Group items tagged

Between cell phones, social media Web sites, and online gaming, children today seem to have more outlets for interacting with each other virtually than they do for interacting with each other in person. However, with all of the good social interaction that is done as a result of these technologies also comes the bad. In addition to the physical and verbal bullying that may take place at school, cyber-bullying in the form of harassing text messages and derogatory posts on children’s Facebook pages is now commonplace. Even though it may not take place in person, the emotional and psychological effects of cyber-bullying are just as destructive. Since new media and cell phones are harder to track and monitor, parents need to take preventive measures that can help minimize the effects of cyber-bullying on their children. 

addictive Internet use can be defined as an impulse-control disorder that does not involve an intoxicant.

At Northwestern University, "Lauren Cohn" racked up 143 friends -- none of whom knew who she was. While we're not certain the school was involved in the fabrication, that's beside the point -- 143 people just let this chick into their social circles.

Still, take a gander at novelty apps like "Open Book," which allows you to search others' unprotected status updates for potentially incriminating info (I looked, and no, I would rather not know about the hot oral sex you had this a.m.),

cyberstalking thusly: "A course of conduct (more than one incident) that uses technology to track, intimidate, harass, threaten or scare victims." That could mean harassing you online or even using the internet to gather info that can be used for physical stalking.

The latest form of identity theft doesn't depend on stealing your Social Security number. Now thieves are targeting your kid's number long before the little one even has a bank account.

"If people are obtaining enough credit by fraud, we're back to another financial collapse," said Linda Marshall, an assistant U.S. attorney in Kansas City. "We tend to talk about it as the next wave."

Online companies use computers and publicly available information to find random Social Security numbers. The numbers are run through public databases to determine whether anyone is using them to obtain credit. If not, they are offered for sale for a few hundred to several thousand dollars.Because the numbers often come from young children who have no money of their own, they carry no spending history and offer a chance to open a new, unblemished line of credit. People who buy the numbers can then quickly build their credit rating in a process called "piggybacking," which involves linking to someone else's credit file.Many of the business selling the numbers promise to raise customers' credit scores to 700 or 800 within six months.If they default on their payments, and the credit is withdrawn, the same people can simply buy another number and start the process again, causing a steep spiral of debt that could conceivably go on for years before creditors discover the fraud