Section 2.

2 Internet Safety
Personal Online Internet Safety Guidelines

Online Disclosure of Personal Information

1. Full Name- use nicknames & partial names
2. Home address- does not give out personal address to individual on the web
3. Phone Number- a phone number can be used in a reverse search on the Internet to
identify the addresses of an individual.
4. Social Security Number- disclosures of social security numbers is not a good idea
unless the website is secured. It could be used to steal financial & personal info
5. Disclosure of passwords- to anyone should be avoided. The greater the numbers
of people with access to personal information, the greater the risk
a. The password should be at least 8 characters long
b. Use a combination of letters & numbers
c. Change the password every 1-2 months
d. Do not give out the password
e. Do not use birthdays, pets’ names, friends’ names, common words
6. Disclosure of the names of family members is not a good idea as well.
7. Credit Card information- should only be disclosed to trusted, verified, and secure
sites that have security and encryption software.
8. Photos- are potential sources of risk because they are personal information. Photos
can also be edited to falsely information, such as to make id cards.

Social Networking & Online Chatting

9. Behave properly when online
Employees & colleges recruiters are frequently turning to online social networking
sites to assess the behavior of potential employees
a. Inappropriate pictures and illegal behavior may be viewed by future
employers and can prove fatal to ones job potential
b. Your online reputation is valuable
10. Posting harmful information about someone on the Internet & especially on social
networking sites is never a good idea.
11. Safety guidelines and precautions:
a. Avoid yelling (keying in all caps) when chatting online
b. Do not bully- spreading malicious & false information. Ignore bullies
c. If a situation escalates or a bully does not stop, contact school authorities &
inform parents.
d. Never meet someone in person that you have met online only

Financial Safeguards
12. Do not open emails or respond to sites that promise you will get rich quick or
anything else that seems too good to be true. Phishing Schemes
13. Do not give out credit information without parental permission and only when the
site is certified as secure. Encryption
14. The URL of a secure site begins with http: - the “s” indicates a secure website.
15. An interactive lock is displayed on the site, usually in the bottom corner.
16. A seal is another indication of safety, if there is a seal, inspect it & make sure it is
authentic

Potential Computer Hazards

17. Virus- a small piece of software that attaches to programs that are installed on a
user’s pc. An email virus has the potential to automatically mail itself to contacts.
18. Spam- unwanted and unsolicited email advertisements or messages
19. Spyware- malicious software designed to take partial control of a computer’s
operations without the consent of the user.
a. Some spyware intercepts and records passwords and credit card numbers
b. Tracks a user’s visits to different websites to analyze their spending activity and
forecast consumer behavior
 The Internet, Section 1
Internet Search Tools
Search Engines
1. Individual search engine- uses computer programs called “spiders”, “crawlers”,
or “robots” to match key search words with the web pages that contain them
a. The results returned are lists of web pages
b. Does not search the Internet itself, but instead, searches databases of
information about the Internet
c. Google, Ask, Yahoo, Live
2. Meta-search engine- sends requestsfor information to several search engines and
compiles the results Dogpile, AltaVista
3. As the results are compiled, duplications are eliminated, thus yielding fewer
results
4. A time-saver compared to a regular search engine
5. Examples: Google Custom Search allows users to control their search by
specifying
a. Name of the search engine, Description, Language, Sites
6. Subject directories- searchable databases that are developed & maintained by
human selection of sites to search broad categories & descriptions
a. Used in research & often linked to library systems, research databases
b. Mostly made up of searchable databases, such as library catalogs.
c. Searches for non-HTML formats (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
d. Results in more reliable pages than search engines
e. http://infomine.ucr.edu- compiled by academic librarians
f. www.lii.org – Librarians’ Internet Index
g. www.about.com
7. EBSCOhost- premium online information resources for institutions worldwide
a. Colleges and universities, Hospitals and medical institutions, Corporations
b. Government, K-12 schools, public libraries
1. Libraryresearch.com- a subsidiary of EBSCOhost
2. ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)
3. CRIS (Current Research and Information System)
4. Incywincy.com
5. Completeplanet.com
6. Google Scholar
8. Internet Search Methods
9. Keyword –Unique phrases or terms, Synonyms or word variations
a. Field- A search parameter, such as a title, date of publication, Useful for drilling
down and focusing on specific content.
10. Boolean Search. +,-, (), and, or, not
a. Uses operations with keywords to narrow search parameters
b. AND narrows results by searching for pages that contain both keywords
c. OR expands results by search for pages that contain either of the keywords
 d. Quotation marks narrow results by searching for phrases instead of words
11. Boolean is implied in many search engines, but still a valuable method for
narrowing searches.

Operator Search String Result

1. AND Movies AND Advertising Documents and websites,
+ +Movies +Advertising containing both terms,
movies and advertising
2. + +Movies+Advertising+Sales Movies, advertising, and
sales
3. OR Jam OR Jelly Jam and jelly, or either
term
4. OR Jam OR Jelly OR Preserves Documents and websites
containing one or all of the
terms
5. AND/OR Orchids AND (growing OR Orchids and either the
planting) term growing or the term
planting or both terms
6. “ “ “President Clinton” AND President Clinton AND
“Foreign Policy” Foreign Policy