Google Buzz is a real time social network that is being automatically added to ALL Google Mail accounts over the next few days.

Bullying UK is concerned that younger users may not be aware of the privacy implications of Google Buzz.

Buzz is a lot like Facebook or Twitter, people can become your friend and you can become theirs, you have a Google Profile that many people would have created years ago but may have forgotten about, leaving the information "public". This includes photographs, Twitter, Facebook and even news stories you have shared..... all open to the world.

When Buzz is added onto your Gmail account all that "Profile" information is brought into Buzz and shared with anyone you have made a friends connection with. You may have to reconfirm your Twitter and Flickr address but your Google Reader and Picasa Photos feeds seem to be automatically imported which is a concern to us.

Buzz is Public by Default

Google wants users of Buzz to feed updates into its public Real Time Search Engine, but this presents all sorts of problems for younger users of the service. We would suggest only posting updates on Buzz that are marked as "Private" click the "Public" icon under the update window to change how an update will appear in Buzz.

We think it's great to share information with people you trust, and having control over what you share and when, but please double check what information you are automatically sharing with Google Buzz or Google's services in general.

In Buzz you can click the Connected Sites link to see a list of services Buzz will import from, click EDIT and you can set if that feed will be exposed to the entire world (Including Google Search) or just to the people you confirm as a friend!

You can change what information Google displays on your Google Profile by visiting your Account page, please be careful what information and feeds you share on your Google Profile and set information or feeds private that you would like to hide from the entire world.

Once again, Google Buzz is a public system, unless you specifically set "Private" on updates or feeds all your updates will be viewable and searchable by the entire world!

Stay Safe...and if you would like to see our Buzz updates you can friend us on our profile.

Bullying UK is the UK's leading anti-bullying charity and provides a huge range of advice on cyberbullying and cyber safety. We rely on your donations to continue our work, please give what you can.

Twitter is popular with everyone but due to the very open nature of Twitter younger users should take extra caution. Remember everything you post to Twitter with an open profile can be seen by anyone in the world and is very easy to search for.

We suggest you put your Twitter profile into PRIVATE mode as this will stop the world seeing your updates.

Login at Twitter.com and go to SETTINGS. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Protect my tweets". Click save.

If you would like someone to see your update you will have to FOLLOW each other, if another Twitter user follows you they can't see your updates until you follow back. This gives you control over who gets to see what you are up to.

Pictures and other media

As with any internet service be careful what you post on Twitter, it's really easy to post pictures or video onto Twitter but you must take care not to post anything that could embarrass you later or get  you or anyone else into trouble.

Twitter and your location

One of Twitter's more advanced features is being location aware. That means if you turn the feature on people will be able to see where you posted a tweet from, using your exact location!!

We strongly recommend you keep this setting TURNED OFF. Some mobile phone Twitter clients make it easy to turn on or use the location feature, it's usually marked with a RED PIN or a MAP ICON. Stay clear of this feature if you want to remain private.

Twitter spam and nasty virus attacks

Twitter, like any network, suffers from nasty people who want to ruin it for everyone else. They steal accounts and then send messages pretending to be a Twitter user to trick you into clicking a link so they can also steal your account and do the same to your friends.

Follow us @BullyingUK and please make a donation if you found this information useful and would like more Twitter safety articles

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

Twitter is the hottest social network around, used by many celebrities to keep in touch with fans and by citizens all over the world to break news stories or just say what they are up to at any given moment.

While Twitter has been great at helping people communicate quickly and in a very open manner, it's not without its problems. Always follow the usual rules of cyber safety and in addition here are some Twitter specific safety tips.

Twitter Safety Tips

• Never give out your real address, or any personal details - Remember on Twitter everything you say can be open to the world;
• Never give out your password - Also be extra careful when you sign into Twitter through other websites. (Some are scams trying to find out your log-in details!);
• Think before you Tweet! -  Anyone can see what you say unless you make your profile private;
• Don't Follow Back people you don't know - This can help protect you against Direct Message spam. You can still talk publicly using @replies;

Go Private

If you don't want the world to see everything you say on Twitter make your profile private, the option is in your settings on Twitter.com. That way only people you follow back will be able to see your updates, your tweets will also be hidden from the public search as well.

Prevent your Twitter account from being hacked or stolen

Sometimes evil people will try to take over Twitter accounts so they can send private messages to a person's followers but there are lots of ways you can guard against it.

Don't click links in Direct Messages unless you were expecting a link from that user. Most hacks happen when you put your Twitter log-in details into a compromised or fake website. Be careful of sites that look like Twitter.com but aren't. Only log-in to Twitter.com if you typed the link in directly or accessed through a link you know is safe (Bookmark).

If a link is not a Bit.ly link be extra careful. Bit.ly is the most popular link shortening service and does a good job at fighting these nasty links.

At the moment dangerous messages look something like this, but they change all the time so be on your guard. I have replaced the address with URL to protect you.

hah. this you? http://URL
wow. look at this http://URL
Whats your IQ http://URL

If you think your account has been hacked change your password immediately. If you can't log-in you can use the password reset tool on the Twitter support site to generate a new random password to your email address.

