Who goes there - friend or foe?

Okay, first of all I want you to put yourself in the shoes of Leisha Tadema for a moment.

She is from Rotorua, works at a desk all day in a boring job and is the mother of a 4-year-old. One Friday afternoon she logged onto Facebook and expressed her boredom with a status message that said "three hours to go and I can finally go home!"

Little did she know that a few moments after she shared this comment online, a woman who was a so-called Facebook "friend" was executing a burglary of her home.

Tadema arrived home to a trashed house with her TV, jewellery and other valuable possessions stolen. It was not until after the offender was arrested that Tadema realised she was actually a friend on Facebook.
A few seemingly harmless words can lead to a situation like Tadema's, which demonstrates that privacy is being exploited on sites like Facebook.

Steps need to be taken to increase the security of private details online to minimise the effects of this ever-increasing problem. Facebook has over 600 million active users worldwide and over 150 million of these users access Facebook on their mobile phone - that's 25 per cent of users.

It is estimated that the total time users spend on the website a month is a whopping 5 billion minutes. This tells us how many people interact via Facebook and gives an indication of the erosion of people's privacy.

Many Facebook users are unaware of the risks involved in sharing information over the internet and often young, innocent people are targeted.

The risks include theft, harassment, stalking and being sexually assaulted. Facebook needs to increase its security to help prevent the exploitation of privacy online.

Firstly, many cases of sexual abuse have been reported worldwide as a result of contact initially made on Facebook.

Cases have also arisen in New Zealand. A 24-year-old man, Daamon Choudhary, was sentenced in court in Whangarei for "unlawful sexual connection" with a 15-year-old girl.

Choudhary befriended her on Facebook and began conversing with her, lying about his age and started to pursue the girl.

Her parents warned Choudhary off, but he began to sexually harass and stalk the girl. The parents then contacted the police and Choudhary was arrested and charged.

This case is one of the many reasons why steps need to be taken to increase security on sites like Facebook.

Over the years people have become more comfortable with sharing personal information with people they do not know and it is starting to become socially acceptable to meet people online.

Strangers can use private information to hack accounts and potentially cause major harm to an innocent individual.

Recently Facebook has increased security, with an option that conceals personal information such as date of birth, address, etc, from anyone not directly connected through the site to the user.

This has helped to increase privacy, but it is optional, and a majority of people would not be concerned with their information being displayed as they are wanting to meet people online.

Although Facebook has taken steps towards making the site safer, users have to make a conscious choice to use such features.

A spokesperson for NetSafe, an online safety group, says "Facebook updates were like leaving notes at a bus stop".

People using Facebook need to be more aware of who can read their posts and comments to become safer and less vulnerable to having their privacy exploited.

The growth of websites such as Facebook has caused issues of privacy to become a major concern in modern society. As more and more people worldwide join the social network, privacy problems are only going to increase.

Individuals need to adapt to the fact that protecting their personal information needs to be a high priority.

Although Facebook has placed safety restrictions on its site, it is up to the individual to make themselves aware of the dangers and use the safety tools provided to avoid the risks of theft, harassment, stalking and being sexually assaulted.

Next time you get a friend request, don't just accept it for the heck of it. Make sure you know the person concerned first.

And next time if you post on someone's wall, or update your status, make sure that you aren't giving any info away. It's not hard to take a few steps that will make you a lot safer online.

Just remember, no one would want to end up in the shoes of Leisha Tadema.

Mitchell McNae, Year 11, Hamilton Boys' High School