WiredSafety's Guide for Piczo

Hey Everybody!

I am Parry Aftab. I am an Internet privacy and security lawyer and now donate my time running the world's largest Internet safety and help group, WiredSafety.org. WiredSafety has agreed to help Piczo keep their users safer by sharing our safety tips and making sure you get help when you need it online.

Let’s take a minute to talk about online safety. The Internet is a great place to chat, do research, and have fun. Despite all its usefulness though, it does have its “dark” side. Knowing what and what not to do online can save you a lot of grief!

Piczo requires that all users be AT LEAST 13 years of age. If you are between the age of 13 and 17, you are encouraged to get permission from your parent or guardian to use Piczo. Although Piczo does not require parental permission for teens using its service, depending on the nature of any customer service inquiries, the Piczo Staff may require some teenagers to get parents' permission in order to continue the service. If you or your parent or guardian has any concerns, please feel free to contact us at abuse@piczo.com. They can read our social networking safety tips at WiredSafety.org or access my Internet safety podcast (by searching for me at iTunes.com or visiting aftab.com or parryaftab.blogspot.com).
While the staff at Piczo work hard to keep all of its users as safe as possible, there are risks that exist in any public network. Those relate to identity theft, harassment and predators. The more you understand those, the safer you will be. It's also a good idea to give your friends a heads up too. If they share too much personal information about you online, it puts you at risk too.
Think about your reputation before posting anything online. What you post online stays online...forever! You never know who has copied it, printed it out or cached it, even if you take it down right away. So, the rule here is "ThinkB4uClick." And the operative word here is "BEFORE!" After may be too late.
Also, employers, college recruiters, parents, principals and others may be reading your profiles and posts. Is that really the way you want to come off? Would you attach your profile to your college application? If not, password protect it and guard your password. By limiting the people who can see your innermost thoughts and outrageous pics to those who know the "real you" it is less likely your earn a reputation you don't deserve.
Never publicly post in ANY online forum any "personally identifiable information." What is personally identifiable information? It’s any personal information that could be used to find or identify you in real life. This could be such information as your real name, address, telephone number, cell number, your sports team, health club, or links to websites or other profiles that might give this information away. Even without meaning to, you can give this information away by taking your picture in front of your car with your license plate or home address showing in the photo. This information could be misused to steal your identity, guess your passwords, cyberstalk or harass you or by predators who really want to hurt you (or your friends).
Pics is what Piczo does best! But pics can be risky if you aren't careful. When it comes to pics, have someone you trust look over what you want to post publicly. If it's a pic of you or your friends, modify them to make them safer. Use editing software to slightly blur them, pixelate them or morph them into a sepia, cartoon or sketch image. This makes it less likely that a cyberstalker, bully or sexual predator will misuse it. And get permission from your friends before posting their pic publicly. If in doubt, password protect it.
While it’s fun to meet new people online, always remember that the friends you make online should NEVER replace people you know and are friends with in real life. No matter how often you have chatted with someone or how much you think you know about them, you never really know who you are chatting with online. That cute 21 year old guy may not be cute, may not be 21 and may not be a guy! It might be two eight-year-old bratty boys, three mean girl cyberbullies, your parents or technology teacher or a 47 pot-bellied creep. So be careful. (Check out our “ You Never Know!” public service announcements here at Piczo.)
We have all heard the stories about in-person meetings going bad. The simple fact is, people can “be” anyone they choose to be online. Just because they sent you a picture, does not mean it is THEIR picture. Or their picture taken within the last three decades. IF you feel that you must meet someone you are only familiar with from online conversations, be sure you choose to meet them in a VERY PUBLIC PLACE. A busy shopping center would be a good first step. Meet during the day. And BRING A FRIEND! (or several, preferably big tough sumo wrestler friends.) You may want to sit somewhere where you can observe the person before disclosing yourself. Do not be afraid to walk away if you feel you have been lied to in anyway. People who have pure motives do not need to lie. Never trust those that do. If you discover they are lying to you, chances are they are lying to others too. Report them to us, your parents or the police.
Don’t reply to spam. At best, they go into a black hole and never get to the sender. At worst, you find yourself now on many more lists because they figured out you read the junk e-mail. Invest in a good spam filter or reach out to your ISP and see what anti-spam services they offer. You can also visit wiredsafety.org and learn about the two e-mail trick, creating one for public use and another for your friends. Always use a disposable free e-mail address, like Yahoo, Hotmail or MSN . If you run into problems, you can just stop using it and no one can follow you back to your real address (assuming you followed our tip about not sharing too much personal info.)
Being online does not make you completely anonymous. There are ways that people use to discover real life information about the people they meet online. Sometimes the code on the top of your e-mail, or other codes used when you post anything online can tell people where you go to school, work or access the Internet. If you are really worried that someone may try and track you back to your offline location, use an anonymizer e-mail or surfing service. And never post from work, unless you want your employer to know what your doing and saying. Many employers reserve the right to monitor all your electronic communications. Know that everyone leaves a trail of "cyber-breadcrumbs" when they use the Internet, and no one wants to be surprised by some slimy stranger showing up in real life or calling your cell, uninvited.