If you need some help or just want to tune into what we are up to, follow us on Twitter @BullyingUK

Find this advice useful? Make a donation so we can write more advice to help the Twittersphere.

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

Always keep private things private

Remember there is a risk that if you fall out with friends they may upload things you've told them, or pictures you've sent them to the internet and once that happens anyone can see them.

Unfortunately some adults who use the internet try to make friends with young people. They may pretend to be near your age but they could be much older. They might try to persuade you that if you were really their friend you would do as they ask and pose in revealing clothes. This is called grooming and is an offence in the UK.

Warning

If you EVER come across anything on the internet, whether it's on a social networking website or anywhere else, where people are making suggestions to you that make you feel uncomfortable or upset, please tell your parents or another adult.

CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) investigates cases of sex abuse and grooming on the internet. Grooming is where people make friends with you and try to involve you in inappropriate activities. In the UK this behaviour is a criminal offence. You, your parents, or anyone else who is concerned, can report incidents by clicking the red button on the top right hand corner of the CEOP website.

Although the police can get information from your computer's hard drive, it's helpful if you don't delete anything you think is dodgy until the police have decided whether they need it as evidence.

Protect your identity

Don't upload anything that could identify you, which shows your home address, school, car registration number or phone number. Pictures can give away a lot of clues without you even realising it!

Don't get yourself into a situation which might embarass you and don't take pictures of other people which might embarass them and get you into trouble.

Like other social networking websites YouTube is not for people under the age of 13.

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

Bullying, of course, is nothing new. However, the fact that many children and young people now own a mobile phone has given rise to a new form of bullying; one which can take place 24/7 and even intrude into your home or personal space, where you would otherwise be safe from harassment.

Roughly one in seven or 14% of young people have been threatened or harassed by mobile phone - either by someone they know or anonymously. The type of bullying can be anything from name calling or text messages threatening violence, through to images or video clips intended to frighten or intimidate. You may have seen reports on the TV, in a newspaper, or on the Internet, of so-called "happy slapping attacks", where acts of violence against young people or adults are recorded and shared using mobile phones. In some cases, young people can be frightened to go to school in the first place, or frightened to leave or go into the playground because of the messages or images they have received from bullies. The bottom line on mobile phone bullying, however, is that - like any other forms of bullying - it is unacceptable, very often illegal and there are ways to stop it. For good.

How to Combat Mobile Phone Bullying

1. The easiest way - but it's not always that easy - to combat mobile phone bullying is to take all the steps you can to avoid it in the first place. If you witness mobile phone bullying, or are aware of it going on at school or outside, then report it to a teacher or your anti-bullying coordinator. You'd probably like your friends to do the same for you in a similar situation, and standing idly by increases your chances of being the bully's next victim.


2. Never leave your mobile phone unattended and only give your mobile phone number to members of your family, or friends that you trust. It's not uncommon for a former friend, with whom you've fallen out for whatever reason, to become a bully or pass your number on to someone you really wouldn't want to have it.


3. If you call or send text messages or images to other mobile phone users, be respectful in what you say and careful with the images that you send. Whatever you send can be made public or may pass into the possession of bullies very quickly indeed, so do not divulge anything that could be used to be embarrass or intimidate you in the future. This also applies to images or video clips of yourself. Don't be coerced into doing anything stupid that could be recorded on someone else's mobile phone. Tell a trusted adult if someone has taken a photograph or video clip of you against your wishes - even the most innocent image is easily to manipulate into something more sinister - and don't send images to anyone you don't trust.


4. If you do experience mobile phone bullying, either verbally, by text message or by a bully sending you an image of some kind, it is important that you do not attempt to retaliate or even reply at all. Bullies "get their kicks", if you like, from the power and control they exert over others and they seek to confirm that power by provoking you into a response. If you refuse to be provoked and do not respond at all, you deny the bully the sense of satisfaction that he or she is seeking.


5. This does not mean that you should ignore mobile phone bullying completely: quite the contrary. In fact you should never ignore any form of threat or harassment. You should remind yourself that it is the bully, alone, who is at fault - however dearly he or she wants you to believe otherwise. There are numerous strategies and people that you can turn to. You should involve your parents, or one or more trusted adults - relatives, carers, teachers, doctors, etc., are all there to help. You should inform them immediately because (i) they need to be aware of the problem right from the start, and (ii) they can help you to develop your strategies against the bully. Don't think of this as being a "wimp" or a "grass" -- quite the contrary: it often takes greater courage to do something positive about the problem and you are helping to protect others from the same individual by doing so.You may need an adult to speak to your mobile phone provider, your head teacher, or even the police, as part of your strategy.


6. Keep a diary of what is happening to you -- when and how -- and learn how to save the evidence: offending messages, images, etc. - which may be vital when a bully is finally caught and punished.


7. One of the easiest ways of stopping mobile phone bullying, of course, is to change your mobile phone number altogether - a trusted adult can arrange this with your mobile phone provider - but it is also straightforward for a mobile phone provider to trace the identity of anyone sending threatening or abusive text messages. There are any number of competitive mobile phone deals available from many different providers, so even changing mobile phone provider should not be too much hassle.


