Life Online
Stay Safe Online
Know your Rights!
Here is all the things adults expect you to do online. Some things may seem obvious but some you might not realise.
The age of criminal responability is 10 years. So when you become 10 you are expected to take responsibility for your behaviour. Below this age you are able to do this without official consequences, but when you exceed this age you can be put on trial and be punished for them.
Cyberbullying is included in crimes you can be prosecuted for after the age of 10, due to the Malicious Communications Act 1998. Cyberbullying is bulling someone on facebook, texts, or via any other electrical device.
Another crime is harrassment. This is if someone continues to bully people via the internet on the basis of race, sexuality or ethnicity.
Sexting
A crime you might not have heard of is sexting. This is when someone sends an indecent image (e.g little or no clothing) to someone else through text, even if they are in a relationship with this person. This is illegil if one or both the people are under 18 because the reciever of the photo is technically in possession of an indecent photo of a child. It is illegal under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Never send a photo like this of yourself or if you get one delete it immediently, because once you send a photo you loose control of it.
Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites are a haven for bullies. 92.6% of teenagers say bulling happens on Facebook, 23.8% say twitter and 17.7% say myspace is the worst. Be careful what you put on your profile, if you do not put the privacy settings up to 'just friends' or 'friends of friends' then anyone can see your page. Don't say where you live or where you're going. Don't accept just anyone, only accept people you know, or else there is no point in having privacy settings; you never know what the people's actual intentions are.
When you accept someone online who you don't know you don't know what their intentions are and anything about them. Even if they say they're a 12 year old girl or a 15 year old boy they could be lying and could be a 50 year old man or 35 year old woman. They might be trying to ake contact in order to have a relationship. This is illegal under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
Don't post inappropriate pictures on these or any sites. If you wouldn't want your teacher to see it, don't post it! If you do post pictures press the 'no forwarding' button to stop anyone re-posting your picture. Don't upload pictures of yourself in school uniform, people can work out where you go to school and follow you.
Click CEOP
If you are felling worried about something online; if you are being cyber-bullied or have accepted a person on a social networking site who you think aren't who they say they are click CEOP, (Child Exploitation Online Protection). You will then be able to fill in a form all about it and that form will go to CEOP and then to the police and they can sort it for you. Click this link that will take you to 'Think you Know' website where you can press CEOP and get help, http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/
Videos
Everyone loves posting videos online. Some are harmless like your cat playing with a laser pen but some you may not want to be posted in the future. Once a video's on the internet you can never really get it back and anyone can see it and judge you by it: your friends, teachers, parents or even future employers. Think befoe you post.