Internet Posting and Corps

[CourtOfHonorMember]

Wow! If you look up drum corps on myspace, you get stuff like Teal Sound. It seems the corps have their own myspaces!

[CourtOfHonorMember]

Please read!

I actually came across this site and thought it was an actual kid. I will be taking action to move my site to it's original host.

Police uncover the depraved world of Supalover666:

His handle, revealing the number of the beast, appears to have been well chosen. Mark Bedford, the man who yesterday emerged from the shadows of cyberspace

to become every parent's nightmare, used the pseudonym Supalover666 to enter online chat rooms and allegedly looked for young girls to groom.

Yesterday, as details of Bedford's apparent methods of operation emerged, the allegations against him provided a disturbing insight into the manipulative

world of the paedophile.

Police claim that Bedford would try to win the girls' confidence by posing as one of them. He would claim to be a 15-year-old girl interested in rugby,

music, singing and dancing. If that approach failed, he would try another tack: hacking into their email accounts to gain access to their 'buddy lists'

(which detail their online friends).

As soon as Bedford, an unemployed 21-year-old from Ottawa, Canada, had online access to the youngsters, he turned nasty, according to police. Girls as young

as nine were threatened with rape, bodily harm and even death if they failed to co-operate and perform sex acts on their webcams.

It is also claimed that Bedford, who - unusually - is suspected of acting alone, threatened to post their images on websites or show them to family members

if they refused.

Although Bedford lived with his parents in Canada, many of his victims are alleged to have been in Britain, in particular Kent. More clues are likely to

emerge as police sift through his computer, floppy discs, CDs and other items that were seized in a raid on his home last Wednesday.

Tomorrow Bedford will appear in court in Ottawa charged with two counts of luring a child by means of a computer, two counts of possessing child pornography

and three counts of making child pornography. In addition, he was also charged with two counts of distributing child pornography and three counts of extortion.

I was able to find

Supalover666's Xanga site.

According to

this article from CNN

he also used the handle Marco1812000 but I couldn't find anything under that handle.

[jacquesb]

Suppose a young person puts there first name on Myspace. Then they have a blog about, let's say, cheerleading at their school. It wouldn't take a stranger long to figure out where the kid went to school, the kid's name and possibly address.

Suppose a young person goes to the local mall with her cheerleading jacket on. It has her first name embroidered on the front. No internet involved. I think the internet risk is a little overblown.

[kevingamin]

Suppose a young person goes to the local mall with her cheerleading jacket on. It has her first name embroidered on the front. No internet involved. I think the internet risk is a little overblown.

How many people at the mall will see this girl and her first name?

How many people on myspace.com will see this same girl, her first name, and location?

Slight difference in numbers.

[Storkysr]

and convenience.

[kusankusho]

and convenience.

...and the ability to start a private conversation under an assumed identity. If I approach that cheerleader in the mall she's going to know I'm not a 15 year old girl (the beard is a dead giveaway....).

[JimF-LowBari]

Doesn't myspace have email addresses or IM info so people can pass info in secret? At least in the mall the young lady can see that it's really a 40 year old man trying to make time with her instead of another young girl emailing which happens all too often. (Jim already posted this as I was typing).

So you have a young ladies location, first name, school colors based on jacket and know she is a cheerleader. After a little time on Google a predator might find enough info to figure out which school she goes to. After a little more google time a predator can dig up enoguh info to to pretend he lives and goes to school in the same area.

As far as sexual predators and identity theft the threat is not overblown. Far too easy to find just enough information to let you Bull#### your way into even more information. As a Government employee working on Uncle Sugars computer systems I get LOTS of training on this mess.

Edited August 30, 2006 by JimF-xWSMBari

[CourtOfHonorMember]

I tried to make my site

http://www.marchdrumcorps.com

safer today. I hope no bad person can find me.

[PioneerWebmaster]

While I agree that the topic of corps regulating whether their members are allowed to participate in forums such as DCP is somewhat controversial, I don't believe that there should be any controversy in corps preaching safe Internet usage to their members.

While a corps cannot regulate whether you have a Myspace page, or similar page, they can at least educate you on what you should/should not be posting. And I'm not just refering to things we typically see, such as corps bashing or judge bashing. I was always taught that such actions reflect poorly upon yourself, and the organization that you're with. In fact, my current employer has a whole section of our "Computer Usage" policy that is dedicated to representing the company in a postive manner in a public forum. It encourages the use of message board, bulletin boards, or news groups for eductational and business purposes. However, it strongly discourages participating in any type of activity that may represent the company in a negative manner. If a corps wants to have a similar policy, so be it. You're choosing to march with that corps just the same as I'm choosing to work where I work. I knew the day that I started what the policies were, and had to sign a contract agreeing to abide to them. Most corps operate the same way with members receiving a corps handbook and signing a contract agreeing to abide by the rules in the handbook. If you don't like that fact that Corps A doesn't allow you to post on the Internet, there's always Corps B, C or D.

