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Online Tracking

Anne Jacobs

You're not as anonymous online as you may think. And you make yourself all too visible -- and trackable -- with the information you put online. Even the information you let slip in casual online conversation can lead someone to your front door. You may be giving out information that could put you in danger and not even know it.

Law enforcement believes one 13-year-old girl didn't know her online "friend" was coming to her home. In the house were signs of a struggle including the girl's broken eyeglasses.1 Investigators found her body in a van along with her attacker. Both were dead.2

Be smart about what you reveal online. Don't fill out online profiles. Remember that people you "meet" online may not be who they say they are. You have no way of knowing whether they're being truthful about their age, gender, or intentions. Be aware that there may be predators waiting for you to drop any useful information -- when your parents come home, for example. It's pretty easy to give this stuff away, and online predators know how to pry for it.

These are just examples, but they illustrate how easy it is to let too much information slip.

  • "I have to hurry before my mom gets home and needs help with dinner," means you're home alone at predictable times.
  • "We have season tickets for the Rams this year," is a sure bet that you live in the St. Louis area.
  • "Senior trip to New York City coming up," could help someone find out where your high school is because you've just narrowed the search and made yourself easier to find.

Being tracked is a real danger, so protect yourself. Another preteen girl was allegedly attacked in her home by a man she met on the Internet.3 The only thing law enforcement had to go on was a physical description of the man, so they are warning parents that the predator might strike again.4 Detective Lionel Busch of the Calgary police in Canada said the predator, "Could very well be, right at this moment, in a chat room doing his thing again."5

1Pauline Repard. "SWAT team finds bodies of girl, S.D. man." The San Diego Union-Tribune. December 6, 2002, http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20021206-9999_2m6arkgirl.html.
2Ibid.
3Deborah Tetley. "Preteen lured on Internet, attacked: Spent 2 months in psychiatric ward. Calgary police ask public to help track predator, who posed as a teenager online."
The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec). January 6, 2003, page A8.
4Ibid.
5Ibid.

Anne Jacobs is a freelance journalist for the NetSmartz Workshop® at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children®.