When your offline security is threatened by your online activity
Posted by Joe Addiego
The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that there has been an up tick of Craigslist users around the country who have been robbed in recent months when meeting prospective buyers to complete a transaction initiated online. Apparently, the would be robbers locate their targets online and arrange for the meeting in less than busy areas, thereby maximizing their ability to execute the robberies without being caught.
This latest spate of Internet related crime should serve as a reminder that your offline security can be greatly impacted by your online activity. Just as you would be wary about sharing your personal information with someone in a chat room or on a message board, you also should be careful what you share about yourself and with whom and how you share it when completing an online transaction, be it on Craigslist, ebay, or elsewhere.
Also, this type of crime, should it proliferate in the future, has the potential to raise several legal questions. For example, should new laws be enacted to stiffen penalties for such violent crimes that are initiated and enabled by luring the victim via the Internet? Also, will there be any public outcry to hold web sites or ISPs responsible, or at least to punish them if efforts are not made to curb this type of activity? Only time will tell.