8. The Education and Inspections Act 2006 grants head teachers the power to regulate the conduct of pupils, even when they are not on school premises, to an extent that is "reasonable", in the eyes of the law. This may include the confiscation of mobile phones known to be used for mobile phone bullying.


9. If all else fails, however, you and your trusted adult(s) may need to contact the local police. Making abusive or threatening phone calls, or sending text messages or images deliberately intended to cause harassment or anxiety is illegal and is punishable by a fine or, in the worst cases, a prison sentence.

If you want to talk to somebody in confidence about your own mobile phone bullying experiences, you can call ChildLine, on 0800 1111, or if you want further practical advice - for young people and their parents - on how to avoid mobile phone bullying, and how to deal with it when it does occur, websites such as Bullying UK, can be valuable sources of information.

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

The people who run these websites are not usually checked by the Criminal Records Bureau as they would have to be if they were working with young people in real life, and they're not registered charities. They may also be based abroad rather than in the UK.

Bullying UK has come across many websites which caused us concern. Some pose such risks to the young people using them that they have been reported to the police and social services.

Websites which were risky included:

• A site offering help to teenagers self harming run by a woman who also posted in other places on the internet telling people how to kill themselves
• A self harm website which links to graphic pictures of self inflicted injuries
• Several websites claiming to be charities which were private businesses
• A fun website run by an adult posing as a teenage girl
• A self harm website for young people run by a bogus teacher
• An anti-bullying website asking pupils to part with personal information

There's no reason why any genuine website would need to keep contact with a young person secret from the young person's parents, unless it was run by an organisation to which they might be revealing abuse by their carers.

The same rules apply on websites as they do in chatrooms. Don't give out any personal details like your name, address, phone number or school.

It might be exciting to think you could win a prize by filling in your details on a website but don't do it. Not only might you get a lot of junk emails (spam) but you don't know if your details will be sold to someone else.

If a website says your visit won't be recorded on your home computer then be very wary. Why should it matter who knows that you've been to the site unless you're visiting a site like the NSPCC where you want to tell them that someone has been mistreating you?

Some advice can be dangerous

Be very careful about taking advice from websites. Unless there's a section telling you who runs the site and what their expertise is, they may not have any. Some sites, particularly those with teenage forums, can give dangerous advice.

The people trying to help you out are probably well intentioned, but if you're upset, depressed, having a bad time in a relationship or at school, you need the best help you can get, and that might be face-to-face or from a recognised charity.

Don't take any medical advice from a website, the best people to help you with worries about your health are your parents and family doctor who know you best.

The website owner should always be happy for your parents or carers to know that you're contacting them and should never offer to do anything on your behalf without your parents knowing about it.

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

What do you do when things go wrong? Cyber bullying is rife on the internet and most young people will experience it at some time.

Bullying UK gets panic-stricken emails from young people and parents who are upset and angry about abusive and false postings made on these websites.

But there is lots you can do to protect yourself in the first place and to get abusive material removed quickly when you see it. Our new sections on Facebook, Bebo, MySpace and YouTube tell you exactly what to do.

Problems include:

• Stolen identity
• Threats
• Blackmail
• Rumours and gossip
• Abusive Comments
• Nasty pictures

Warning!

If you EVER come across anything on the internet, whether it's on a social networking website or anywhere else, where people are making suggestions to you that make you feel uncomfortable or upset, please tell your parents or another adult.

CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) investigates cases of sex abuse and grooming on the internet. Grooming is where people make friends with you and try to involve you in inappropriate activities. In the UK this behaviour is a criminal offence. You, your parents, or anyone else who is concerned, can report incidents by clicking the red button on the top right hand corner of the CEOP website.

Although the police can get information from your computer's hard drive, it's helpful if you don't delete anything you think is dodgy until the police have decided whether they need it as evidence.

Stolen identity

Bullying UK gets lots of complaints about stolen identity. This happens when someone either hacks into your account or pretends to be you when they set up a new account.

Try to pick an unusual password and use letters and numbers. Don't use any part of your name or email address and don't use your birth date either because that's easy for people who know you to guess. Don't let anyone see you signing in and if they do, change the password as soon as you can.

Rumours and gossip

The worst thing about social networking websites is that anything nasty posted about you can be seen by lots of people because it's so public and because the bullies make sure they tell everyone where to find the abuse.

Complaints to Bullying UK show that most vicious gossip and rumours are spread by people who were once your best friends so it's best to keep secrets to yourself.

Only tell people things if it wouldn't embarrass you if other people found out about them. Posting false and malicious things about people on the internet can be harassment.

Threats

Anyone who makes threats to you on the internet could be committing a criminal offence. It's against the law in the UK to use the phone system - which includes the internet - to cause alarm or distress.

It could also be against the 1997 Harassment Act. If threats are made against you then it's essential you tell your parents so that they can alert your school and make a complaint to the police.

If you can't print out the threats use the "print screen" button to take a snapshot of the computer screen and then save that in a word processing package or in your draft email folder. If you're not sure how to do this email Bullying UK and we'll show you how.

