Suggested Facebook shares blame in 18yr old girl's death

[CrazyPedantic]

This happened in Australia, for those who don't know what I'm talking about. In short an 18 year old girl was murdered when she went on a camping trip or something with a guy she had met on facebook. Apparently it's not the first time this kind of thing has happened. (There's some kind of group or foundation set up by the parents of another girl it happened to a few years ago)

The thing is this bloke had created a fake profile and interests in order to reel in young women. He was a predator on the prowl.

I just want to make it clear that I am in no way intending to belittle the grieving families of these girls. Being murdered is wrong. Committing murder is wrong. The people who do these sort of acts are sick puppies.

In this age of faceless communication where sites such as facebook and my space are the norm, I'm curious as to why common sense seems to have flown out the wondow? I remember back when the internet was first taking off (at least in Australia) back in the mid 90's. I was a teenager then, I remember the whole taboo and suspicion that was cast upon on-line dating sites. Everyone was warned be careful who you talk to and what you say, there might be a psycho on the other end of the keyboard.

It appears to me that this idea has gone by the wayside. Of course not everyone on a dating site is a predator. But they are out there. I look at things like dating sites and facebook as things like pubs, concerts and nightclubs. You don't just wander off somewhere with someone you've never met before. They could be a nutter.

It riles me up to suggest that there should be restrictions or checks put in place on things like facebook. The predators will get in anyway. What bugs me the most though is that none of these people who do get caught up in things like this demonstrate any common sense.

I would never meet up with someone I'd only ever spoken to online unless I was in a very public place and more than likely had a friend with me.

The Australian media has spent the last few days suggesting that teenage girls remove their photos off facebook as it encourages predators. I have a better idea, don't agree to "friend" people that you've never actually met.

I get stupid requests to be a friend from people I've never heard of. I ask if I know them and they send suggestive messages back, so I ignore the friend request.

I remember back when I was a kid about "Stranger Danger" it was a big thing that was drilled into me at both home and school. Is that not the norm anymore? My mother was always insistent on knowing where I was going and who I would be with. If I mentioned a new friend, she'd want to meet them first.

When I hit 18 and was legal to drink and club etc. I got a lecture about being smart. Using that oh so uncommon common sense to evaluate whether a situation was going to be safe. (As safe as any 18 yr old will be) I also was told that whether it is fair or not, women are in greater danger of having bad things happen to them at night spots than men.

I'm 31 now. I'm so glad I got those lectures. There were times I narrowly avoided very bad situations.

Computers and the internet are standard tools in schools these days as well as in the home. Personally I think it's both the parents responsibility and to a lesser extent a school's responsibility to educate the young on the "Stranger Danger" concept in regards to internet predators. Cyber bullying has been considered to be a real form of harrassment, why not this?

Sorry I had to get this out of my system, it's made me a grouchy bitch for a couple of days. Yelling at the TV is counter productive. Ranting here, gives me an outlet.

Anyone got a comment? Agree? Disagree? I'm interested in knowing.

Now that it's after 3am, I'm going to bed. So goodnight onto you all.

CP

[Tempestuous]

Heard something about the Facebook Killer in Britain too.

This is exactly why I don't have Facebook. I like being anon; even if someone were to find a random picture of me, they wouldn't be able to put a name on it and track me down. The problem with profile sites is that more often people care about the number of friends they have rather than checking if those friend requests they're thinking of accepting are suspicious.

And, of course, if the predator is convincing enough, some people might just buy the act. Predators are never rude, they're nice and give you compliments so you'll trust them. That's when shit hits the fan.

In any case, I'm lucky I had a hovering dad who would secretly follow me in his car if I met up with someone he didn't know/was suspicious of.

But a camping trip? That's the ideal situation for a killer. Nobody around to hear screams of help, no safe place to run, and if the phone doesn't work or is taken away from her... I mean, I don't know what camping in Australia is like, but from what I know you guys have a whole lot of land.

That poor girl... it gives me the creeps just thinking about it. Just like one of those scenarios in horror movies.