo on there. I monitor what he does and who has access to his myspace account. I feel that it is very important for the parents to be involved if their kids are posting anything on the computer.

Absolutely not and emphatically no! I once worked for a police department where one of its sergeant's, who I thought was really on the up-and-up, was arrested by another county's sheriff's office because of his chatting with a 15 year old on the internet. He has and had problems, this was over 7 years ago, and who knows if he was able to be reformed. Over and over again, especially within the last few years, we have been hearing so many stories of how children on the internet are becoming exploited and sexually molested by older individuals. This is downright disgusting and somehow, someway this needs to stop. The unfortunate thing is, children of today are learning more about computers and the internet and they are doing so at a much earlier age. There truly has to be better parental controls and somehow legislation needs to be pushed through the U.S. Congress as well as state legislatures really putting a hurt to those who exploit children through chat room, etc. The other unfortunate thing however is that there are some parents out there who let their children have their way on the internet if not in the local malls with the way they go out dressed.