Blackmail

Bullying UK has had complaints from young people that new "friends" they have made on the internet have pressured them into taking their clothes off and filming themselves.
Threats have been made that their parents will be told embarassing things if they don't take part.

This is an offence called "grooming" in the UK and men who have been found guilty of "grooming" have been jailed. Remember: everyone you meet on the internet is a stranger and you need to keep personal things personal to you, don't share your secrets with other people and if anyone asks you to do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable then don't do it.

If anyone you know on the internet puts pressure on you to do things you don't want to then that's a big danger sign and you need to tell your parents or an adult about it so that their behaviour can be investigated by an organisation like CEOP which looks after the safety of young people in cyber space. Even if all you know about the person is their email address the police can still find out who they are.

Abusive comments

It's tempting to have a go back if someone makes a rude posting on your webspace but don't!! This is called flaming and it just makes the problem worse.

Abusive comments are very upsetting but the best way to deal with them is to get them removed by the website. Bullying UK tells you how to do this in each of the pages set up for each website like Bebo, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

Instant messaging

Nasty pictures

It's easy to snap off pictures on a mobile phone and upload them to the internet. Make sure that you have the person's permission to take a picture and that they're happy for thousands of people to see it on the internet.

Don't upset people and then upload their pictures for other people to have a laugh. That could be harassment. Don't digitally alter pictures of people either because what you think is funny may be offensive to other people. Don't let anyone take pictures of you that might embarrass you.

Very important information

If you post abuse about anyone else on the internet, whether it's in places like Bebo, in games forums or message boards, or if you send threats in chatrooms or on IM like MSN, you can be traced by the police without any difficulty.

Every time you visit a website or make a posting, your internet service provider, ie AOL, BT or Virgin, has an electronic note of your activity. Even if you create an anonymous email address like hotmail or yahoo, you can still be traced.

Don't forget

Nothing is secret in cyber space and something you write now might damage your job prospects in future because many employers search the internet before they take people on.

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

What is happy slapping?

The assault usually involves a stranger being hit over the head while other members of the gang take photographs/video on their camera phones. The pictures are then circulated by mobile phone or put on the internet. In recent months happy slapping has become an unpleasant and dangerous craze. There have been a number of high profile cases in which attackers have been jailed for killing people in this way.

Where happy slapping attacks have happened in school playgrounds pupils have been afraid to return to school. Anyone who thinks this is just a bit of harmless fun should think about the consequences.

Anyone assaulted in this way should tell their parents who should make a complaint to the police.

Happy slapping is a criminal offence

There are a number of offences involved. The first is assault, the second is harassment if the pictures are shown around and uploaded to the internet and it may also be against telecommunications law.

Bullying UK has had numerous complaints about abusive videos uploaded to websites like YouTube. If you or your friends are the victim of a filmed assault let us know on help@bullying.co.uk and we'll advise you how to get the material removed.

Some schools have already banned mobile phones from being used during the day to prevent pupils sending abusive text messages. We're now hearing of others banning them after happy slapping incidents. It's unfortunate that the bad behaviour of a tiny minority of pupils inconveniences everyone but if head teachers think there is a risk of assaults on the premises then they need to protect pupils and a ban on phones on the premises is probably the best way to do that

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

Internet service providers have contact email addresses for complaints about email and this will normally be abuse@hotmail.com , abuse@btinternet.com or whichever system the sender is using. Don't reply to the email or delete it, get your parents to forward the whole thing to the sender's ISP.

What to do if someone sets up a nasty web page about youIf you are a pupil named on an abusive message board or website then let us know and we will contact the website host to try to get it closed down. We have had success doing this in the past.

We recently closed down a series of message boards in the Hertfordshire/north London area where pupils were being identified by name, school and year and others were invited to post abuse about them. These boards have been reported to Hertfordshire Police following complaints to us by parents and pupils.

Among problems we identified were:

• A death threat
• Numerous bogus messages posted in the names of people being targeted
• A boy who lost all his friends as a result of postings made in his name
• Numerous threats of violence
• A girl who tried to kill herself due to abuse
• A teenager on anti-depressants and afraid to go out due to threats

Sending abuse by email or posting it into a web board can be harassment and if this has happened to you then your parents or carers need to make a complaint to the police.

All message boards run by private individuals are hosted by firms and you can often find an address to complain to in the 'help' section of the board. In our experience firms usually act swiftly to shut down the board because allowing abuse to be posted is against their terms and conditions.

Abuse isn't secret

Even if the people posting this abuse do so using a false name, they can still be traced because the firm which hosts the website will keep logs which detail where uploads have been made from. You and your parents can't access this information but the police can.

If you're getting rude comments by instant messenger print them out and give them to your parents. They could contact the police if the messages are threatening or if there are so many of them that they could be considered to be harassment. Change your IM details and only give them to genuine friends.

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

When you join a chatroom you'll find people are very friendly but how do you know that John aged 14 who wants to be your new best friend really is a teenager and not Frank aged 57?

People can pretend to be your age You don't know - nobody does - and unfortunately there have been cases where adults have pretended to be teenagers and lured young people into meeting them in dangerous situations. Some of these cases have ended up in court in the UK.

