# Internet Safety



## Moosegut (Sep 24, 2005)

Folks,

I thought I'd share something with y'all - That's for the Southern brethren of this uh, hmmm . . . now what are we being called?







Sorry about the length.

This forum has been a real treat for me these past few months. Unfortunately, the friendly atmosphere lulled me into a false sense of security. I divulged too much information - information I constantly tell other people NEVER to divulge anywhere on the Internet. This is not to say that the people in this forum are not top-notch. This is just to say, that I (we) want to be VERY, VERY careful about divulging any information about my (our) children. You may (or may not) notice, I've changed my signature settings.

When I joined this great forum I was cautious, as I always am. But soon, I was having so much fun and liking so many people that I let my guard down - not against you guys, but against those who use everything they can on the Internet to perpetrate harm against others. In my signature, I revealed my name, my wife's name and the names of my children, and I revealed my location to within a few miles. All of these things leave a trail for someone to start gathering information - whether for identity theft or for other, more EVIL purposes - and give them pieces to fit in the puzzle.

Several things have happened recently to remind me about the simple precautions I (we) can take to help keep my family safe, and Iâ€™ve been thinking about this for a while but decided to act on it today â€" Iâ€™m not sure why. Two things are noteworthy. 1. A friend was a victim of identity theft and the complete upheaval of his life is almost unbelievable. The identity thief (thieves) had many pieces to a puzzle that they put together to create a new him: Where he worked, where he lived, his height, weight, social security number, driverâ€™s license number, etc. They gather these things over time by trolling the Internet for bits of information.

The second, and most horrific thing is: The secretary at work is a good friend â€" we attend the same church, have shared home meals together, she and her husband are not campers but they have visited us at Lake George a number of times. Her granddaughter, 24 year-old Jennifer Kesse has been missing since January 24. The investigation has not turned anything up yet, but they are sure she was abducted. She could be anywhere right now and the possibilities are too horrible to even think about. She could be anywhere in or out of this country. We just donâ€™t know. Iâ€™m not trying to burden you today, but I ask that you pray for this beautiful young woman. And please, visit the link below to get a picture of her in your mind. One: because we Outbackers are all over the country and visit all over the country â€" you may see her. Two: to remind you that you must be vigilant in your efforts to keep your children safe.

For those of you with teenagers, I have a warning about myspace.com and other sites like it â€" keep your kids away from them. Two weeks ago we had an abduction and murder, two towns over, of a 14 year-old girl. It appears she met someone in his twenties on myspace.com. The investigation continues but I have heard and read nothing good about that site since I first heard about it over a year ago.

My youngest sometimes rides his scooter to a friendâ€™s house - he can go the wooded way or stay on the main sidewalk. DW now makes sure he stays on the main sidewalk. We canâ€™t bury our heads in the sand but we can be vigilant. So, thatâ€™s why Iâ€™ve changed my signature info. Nothing against you guys and I still look forward to meeting as many of you as I can at rallies.

I ask again, please pray for Jennifer and please visit the link to see if there is ANYTHING that may click.

Scott

Jennifer Kesse


----------



## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

Scott
You are absolutely right on how often we let our guard down
And it's a shame that we can't stop to smell the rose at times
Our thought and Prayers go out to the Kesse Family
We truely hope and wish for a happy ending

Don 
and Family


----------



## Highlander96 (Mar 1, 2005)

Some very good points Scott. Our toughts and prayers are with the Kesse Family. As it has been said before we do often let our guard down.

Unfortunately, kids have been on milk cartons long before the internet. However, I can't beleive some of the stories my wife brings home about her 7th graders. The times, they are a changin'.

Happy Outbacking!

Tim


----------



## nascarcamper (Jan 27, 2005)

What a tragedy. I hope she's found ok. The courts are too easy on the criminals these days. I'll leave it at that before I hijack this informative thread. Keep us updated please.


----------



## h2oman (Nov 17, 2005)

We will add her to our personal prayers and the prayer list at our church. I don't know what else to say.

John


----------



## Swanie (Oct 25, 2004)

I, too, am very concerned about this issue. Young people just don't understand the dangers -- but then, how can they since we can'd even understand how creeps can do what they do?? Keep the guard up. I will also pray for Jennifer.


----------



## campmg (Dec 24, 2005)

Well said Moosegut. Thanks for sharing and reminding us all of the dangers that lurk on the internet.


----------



## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Great post Moosegut.









This is something we all need to be vigilant about. I formerly had our kids names in my signature, but PDX_Shannon suggested I remove them when we put the Outbackers stickers on the trailer. She felt that the sticker made it too easy to make a connection to the kids. At the time, I thought it was a little silly, but ultimately agreed, and removed their names.

Let's all be careful out there!









Happy Trails,
Doug


----------



## Fire44 (Mar 6, 2005)

We will keep her in our prayers. And we will keep our eyes open. You never know what might pop up....

Gary


----------



## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Very good advice Scott, and a gripping story as well. I'm lost for words right now.


----------



## Steelhead (Nov 14, 2005)

We will certainly keep Jennifer in our prayers and will add her to several prayer chains that we are involved in or are aware of. Thanks for sharing the info and the warning.We certainly will be trying to be more careful. Thanks again and keep us posted with any news about Jennifer. Good news! we pray!

Dallas


----------



## camptails (Jan 18, 2005)

One of the hard and fast rules of running a website, as I did for a school, is to NEVER EVER post a picture of a child on the internet. If you do you are running the risk of abduction or who knows what from the sick predators out there who make it their profession. We all must be very careful. Make no mistake about it they are watching.......


