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Criminal Activity on Social Media Network Sites

With the advancement in technology, social media inform of social networking sites such as Google, twitter, linkendln and Facebook are now available to anyone within the reach of the internet. While these site are meant to be a way of people exchanging ideas or sharing of information which can be of importance, social media has been misused and  crime has been reported. Crime involved in social media network can include, Identity theft where a person obtains and uses another person’s personal information so as to engage in fraud and deception for financial gains, Cyber bulling. An individual sends, and posts images so as to humiliate and hurt other people. People create profiles and befriend others and at the end hurt them to the extent of them committing suicide like in the case of an American girl known as Megan Meier who befriended a boy Lori Drew in who was a Midwestern woman MySpace page. This woman at the end offended the girl; the girl committed suicide and Sexual solicitation, harassment and cyber stalking is another crime committed (Andrews 13).

Preventing or stopping crimes from happening to the users of social media networks is not a one person role that is it is not the responsibility of users just observing precautionary measure, but it involves; government involvement and the companies behind these technologies. The government should come up with laws and regulation specifically meant for social media uses and crimes. This will help in the prosecution of individuals perpetuating social media crimes. These laws should spell out the rules or regulations, and the direction of law one is liable to should he/she be found guilty (O'Keeffe 12). From the above case of Megan Meier, the prosecutors found it hard to prosecute Lori Drew who made Megan commit suicide because her actions did not fall under the traditional statutes of the constitution. With this knowledge that there are no firm legal implications, perpetrators go on committing these crimes; but should there be strict laws, social media crime can be reduced significantly.

Crimes in social media networks can also be achieved by users reporting to the authorities should they experience any improper activity online. This will enable the authority to take the necessary measures that can even lead to tracking of these individuals engaging in social media crime and having them arrested. Furthermore, these law enforcement agents can sign up accounts in the leading networking websites such as Facebook and tweeter. This will enhance a greater connectivity with residents or the public in general. Therefore, followers of these sites will be able to view news, and critical incidents such as description of a missing person, suspected crime act in a certain community and other noteworthy crimes. Enforcement agencies do not only avail the information to the public but also help them arrest suspects hence solving the crimes (Taylor 21).

Social media crime can also be avoided by  users subscribing to blogs that help in keeping one updated on new security issues. These blogs will send the user alerts on internet security issues and advise on action to take should you become a victim. The social media companies can also develop control applications or software in these sites so that they can monitor and predict crime and allow users to have some control of what they share and with whom to share. Though, much can be done to prevent this crime from happening, the users should also  be careful when using these sites. They should never give their username and password to anyone apart from people like their parents. Also, whenever they want to meet friends from these social networking sites they always be accompanied by a friend. In addition, control what you share by limiting it to people you know personally and finally you can let your parents, close friends know of your engagements online; they can advise you accordingly.

With an increasing rate, of social media networking use, crime is taking new shape every day and therefore it’s beneficial for user  be very keen in whatever they do may it be sharing of information, posting of personal data of conducting any business over these social media sites. This is because the information will remain online forever. Since technology is also developing, Crime in future may become sophisticated.

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