Bullying UK has had experience of young people using the internet who have been persuaded into dangerous situations by adults. This is an offence called 'grooming'.

Internet safety tips:

• Never give out your real name
• Never tell anyone where you go to school
• Only meet someone from a chatroom in a public place with one of your parents or another adult. If they are genuinely who they say they are they will be happy to do this
• Never give out your address or telephone number
• Never agree to meet anyone from a chatroom on your own
• Tell an adult if someone makes inappropriate suggestions to you or makes you feel uncomfortable online

Danger signs

• If the person tries to insist on having your address or phone number
• If the person emails you pictures which make you feel uncomfortable and which you would not want to show to anyone else
• If the person wants to keep their chats with you secret
• If the person tells you that you will get into trouble if you tell an adult what has been going on
• If the person emails you pictures which make you feel uncomfortable and which you would not want to show to anyone else
• If the person wants you to email them pictures of yourself or use a webcam in a way which makes you feel uncomfortable
• If the person shares information with you and tells you not to tell anyone else about it
• If the person wants to meet you and tells you not to let anyone know

Like other social networking websites YouTube is not for people under the age of 13.

Warning!

If you EVER come across anything on the internet, whether it's on a social networking website or anywhere else, where people are making suggestions to you that make you feel uncomfortable or upset, please tell your parents or another adult.

CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) investigates cases of sex abuse and grooming on the internet. Grooming is where people make friends with you and try to involve you in inappropriate activities. In the UK this behaviour is a criminal offence. You, your parents, or anyone else who is concerned, can report incidents by clicking the red button on the top right hand corner of the CEOP website.

Although the police can get information from your computer's hard drive, it's helpful if you don't delete anything you think is dodgy until the police have decided whether they need it as evidence.

Protect your identity

Don't upload any video that could identify you, which shows your home address, school, car registration number or phone number. Videos can give away a lot of clues without you even realising it!

Nobody from YouTube will ever contact you for account information or for your email address so don't give out bank or any other details.

Privacy

If you're using a shared computer at school, in an internet cafe or library then you'll stay logged on even when you close the browser. This is because YouTube uses persistent cookies. So don't forget to log off when you've finished the session.

You can remove your age from your profile page by going to "My Account", "Channel Settings" and clicking on "Personal Info". Choose "Do not display your age on your public profile" and then click  "Update Channel".

To change your personal info, click the "Channel Info" link. It's best not to fill in any info at all which identifies you because even though you may get very friendly with other YouTubers, if you don't know them in real life you only have their word that they are who they say they are!

"My Channel" is also where you'll find the "Location Info" link but again, DON'T give away any info that would let people identify you or let them steal your ID.

Problems

Comments can make you very angry if they are abusive but don't get involved in a flame war. Often nasty remarks are made to wind you up and even if they're not, sometimes you can take a remark the wrong way, just because of the way it's written.

You don't have to let people comment on your videos. To change the settings for that, go to "My Videos" and click on the "Edit Video" button under the video you want to edit.

Look under "Sharing" where you'll find the button to allow comments. You can choose to either moderate comments by reading them privately before uploading them, or you can let people say what they like. You can also turn comments off altogether. Click on "Update Video Info" to save the changes.

If you want to remove an offensive comment from one of your videos, watch the video and then scroll to "Comments & Responses", find the comment and click on the "Remove" link. You can't reinstate comments if they were removed in error.

Abuse

Flag a video you think is inappropriate and YouTube will take a look at it to see whether it breaks their terms of use.  If it does then they will remove it.

YouTube rules say you can't upload videos with hate content, nudity or graphic violence and if you find one on someone else's space, click on the video to flag it as inappropriate. Submit the form on the next page and report it to YouTube.

You should tell YouTube about videos which show anyone being hurt, attacked or humiliated because they break the rules. YouTube says it has zero tolerance of harassment, stalking, threats or revealing another member's personal information.

Hate speech which targets racial groups, religion, disability, gender, age and sexual orientation is not allowed either.

YouTube has community guidelines and if people break those then YouTube say they will remove the offending video and put a warning strike against the culprit's account. The strikes stay on the account for six months.

Do it a second time within six months and your privilege to upload to YouTube is temporarily disabled. Do it a third time in six months and your account is terminated.

Threats and harassment are likely to mean the account is terminated immediately without warning.

How to report abuse

To report abuse use the YouTube online alert .

This sends you to a page where you are asked to choose whether the problem is harassment, hate speech or privacy and whether you or your child are the target or whether you are complaining on behalf of someone else, like a friend or workmate.

Clicking through to the next section gives you the option to tell YouTube whether someone has released your personal info, stolen your video, is making rude comments, created a video to harass you, is threatening you or has stolen your identity.

Deleting people from your address book

If you fall out with a friend and they cause trouble you can delete them from your address book by going to your account page and clicking the "All Contacts" link in the "Friends and Contacts" section.

Choose which person you want to unfriend and the click on "Remove Contacts". From then on the person won't be on your "Share Video" list.

Closing your account

Click on "My Account" in the top right hand corner and under "Account Settings" click on "Delete Account". Give the reason you're quitting the site and your password and then click "Delete My Account". Log out by clicking the link in the top right hand corner.

