Nearly half of Kiwi teens post sensitive info online

NetSafe warns teenagers to take steps to protect their online identities in light of a new internet use survey. Photo / Bradley Ambrose

Latest findings from internet safety watchdog NetSafe has found that a disturbing number of New Zealand teenagers post sensitive information about themselves online.

Netsafe's Convergence Generation research project - released to coincide with Privacy Awareness Week - compiles information gathered from 1700 Kiwi high school students.

It found that a staggering one in two students had posted information about themselves in public online spaces in the past 12 months. This included social networking sites like Bebo and Facebook where privacy settings had been set to allow public access.

Instant messaging IDs and email addresses were posted by 30 % of students, as were full names as well as photos and content that "they wouldn't want someone who didn't like them to find," says NetSafe.

Mobile phone numbers were posted online by 14% of respondents and home addresses were made available by 3%.

NetSafe research manager John Fenaughty says this sort of information could potential haunt teens who post it for the rest of their lives.

"Once information is posted publically online you lose control of it," he said.

"You can't control who sees it, copies it, forwards it, or who, potentially uses it against you. Even if you take it down, there's absolutely no guarantee that it hasn't already been copied it and posted elsewhere online."

"The good news is that the majority of teenagers are not posting their contact details online. The bad news is that a sizable minority have posted their email and instant messenger contact details and just over one in ten have posted their mobile numbers on public webplaces."

There is also potential for information to harm employment prospects in the future, warns Fenaughty.

He says many employers search online for information about job applicants, and are 'particularly wary' of digital footprints that include alcohol and drug use, sexual images or references, and abusive behaviour or fighting.

Netsafe's advice

1. The the privacy settings of your social networking pages to hide your sensitive information from public view.
2. Search on your name (try putting your first and last names in quotation marks) and your phone numbers and see what comes up.
3. Remove any other examples of sensitive information about you that have been posted online.

- NZ HERALD STAFF