But back to the real issue... Sexual predators are the real deal. If any of you have watched any of the Dateline specials on "To Catch a Predator", you'll understand what I'm talking about. Granted, many people will discredit the program as being "made for TV". However, law enforcement agencies across the country are conducting operations similar to those shown on the Dateline series leading to hundreds of arrests of predators who often times have driven several hours to meet their potential "victim". It's pretty much a given that they're everywhere on the Internet, trolling for the perfect victim. Out of the 150,000+ registered users here on DCP, I'd be willing to bet that there's at least one or two of those users who had a little different interest in coming here than the rest of us. The fact is that they're everywhere. Most people simply choose to put their "blinders" on and ignore that fact. And most of the time that works, but every once in a while it takes a bit of a reality check to knock those blinders off and make you think twice before posting something that may seem innocent, but yet gives a predator every bit of information that they need to find you. And for those of you who think that corps members aren't vulnerable, think again. First off, most corps have some form of message board. There's plenty of opportunites there to interact with the public. While these boards are typically moderated, it is most definitely possible for a predator to pick out a potential victim off of a message board and begin interacting with them on the board, gain their confidence, and then begin interacting with them off of the board via IM, email, or even phone. And then sometimes members just don't think things 100% through before posting. For example, the very first thread that started on the Pioneer board after tour was one in which members started posting every bit of information about them including email addresses, screen names, home addresses, and phone numbers. Needless to say, I put an end to that very quickly and advised all members of the risks of posting such information online. But the risks don't end there. How many members, especially in corps such as Pioneer that are trying to gain members, have communicated with people via the Internet in an attempt to recruit them to the corps? I know that I often times had people IM me back when I had an AOL account and mentioned Pioneer in my profile. They often times asked questions about auditions, music, and even the summer tour. Have you ever thought that a predator might use a method such as that of an "interested prospective member" to gain the confidence of a young person? Play out this scenario in your head...

A young person receives an IM or email from someone who somehow found out that they march with Corps XYZ. The person sending the email/IM wants to march drum corps and is considering doing so with Corps XYZ. The person wants to get a jump start on auditions and begins asking questions about the corps. A series of email and IM conversations ensue. The young corps member, knowing that they could use a few more members in the corps, is eager to recruit someone. Maybe they'll even get a little knocked off of their dues if the person actually joins the corps. The emails/IM's continue and then progess to a series of phone conversations. Most of the talk is about corps related stuff, but every once in a while the conversation drifts off topic. The person on the other end seems genuinely interested in marching with Corps XYZ. Not to mention, they even sound cute! The person asks if there's any way that they can meet with the young person to take a look at last year's book and maybe even learn Corps XYZ's techniques. The person is persistent and persuasive. They must really want to march with Corps XYZ! Eventually the young person agrees to meet with this mystery person....

You can fill in the rest from there... Maybe it is someone that genuinely wants to march... or maybe it's the complete opposite. You would think that common sense would tell most kids not to meet with a stranger that they met online. Unfortunately, common sense doesn't always kick in until it is too late. Ultimately, is it the corps responsibility to "police" what their members are doing online 24/7/365? No... but the least that they can do is reinforce what is already being taught (or should be being taught) to the kids by their parents and their schools. It never hurts to hear a little bit of good advice once in a while, even if you heard it before. Every once in a while you take that advice and sometimes it really pays off.

Edited August 31, 2006 by PioneerWebmaster

[JimF-LowBari]

Great post, and great protection in keeping the members from posting all that personal information in Pioneers website. Just what a predator or criminal would be looking for. Innocent mistake on the members part but scarey none the less.

One thing that is stressed in my yearly security training is how little pieces of information can add up. A last name dropped in one post, a neighborhood name, parents first names (picture of a cake with "Congrats Nancy and Tom"), even the dogs name in separate areas and a lot of personal info can be put together. Then this totaled up info can be used for very bad purposes.

Another thing to remember is preditors, crooks, or in the case of my job terrorists or spies are very patient. Just because you've IMed or emailed someone for months do NOT mean they are safe. They might be waiting for the one opening they need.

Edited August 31, 2006 by JimF-xWSMBari