Some people enjoy giving others grief online. They can do this by harassing you, posting threats to frighten you or by sending you malicious code. Make sure that you always use a good firewall and an up-to-date anti-virus program, updated automatically. While you’re at it, get a good spyware or adware blocker too. (Spybot and Adaware have free versions you can download online to scan for spyware. Pandasoftware.com has a very good free online virus scan too.)
Some hacking programs and spyware can grab your passwords and credit card information. Use a firewall and anti-virus program and update them automatically. (I thought it was worth repeating :-)) Many scams send you IMs or e-mails pretending that they are from your bank, a retailer you use or a website payment service (like Paypal). They claim that there was some kind of problem or security break-in, and tell you to click on the included link to check your account. When you do, you are redirected to a fake site that can look very real. By typing in your login and password on the fake site, you have just given them the information they need to empty your bank account or steal your credit. To learn more about this practice (called "phishing") visit the FTC.gov site (and OnlineOnGuard.com, a collaborative website of many groups, including WiredSafety.org, with the FTC) for more information about protecting your identity online, and to report any attempt to hack into your account, steal your ID or login information.
Keep your password a secret (even from your best friends). Sharing it can cause you huge problems. And don’t use one that’s easy for someone to guess, or use a password hint that others who know you might figure out. (Keeping it on a post-it note glued to your monitor at school may not be the best way of storing your e-mail address either.) Change it once in a while too. In a similar light, have a secret code word with your real life friends that you communicate with online. If you are communicating with someone you think you know, but are suspicious that the person on the other side may not really be your friend, ask them for the "secret word". If they do not know it, disconnect! (It might be their roommate, office mate, younger brother or creepy uncle!)
Use your head! Many new schemes exist to trick you into giving up your money or personal info. If something seems too good to be true, it’s not true. Unfortunately, there is a cybersucker born every minute. Don't be one of them. It's unlikely that the pop-up that offers a free iPod to everyone who can catch the monkey will be giving away millions of iPods. And the information you provide to them may end up in the hands of Spammers and con artists around the world.
ThinkB4UClick: Never reply to ANY attempt to gain personal or banking information from an email that you did not originate. Don’t be hooked by a “phishing’ scheme. Phishing is the sending of authentic looking emails that probe you for personal and financial information. They use such come-ons as “Your account will be closed if you do not respond“, or “Our computer files were lost and we need to verify your information” or many other variations on that theme. If you receive such an email, ignore it. If you aren’t sure if it’s legitimate, exit your e-mail and type the real website address into your browser. Don’t even cut and paste it in. If you are still worried about the email’s authenticity, call the bank or financial institution supposedly sending the request on the telephone and authenticate your information that way.
Take5! If you receive something that hurts your feelings, makes you angry or offends you, don’t lash out in anger or try to teach them a lesson. Put down the mouse and step away from the computer until you calm down. Think in advance of what you could do for five minutes to help you relax. If you think it needs to be dealt with, Piczo has a terms of service. First check and see if the post violates their terms of service. If it does, let us know. If it doesn’t, think about whether it’s worth your time and energy to worry about it. Arguments online tend to escalate quickly and turn into full cyberwarfare when no one wins. If someone has posted a harassing message about you, or is posing as you online or has stolen your password, let Piczo know right away.
Don’t be naïve!! If someone makes you an offer that sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There is no one in Nigeria who is actually going to give you 30 million bucks, and that girl you don’t know who just emailed you doesn’t want you to watch her webcam because you’re cute. No reputable bank, ISP or other online service will EVER ask you for your password via email or instant message or send you a link to their site if there is a “security breach.” If someone is making you uncomfortable on email or instant messenger, most programs will let you BLOCK them. You don’t have to talk to anyone you don’t want to.
Treat others with respect, and expect the same from them. Don’t be obnoxious. Online arguments are known as “flaming”. Do not go there. Many times these incidents can escalate into off-line harassment. Harassing people online is against the Terms of Service guidelines of just about every ISP . Do not harass others online. If you do it can get your service revoked. Bad things you say and do online can come back and bite you.
Let the staff at Piczo know if one of their users is a problem. Most webmasters won’t tolerate cyberbullying, identity theft, online harassment, or anything else that hurts other members. An excellent resource for just about anything online described above is my charity www.wiredsafety.org. This online organization has a wealth of information on its website, and also has skilled and trained volunteers that can answer questions or assist you with cases of online stalking or harassment. (We are all unpaid volunteers who donate their time online to helping others. You may want to check out whether volunteering is for you by visiting our site.)
If you are a minor (under 18 years of age) and ever feel like you’re in real danger from someone online, tell an adult that you can trust, preferably a parent. If this is not practical, talk to some other adult family member, one of your teachers, a school counselor, clergyman, etc. A full report should then be filed with your local law enforcement agency. Don’t delete the message. Also, a printout won’t be enough. The police will need the live communication to check out the headers and other coding to trace the sender or poster.

A little common sense can go a long way online. Keep it safe.

Learn more about Internet safety at WiredSafety.org!