Dangerous internet?

I was once in a chatroom that at the time,a lot of people from my college went on to. I was talking to someone called sexy suzy, and we were just talking and the like. In the corner of my eye i seen that the guy beside me ( a big fat smelly guy with glasses) was also on this site. I just happened to look over and discovered that he was sexy suzy

The internet can be dangerous, but so long as you're careful and dont agree to meet up with anyone unless you are absolutely sure who they are and their intentions, it can be a fun place

I wouldn't say the internet was dangerous at all. If you agree to meet up with someone then it's no longer the internet - it's real life. I know some people have trouble drawing the line between the two. I may very well be one of them. But as a general rule I tend to say that if I walk out the front door it's not the internet anymore. Maybe not the back door, but definitely the front door.

I think the main internet "dangers" are the worries of paedophilia and credit card fraud. I'd say credit cards are safer on the internet than on real life. It's very rare to find a site that doesn't have decent security anymore - at least none of the major sites have that problem. There's just been a case in my home village of those plastic card swipers being put on cash machines. They get taken down but they keep coming back and I think so far 47 people have had their accounts emptied - and this is in a little Welsh village.

As for the chat room thing, just common sense is needed. If you go into a chat room and just announce your address and say you want everyone to come over then the internet will be a dangerous place. Just be careful about who you agree to meet. For instance, the Ubermeet was a load of people that have known of each other for ages meeting in a public place. If no-one was real and we were all a bunch of middle-aged perverts then anyone arriving at the station would have the chance to walk away before getting to the introduction part.

Just be sensible and the internet will be safe. I'd argue that you can be less sensible than in real life - it's easier to change your identity and disappear from communities online than it is to change your name and move house in real life ;-)

Credt card fraud is a different matter. My post earlier was in reponse to meeting people - in reponse to Emma's post - but dealing with credit cards online... is it really a bigger risk than using credit cards in real life? Potentially you could have them stolen (just as you could have your details stolen online), you could have your account emptied from the cash machine (re: Gary's post)... it's a tricky one. Both have dangers but then I guess everything in life has dangers. The internet is a part of real life, and half of the stuff I buy is purchased online... i've never had any problems, but then i've never had any problems in shops either. There's pro's and cons from both sides, but the internet is what you make it. It comes down to common sense in my opinion.

i think its pretty damn obvious to tell who is a evil person out to rape everyone and who isnt. Its obvious (to me, at least) that people on VR be themselves and have their own distinct personalities and arent perverts.

However, some people have trouble drawing that line, and thats where the bad publicity of meeting people on the internet comes from. Its not the internets fault, its just the fault of people who cant distinguish paedophiles from "real" people.

i was putting VR as an example; people should take responsibility for determining whether people are who they say they are.

Back to the peadophilia thing; so long as you're safe you'll be fine on the Internet. There are so many precautions in magazines, on tv, everywhere that tell you how to act. When the problem was at it's height there were hundreds of articles in girls' magazines telling them what to look out for when talking to someone- the tale-tale signs of peadophiles and so forth. There's so many warnings around that, to be perfectly honest, if people chose to ignore them then it's the fault and stupidity/naivity of that person, and the Internet can't be blamed.

Besides, websites like MSN have closed down their chatrooms to try and prevent the problem happening. Their used to be warnings at the top of conversations saying stuff like 'don't give out details to strangers'. What more do people want the Internet to do?

Besides, when meeting someone from the Internet you're probably going to be a lot more aware of the dangers than if you were just walking down the street, and there could be a peadophile there for all you know.