----------



## our2girls (Jan 26, 2005)

Thanks for the story. I, too have changed my signature....taking Doug's lead!

Thanks again


----------



## luv2rv (Jun 21, 2004)

I hate that it has come to this but when you're right you're right.

I too have changed my signature to be a little more vague.

Thankyou for the taking the time share this sad bit of news and advice.

Wayne


----------



## 2500Ram (Oct 30, 2005)

Great post Moosgut, we are a family here but you never know who's trolling around.

Recently there was a story of a girl from Pueblo that was almost abducted from a school playground. A man approached her, said her mother sent him to pick her up, she asked for the "code word" He didn't know the code word, she ran into the school, found a teacher and they called the police. He was not found but that was one happy mother on the evening news.

We now have a code word with our little ones.

Bill.


----------



## Castle Rock Outbackers (Jan 18, 2004)

We go one step farther...our code word may not be a word...









Randy


----------



## shake1969 (Sep 21, 2004)

'Nuff said.

I felt kinda weird about putting my home location on the Frappr map thingy, too.

I'm changing both.


----------



## Camping Fan (Dec 18, 2005)

shake1969 said:


> 'Nuff said.
> 
> I felt kinda weird about putting my home location on the Frappr map thingy, too.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the safety reminder to everyone Scott. That's why my location listing is vague and I haven't put my location on the "map thingy". You just never know who might be lurking out there.
















Deb


----------



## ARzark (Aug 9, 2005)

Thanks Scott for the post. It's easy to become comfortable and share too much information without thinking of exactly who is looking at it.

Myspace.com has received quite a bit of attention lately. There is way too much identifying information on there. Our kids all have myspace, as do all their friends. It's amazing what the unsuspecting younger crowd will put on.

DW and I are sitting the kids down tonight to discuss Myspace and the related dangers (once again). If you are a parent, and you haven't seen Myspace.... chances are your kids may be on it and you will be shocked at the revealing information easily found there. Please do yourself a favor and look... talk to your kids. DW has a Myspace account for the sole purpose of checking up and keeping tabs on the kids. Yes, they know she is there and looking. The scary thing about Myspace is you can see all your kids friends, and they post pictures, interests, where they are going and when.... scary stuff. Not hard for the creeps to put the puzzle together.


----------



## our2girls (Jan 26, 2005)

A couple of kids here in the Detroit area utilized Myspace to threaten blowing up their school, as a joke.

Well, the "joke" backfired, and these knuckleheads are looking at serious charges.

Strange world we all live in, kids have to be careful out there.


----------



## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Sure, some kids misuse some things and it can get them into trouble.

I use MySpace to show progress on our home. No adress information or info on my kids. I do however post picture of my kids on my personal web site. I feel it's the parents job to teach kids to be safe, not limit activities that have a real purpose. I post my camping picture to share with my family and friends.

If you think myspace is bad, then you need to just google your phone number some day and they have it post a map right to your house.


----------



## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

I periodically google my own name to see what might exist out there. Pretty easy when you have an unusual last name. Not so effective if your last name is common.

Google is actually scarey in and of itself. It's handy at times, but makes things way to easy for the bad guys.


----------



## Kenstand (Mar 25, 2004)

I noticed some Outbacker's including their upcoming camping schedule in the signature line. First of all I am envious of some of the great camping plans I see but this also advertises when you are not going to be home.

For people with the right access just knowing that you own an Outback and your hometown might be enough information to determine much more about you.

*Be Careful!*


----------



## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

Kenstand said:


> I noticed some Outbacker's including their upcoming camping schedule in the signature line. First of all I am envious of some of the great camping plans I see but this also advertises when you are not going to be home.
> 
> For people with the right access just knowing that you own an Outback and your hometown might be enough information to determine much more about you.
> 
> ...


Another good point.

I guess discussing a rally is also a problem

For the criminal types out there....When I am gone my 23 year old son is still home and he is now learning how to use a halogen bar (FD) real good









John


----------



## 7heaven (Jun 4, 2005)

We have been following the Kesse story for a week or so and she is in our prayers.

A couple of weeks ago, I found out my 13 year old daughter had started a blog. She included pictures, email addresses, etc. She said she emailed it to all her friends so they could keep up with her. (We lived overseas and in 3 different US states over the past few years). She thought only her friends that she sent the link to could see it!









I had already talked to all the 3 big kids about internet safety, not posting our email address, etc!







Well, I pulled the plug and am tightening up their parental controls settings.....

If you haven't seen it, Dateline NBC ran a couple of stings out in SoCal and caught over 50 child predators, scarey stuff...

Be careful out there!


----------



## Castle Rock Outbackers (Jan 18, 2004)

And at least for sex offenders that have registered, you can find how far they live from you here:

http://www12.familywatchdog.us/

Appears the safest place to live (sex-offender free) in the US is central Nevada.









Randy


----------



## 7heaven (Jun 4, 2005)

Yikes, there are none real close, but there are offenders against children right across from a high school and middle school. That shouldn't be legal.....


----------



## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

7heaven said:


> Yikes, there are none real close, but there are offenders against children right across from a high school and middle school. That shouldn't be legal.....
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Just wondering if you looked at it correctly? I thought I had the same thing and clicked on the marker and it was the school itself.

John


----------



## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

Moosegut,

Our prayers are with the Kesse family.

Also, thanks much for the heads up on personal info. i just changed ours.

Rita


----------



## 7heaven (Jun 4, 2005)

It's a red square, across the street from the school icon...


----------