Your videos will be removed from the site immediately and the thumbnails will disappear as soon as YouTube is updated.

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

The 419 email Originating largely from Nigeria, The Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire), South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe and Malaysia,  they beg the recipient for help to transfer millions of dollars into a foreign bank account, on the promise of a large share of a non-existent fortune which has been languishing in a foreign bank account for years.

They're called 419 scams by the international community as the fraud is mentioned in section 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code.

Bullying UK gets a dozen of these emails a day. Some of the senders cheerfully confess to corruption as the way they came by their ill-gotten gains. On one day alone our 'inheritance' totted-up to £25,000,000!!!

The common theme is:

• The untimely and unfortunate death of the money's owner, often in a plane crash, by murder or in a land dispute
• The donor is suffering from a fatal illness
• The donor is someone with a conscience working for a bank, or is a relative of a government minister, a civil servant or a barrister
• You are the only person they trust
• You must keep the transaction secret
• The sender wants your bank account details
• The transaction is 100% risk free

These emails often contain detailed accounts of the sender's address and phone number and add that the person is employed by a large corporation in a bid to gain credibility. Often they have British sounding names.

In other cases the person needing your help is the wife of a murdered government minister, a prince, a chief or the son of a military figure.  Alternatively they may be a barrister or a doctor. They usually have access to cash which they want to transfer abroad and they ask you to be their 'next-of-kin'.

If you're interested in the deal with these new-found and generous adopting relatives, you may be asked to provide bank account details, letterheads and invoices. They insist that you hurry to take advantage of these dubious offers.

The idea is that the money is put through your account and then you get a large percentage of the proceeds.

Of course it has to be secret and the scamsters rely on greed to complete their dodgy deal. You're not going to tell anyone about something you think may be not quite on the right side of the law.

There's nearly always a sob story involved, apart from the unfortunate demise in a plane crash, torture and murder, other email hopefuls have had their land stolen or other reversals of fortune.

Religion also plays a part. Multiple blessings are promised to those foolish enough to go along with the scam.

How it works

Before the transaction can go ahead you are likely to be asked for money to cover various fees - and then for more money to cover unforeseen difficulties.

The reality is that if you part with your bank details your account will be emptied of money.

The senders of these emails use anonymous addresses like hotmail.com, yahoo.com and others. It isn't unusual to have similar emails in the names of different people as the scamsters forget who they are supposed to be.

It's difficult to know how many people have been taken in by these scams, embarrassment may prevent them being reported to the authorities.

Where to report the scamIn the UK, the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS)has taken action on these fraudsters and they are well known to council trading standards officers who issue regular warnings. Many police forces also have warnings about them. The Metropolitan Police have a particularly good account of how they work. www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/419.htm .

The NCIS say that if you receive one of these scam emails, print it out including the header and take it to your local police station, marked for the attention of the Fraud Squad. If you've lost money on the fraud contact the West African Organised Crime Section on 0207 238 8012.

The best claim we have seen with one of these scams is the assurance: "Honesty is the watchword in this transaction".

Lottery scams

If you fall for one of these scams you'll be a loser, not a winner.

Often originating in Spain or Holland, these tell you that you've won a lottery you haven't even entered!. Bullying UK trustees have even received one from Liverpool using a genuine National Lottery logo!

The idea is either to get you to pay some fees up front (which you'll never see again) or for you to ring an expensive phone line where you have to listen to a long message, costing you pounds.

The prize doesn't exist and as with all these scams, if it sounds too good to be true then it is.

Hard luck stories

These pretend to come from parents in Russia or the US who need money to put food on the table or to heat their homes. Sometimes they come from 'students' who need funds to complete their studies.

The aim is the same as other scams, to extract money from kind people who believe they are genuine.

World tragedies like famines, war and tsunamis can also prompt a spate of bogus emails so if you ever receive one saying it's from a charity look the charity up on the Charity Commission website and check that they are doing an appeal and that the donation details are the same as those on the website. Better still, donate to someone like the Red Cross or Oxfam so that you know your money is going to a genuine cause.

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

Although the police can get information from your computer's hard drive, it's helpful if you don't delete anything you think is dodgy until the police have decided whether they need it as evidence.

Safety tips

Don't post anything on MySpace or in your profile which gives your real name, address, school, phone number or which will allow a stranger to contact you in real life. Make sure you don't ID your friends either!

Don't upload anything that might embarass you at a later date. You might not realise it but things you post on the internet now could come back to cause problems for you later on, for instance when you go for an interview for college or a job.

When you go into a social networking site like MySpace people might approach you to be a friend but remember that no matter how much they tell you about themselves, they are still strangers and they might not be telling you the truth about themselves. There have been cases of men in their forties and older pretending to be teenagers online. This is called grooming and is a criminal offence.

If anyone makes you feel uncomfortable or embarassed online then please tell your parents or another adult. If they're doing it to you then they might also be doing it to other young people. It's particularly important NEVER to meet up with anyone you meet online in real life, if anyone suggests that to you and particularly if they suggest you keep it secret that's a real danger sign.

