THEY may find it innocent enough but when users post or share songs or other copyrighted material on their MySpace page or Facebook, they could be engaging in piracy.
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By simply listing personal information on such networking sites, they risk having such data stolen and their privacy violated.
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McAfee listed social networking and Web 2.0 as one of the top 10 security threats this year, alongside issues such as password theft and security attacks on the increasingly widely-used Windows Vista operating system.
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With Internet penetration gaining ground in Singapore and Asia, young people — the predominant users — have to be equipped to use the Internet in a safe and responsible way, said the Business Software Alliance (BSA) yesterday at the launch of its website B4Usurf (www.b4usurf.org).
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The website provides information and resources targeted at those aged 13 to 18, who are exposed to online risks such as legal entanglements — as showed by the recent crackdown on illegal anime downloaders by Odex and copyright owners.
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Internet service providers have reported that 50 per cent of their traffic arises from illegal file sharing, said BSA's vice-president and regional director Jeffrey J Hardee.
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"This is an enormous wastage of bandwidth for illegal activity."
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Content providers, obviously, are none too pleased and Mr Hardee said: "The government should take a proactive role in regulating the Internet and making it safe. The Internet has to operate efficiently as a market place."
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However, Dr Cherian George, a member of the Internet and Media Advisory Committee at the Media Development Authority, said that "national-level censorship is neither viable nor desirable".
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The only effective means of addressing these issues is "at the individual level at the realm of values", he argued. When it comes to the young, "the people best placed to do it are parents and teachers".
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This is where BSA's B4USurf steps in. A partnership with Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road), the website includes a cyberwellness framework created by the school and lesson plans for teachers and tips for parents on online security and monitoring the online behaviour of their children.
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The website will also be launched in Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and China.
