Many parents closely watch what their kids do online. And they should! But most monitoring activities rarely go beyond checking regularly on the kids while they are using the computer, or checking the “History” feature on their internet browser.
Most parents consider downloading music or movies, as a safe online activity, but nothing is farther from the truth.
Any teenager knows about “peer to peer” programs (P2P for short). These programs are designed to share a folder on your computer with anyone else who is connected to the internet using the same P2P program. Whenever you download a song or a video, it is saved directly into that folders, so others can downloaded it to their computer also using the P2P software.
But there is a HUGE problem with P2P.
Limewire, one of the most popular P2P software, has a mayor flaw that can expose all your personal information to anyone else in the world. During installation, Limewire installs the “share” folder right on a folder that it is located in My Documents. Because of the “tree” structure that folders have in MS Windows; when you share a folder, every other folder and document stored underneath the shared folder also gets shared. What this basically means is that if you kids are using Limewire to download music, most likely everything you have in My Documents folder, from pictures to letters, is open for the world to see.
When I first read about this, I did a quick test, to see how many people were exposing their personal information online. I a matter of seconds, I was able to find Tax returns (with social security number, address, etc), bank accounts, email passwords, and any imaginable personal information.
I cannot tell you how many people store their bank account information or other private information in Word documents, so they can retrieve it later. Big mistake! By default any Word file gets saved automatically under My Documents, therefore, it gets exposed in Limewire.
There is way to change the default shared file in Limewire, however most people don’t know or don’t bother to do this. Even if you have a firewall installed in your computer, chances are that your information is still being shared as Limewire opens a communication port through the firewall in order to allow the connection with other users. My recommendation is: if you don’t know how to change the configuration in Limewire or any other P2P software, just uninstall it.
So, if you thought downloading music was one of those safe activities your kids can do online, you should reconsider it and move it to the DO NOT list.
If you want to know how dangerous P2p software really is, just read this article from MSNBC.com
And if you want more information on how computers affect our children, I’d recommend this book: Failure to Connect, How Computers Affect Our Chidren’s Minds-for Better and Worse