If you have a webcam never be pressured into taking pictures of yourself that you wouldn't want other people to see.

Abuse

Don't get into arguments online, this is called flaming and it can get nasty. If you break the MySpace rules then the content is likely to be removed and you might have your membership terminated.

You're not allowed to upload anything which is offensive or racist and which promotes physical harm so don't make threats to anyone. Neither are you allowed to harass people or to encourage other people to harass them. You're not supposed to ask for personal information from anyone under 18 either so if you are under 18 and anyone asks you, for instance, where you go to school, make sure you report them to MySpace.

If you think you can settle a score by spreading rumours and making up false things about an ex-friend then think again because you'll be in trouble if you upload anything which is threatening, abusive or which is defamatory. It's defamatory if you say untrue things about someone which give them a bad reputation they don't deserve. It can also be harassment which is a criminal offence in the UK.

You're not supposed to upload a picture or video of anyone without their permission either.

Bullying UK gets lots of complaints about identity theft and people setting up social networking website accounts in the names of other people, often uploading false and upsetting things about them. Impersonation is against MySpace's terms and conditions.

Remove Friends

You can remove people from your Friend List so they can't add Comments to your Profile page, you can delete Comments on the Profile page and you can delete messages they send via MySpace mail without reading them.

You can also view their profile and click "Block User" so they can't contact you again.

How to get abuse removed from MySpace

How to delete a MySpace account

Click on "Account Settings" and then on "Cancel Account". The cancel confirmation page then shows and you should click the red button which says "Cancel my Account". You can give a reason or not, it's up to you.

Click "Cancel my Account" again and an email will be sent to the user's email address. When the email arrives, click on the link to finish the process and confirm that you want the account removed.

If the email doesn't arrive have a look in your email spam folder to see if it is there.

If you're a parent and you don't receive the email, remove all the content from your child's profile and in the 'About Me" section type "Remove Profile". You can also set your profile to private so that nobody else can see it.

Parents can also email parentcare@myspace.com

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

There are lots of safety and privacy controls on Facebook so always use them.

Like all social networking websites, Facebook is only as good as the people using it so you might come across things which are upsetting, illegal or offensive in other ways.

If you're under 13 then Facebook's rules say you can't use the site and if you're older, Facebook warns parents they should think about supervision. After all, if you join up then you're inviting total strangers into your home!If you EVER come across anything on the internet, whether it's on a social networking website or anywhere else, where people are making suggestions to you that make you feel uncomfortable or upset, please tell your parents or another adult.CEOP (The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) investigates cases of sex abuse and grooming on the internet. Grooming is where people make friends with you and try to involve you in inappropriate activities. In the UK this behaviour is a criminal offence. You, your parents, or anyone else who is concerned, can report incidents by clicking the red button on the top right hand corner of the CEOP website.

Although the police can get information from your computer's hard drive, it's helpful if you don't delete anything you think is dodgy until the police have decided whether they need it as evidence.

Control who sees your profile You can edit your settings from the privacy page which gives you control over what visitors to your profile see and you can also control who can see your details too.

Harassment

If you've got a Facebook account and you're getting unwelcome contact or harassment from people you've fallen out with, tell them to stop.

You can also block people by using the "Block People" box on the My Privacy page. If you block someone they can't see your profile and if they search for you then you are invisible.

You can also control how much people see about you by setting up a "Limited Profile". To do this, go to the "My Privacy Page" after logging on and click on the "Limited Profile Settings" link.

Choose the profile features you want other people to see and what you want to share, like pictures, and click "Save" to store the new settings. You can also add confirmed friends to the limited profile network by listing their names in the limited profile box.

Report trouble

If people don't stop making offensive postings, you can use the "Report" link which is on the Facebook pages to make a complaint. You can also email abuse@facebook.com.

Facebook pledges to investigate the complaint and to remove the content and warn or ban the offender from the site within 24 hours. If you email Facebook you should get a reply within 72 hours telling you what they have done about the problem.

Close your Facebook account

To deactivate your Facebook account go to the "settings" tab on the Account page. That will remove your profile and content and nobody will be able to see your details or search for you. But if you decide to reinstate the account later then the whole lot will be restored, including your friends and photos.

If you're not happy about the way Facebook dealt with your complaint, you can make a complaint to the Independent Safety and Security Examiner in the US (ISSE) http://www.krollisse.com/ . Unfortunately ISSE can't consider the actual abuse you are complaining about and it won't re-adjudicate Facebook's decision if it refuses to remove content.

Inappropriate content and suspicious people should always be reported to Facebook and your parents should complain to CEOP too.

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

We've also come across instances where abusive mobile phone text messages have been sent through websites using the names and phone numbers of people who had nothing to do with the message but who were blamed for it.

Problems include

• Silent calls
• Insulting and threatening texts
• Abusive verbal messages
• Stolen identity

Cyberstalking is frightening and illegal and the people who do it are not as anonymous as they think.

Be careful when giving out your telephone number. Mobile phones are relatively inexpensive and if you start getting abusive calls or text messages then it might be better to get another SIM card so that the bullies can't contact you.

