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Taken from The Sun : 20th May 2010

Australian police warn teens about Facebook photos

SYDNEY: Australian police have warned teenagers about posting photographs of themselves on social networking sites such as Facebook after a young woman was allegedly murdered by an internet “friend”. Young people should ensure that only people they know are able to see their pictures and personal details such as their date of birth, school and home address, Detective Superintendent Peter Crawford said. “I can see no reason why you would want to have a photograph of a teenager or a young child accessible to anybody who wants to look at it on the internet,” said Queensland based Crawford yesterday.
“It’s not just the issue of the photograph. If someone is prepared to put their photograph, then they are generally also putting a lot of other information about themselves on the
internet.” The warning comes after a Sydney man was last week charged with murder after allegedly creating a bogus identity on Facebook and using it to lure 18-year-old Nona Belomes off to an isolated bushlandarea. Photos of Belomes off taken from her profile have been splashed across Australian newspapers, prompting New South Wales police to warn that too much online data is readily available to the public. “Don’t have a photo of yourself on Facebook. Have photos only open to friends,” Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec of the New South Wales police computer crime squad told The Daily Telegraph this week. “Treat each person you talk to as a complete stranger.” Crawford, who works on a child safety and sexual crime group, agreed young people were exposing themselves to unnecessary risk by having open profiles. “We’ve seen predators in the past who have looked on these sites and found information about particular individuals and have even gone to places where they know these children are going to be – for example their training for sport after school,” he said. – AFP