By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Children of the 21st century are growing up in a world where technology and connectivity are far more advanced than ever before.

Cell phones and personal computers are much more prevalent among teens and young adults, and it is becoming very difficult to find a person who is not involved in online social networking via the Internet, with sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter boasting hundreds of millions of users.

As the popularity of these sites continues to rise, some law enforcement officials say the potential for danger also becomes more widespread and people need to be more careful with their online activity.

“This applies to both kids and adults,” said St. John the Baptist Sheriff’s Detective Christie Chauvin, who investigates technology crimes. “People are way too relaxed about the information they throw online and many don’t realize how unsafe the Internet can be.”

Chauvin said many teenagers have misconceptions about Internet safety especially when it comes to sites like Facebook. Although the system has inherent privacy settings that can be set up by the user, it is sometimes not as private as some may think.

“You can set the settings to where only your friends can see what is on your page, but there are teens out there that have more than 2,000 friends, and many teens put their whole lives out there,” Chauvin said. “Some think that the more friends you have the more fun it is, but they don’t really know all these people. They give up information to total strangers, which can be very dangerous.”

Chauvin said although it is more common among teens, adults can be just as guilty of releasing more information then they should over the Internet, making them prey for identity thieves and potential burglars.

“There are programs connected to computers and cellular phones that allow users to ‘check in’ at locations as they travel throughout the day,” Chauvin said. “It can be valuable to helping friends find you, but it can also be used against you. It tells people where you are and where you are going. Some people use it far more often than they should.”

Although the Internet, in its present form, has been around for more than two decades, Chauvin said it is still fairly common to find people who don’t have a high level of familiarity with what it is capable of. She said many do not realize how easy it is for people to dig up information about others.

“You can find out so much about people on the net,” she said. “People are just too trustworthy of others when it comes to putting information out there.”

On the other side, the Internet is also quickly becoming a vital tool for investigators trying to gather information about a crime or incident in the community. Chauvin said detectives often use social networks to help them track people down, or even acquire a motive.

“It has become a great tool for us when dealing with bullying or harassment,” Chauvin said.

“Even if the information is deleted from a person’s page, we have the ability to get search warrants and still pull the info that we need off. It has made our jobs easier in some ways, but it can still be hard for us in that there are always new ways being devised to pull off crimes over the Internet.”

Chauvin recommends that adults and teens alike must do what they can to limit the information they post to the Internet. She said parents that are not computer savvy need to do what they can to learn more about what their children are doing online.

“Teens deserve some semblance of privacy, but that does not mean you cannot ask questions about their activity,” Chauvin said. “Children need to understand the dangers before they get in too deep.”

Chauvin also recommends that teens especially should not have Internet access in a place like a bedroom. She said computers should be in a family room where parents can see what their children are doing.

“This is not about spying on them 24 hours a day,” she said. “This is a matter of being involved in their lives so that they are comfortable sharing. Parents have to have some level of involvement in what their children do online.”