Using the Internet Safely For Seniors

➟ Location information:City, town, country, or region,

such as Northwest. Don’t give away your employer in

your personal e-mail alias.

➟ Sexual or physical suggestion:Certain words such

as hotor sexylet others know how you want to be

perceived, while words like snugglyor lonelysuggest

an interest in intimacy that criminals can take advan-

tage of.

➟ Work descriptor:Teacher, engineer, dentist, retired, or

a description of your place of employment.

➟ Emotional vulnerability:Words such as sad, grieving,

lost, suicide, and lonely place you at risk; there’s

always a criminal waiting to be your “best friend.”

➟ Risk behaviors:Names that speak, even in fun,

of drug use (littletokr), criminal activity

(carjacker), or violence (shootingspree) may

attract the wrong kind of person.

➟ Ethnic identifiers:May increase the risk of hate

crimes, or they may help identify you — for example,

Asiandoll, N8tive(native), or mxed(mixed).

➟ Hobbies or sports:An unusual sport such as polo

or barrel racing, sports that imply a specific socio-

economic bracket, or sports that are done in only a

few locations (skeet shooting or bull fighting, for

example) are more identifying than baseball or soccer.

Criminals can use such interests to make a personal

connection with a victim.

Employers may have defined domains (@company.

com) and assigned protocols for your name — even

using your full name. It’s important in these cases that

you limit the additional pieces of personal information

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Part II: Using the Internet While Dodging the Risk