Keep a note of the times and dates of abusive messages. Don't reply to them or delete them but tell your parents so that they can make a complaint to the police.

The law

If there are a series of calls or the calls are part of a bigger picture of bullying then this may amount to harassment which is an offence under the 1997 Harassment Act.

Every time a mobile phone is switched on or off it sends a signal to the nearest mast and although the caller may have concealed their number from you, this is information which phone companies will have on their system and it's easy for the police to find out the culprit's phone number.

Making anonymous or abusive phone calls is also a criminal offence under section 43 of the Telecommunications Act 1984.

The actual wording is that a person who:

a) sends, by means of a public telecommunication system, a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character: or

b) sends by those means, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, a message that he knows to be false or persistently makes use for that purpose of a public telecommunication system, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or both.'

This shows the seriousness of the offences which may be seen as a joke by the perpetrators but which cause a lot of distress.

How to deal with a phone pest

BT recommends that you stay calm and try not to show emotion. Don't give your phone number when you answer a call, just say "hello".

Never give any information about yourself unless you are certain you know the caller. A telephone answering machine can be useful at home, leave it on all the time and then when the person starts speaking, if you know them, you can pick up the phone. A genuine caller will speak first. A malicious caller will probably hang up.

If you get your service from BT and receive a malicious or nuisance call and would like advice, call Freefone 0800 666 700. A recorded message will tell you what to do if you need more help.

You can also call free on 150 for personal advice and information about how BT can help you tackle the problem. The service is available 8am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday. If the problem continues then contact your nearest BT bureau on Freefone 0900 661 441 during office hours. The bureau deals exclusively with malicious and nuisance calls.

BT may suggest tracing future calls or changing your telephone number. Almost all malicious calls can now be traced whether they come from private, public or even mobile phones, anywhere in the country.

A dedicated team of specially-trained BT people will work with the police so it will be helpful to any subsequent prosecution of the malicious caller, if you keep a written record of the calls, making a note of the date, time of day, what was said and whether you heard any background noise.

Staying safe with your phone

Although it's nice to have your mobile phone handy to chat to friends, don't flash it about in public because you risk having it swiped. If there's a lock facility on it choose a secret number so that the keypad is locked when you're not using it. If someone you don't know asks to borrow your phone to make a quick call tell them that it's out of credit and only accepts incoming calls.

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

Blocking people and deleting friends

If you've fallen out with someone and they're giving you a hard time,it's best to block them so that you don't see their upsetting comments.

To do that, click on the username or photo of the person on your profile and then under their profile photo click the link that says "Block". You can then click on the button that says "Block". You can unblock them using that button too.

However, your profile is still on view to people you have blocked.

If you want to delete a friend because they're not a friend any more, click on the "Home" button on the top menu bar and then click on the "Friends" button on the bottom menu bar. Choose the contact to delete and click on the red cross next to their profile. Then click the "Delete" button.

That not only deletes the friend from your Bebo account but also removes your own details from their account and address list.

Deleting abusive profile comments

Reporting abuse

Sometimes people post offensive things and refuse to remove them so you should complain to Bebo if you have a problem like this. It's easy to do that.

Go to the profile page of the person you want to report and click on "Report Abuse". This button is just below their profile photo. If you want to report a video or photo then click the link "Report Abuse" just below the content.

Bebo doesn't tell the person who has reported them and anyone can complain, the person who has been bullied, a parent, teacher or a youth worker.

Bebo won't get involved in a dispute between you and the other person but they look into all reports of abuse and can warn the other person about their behaviour or in serious cases where someone has broken the rules, they can cancel membership.

How to cancel Bebo membership

It's easy to cancel by clicking on the "Home" tab once you are signed in and then going to "My Account" which is on the bar below the tabs.

At the bottom of the "My Account" page is the link which says "Cancel Your Membership". You have to click the "Yes" button to cancel.

Contact Bebo

If you need to contact Bebo with a query, the address is http://www.bebo.com/ContactUs.jsp . That address goes to a form you can complete and a drop down menu which tells Bebo which department you need.

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here

Many pupils are being targeted with cyberbullying in their own homes, by phone texts, silent calls, on instant messenger and by abusive websites and forums set up to cause humiliation and embarrassment.

Fortunately, no matter how careful the bully is to cover his/her tracks, there is no hiding place in cyberspace and the police can track their digital fingerprints down to an individual computer or mobile phone. Abusive websites can be shut downBullying UK has a particular interest in cyberbullying and we've closed down a number of abusive websites and internet forums. There are also other hidden dangers on the internet and you need to know how to recognise risky websites which may not be what they seem.

Cyber safety is very important and you'll find information about staying safe on the internet on this website.

Cyber crime

Cyber crime is another issue which is causing concern. Never give anyone information about yourself which identifies you, so never tell them your real name, your address, where you go to school, never give them your phone number and NEVER, EVER arrange to meet them on your own or with a friend. If they ask you not to tell your parents about their contact with you then that's a good reason for wondering what they are up to!!!!

Never tell anyone your bank account details or any passwords. Make sure you change your log-in details regularly. Be cyber savvy!

If you need help from Bullying UK email us here