Do teens need education in online privacy?

Online privacy forms a subset of computer privacy. Internet users may achieve an adequate level of privacy through controlled disclosure of personal information. The revelation of IP addresses, non-personally-identifiable profiling, and similar information might become acceptable trade-offs for the convenience that users could otherwise lose using the workarounds needed to suppress such details rigorously.

A number of experts within the field of Internet security and privacy believe that security doesn't exist; "Privacy is dead - get over it" according to Steve Rambam, private investigator specializing in Internet privacy cases. Many young people remain vulnerable to online predators because they are dangerously unaware that privacy on the Internet is an illusion, experts say.

Teenage girls in particular tend to be easy prey because they see the Internet as part of their living space and consider — incorrectly — whatever they do online as private, said Shaheen Shariff, an associate professor of education at McGill University, who specializes in cyber-bullying and online social networking.

A 20-year-old Ottawa man who used threats and extortion to lure young women into performing online sexual acts reinforces the need for more Internet-usage education.

Read more:
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Teens+need+education+online+privacy/2988762/story.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_privacy