Internet Safety

How safe is your Internet? How safe are you on the Internet? I need you to be very careful

about when you're communicating or talking to people on the World Wide Web or the Internet.

Today's lesson is about Internet safety. It's something that can be very, very serious and

could be dangerous. So just some things to help you.

Maybe you are very excited that you can speak English to other people on Skype. I think

it's great. I think it's really fantastic that you will be able to communicate with

someone around the world in English for free and practice your English and practice your

conversation. Modern technology can be really, really wonderful. But it can also be very

dangerous. So I'm going to give you some helpful hints and tips about Internet safety.

As I've written on the board, Skype is a really, really great way to talk to people. You can

choose to have a video conversation with them, or you can just chat, or you can type things.

So it's your choice what you want to do with that.

Another social media that we have is something called Facebook. If you would like to be my

friend on Facebook, my name is Ronnie MacEnglish. So please, by all means, come visit my Facebook

webpage, and we can be friends -- if not in real life, virtual.

Rule No. 1. When you are on Skype or on Facebook, never give the person your personal information.

This includes your home or even your work address. You have no idea what the person

on the end of the computer is thinking about you. You might think, "Oh, I'm not going to

give them my home address, but they could meet me at work." Don't do it. If you're going

to meet someone that you've met on the Internet, you have to meet in a public place. Never

let them know your home address or your work address.

Never let them know your family information. Now, by "family information", I really mean

your last name, your mother's name, your father's name, your brothers' and sisters' names, where

they work, how many dogs you have. This is information that people can use to manipulate

you or to make you think that they are really interested in you and they care about you.

So my real last name is not MacEnglish, okay? I am never going to tell anyone my real last

name. Why? Because it's too much information on the computer. Someone could very easily

find my last name, find my name in the phone book, and have my phone number, which by the

way is [phone]. Call me. Yeah.

Your family information, your last name -- don't give it to people. If they ask you, make up

a fake last name like MacEnglish. Don't use mine, though. Never ever ever meet someone

alone. Now, this is more for a marketplace website as an example, in Canada and America,

we have something called Craigslist or Kijiji. I don't know what this means. It's just a

funny word. Now, we call these "marketplace" websites because you can buy and you can sell

things on these web sites. You could also do something like rent an apartment. So the

danger with these web sites is that, let's say that I am selling you a phone, a beautiful

phone. I want you to buy my phone. So I tell you, "This phone, it's brand new. It is $300.

I'm very excited. I will meet you at a coffee shop, and you can buy my phone." Do you trust

me? You shouldn't. What happens if you go to the coffee shop alone, you meet me, I give

you my phone, you give me $300. Maybe the phone doesn't work. I'm gone, and so is your $300.

Also -- this is a real-life story. A man put his truck for sale on either Craigslist or

Kijiji. I don't know which site it was. So he put his truck for sale. A man came and

said, "I'd like to buy your truck". So he wanted to have a test drive. So the buyer

and the seller get in the truck, go for a test drive -- the guy's missing. They find

his body -- which means he's dead -- about a week later in a farm. So it's very, very

important that when you are meeting someone to buy something or to sell something or to

rent an apartment, that you do not go alone.

Now, I don't think that everyone on these websites wants to kill you, but don't be naive.

Don't be stupid. Go with your friend. It's not going to kill you if you go with your

friend. If you go alone, they just might kill you. Please be careful.

Don't leave the person alone. Sometimes, I hear people say, "I'm going to meet my friend

I met on the Internet". "Okay. How do you know this person?" "We talk on Skype". "Okay.

How long have you known this person?" "Couple months". "Couple months? Okay. Good. Is it

a man or a woman?" "It's a man." Okay. As soon as a man is talking to a woman on the

Internet, there is maybe some want of sex. Yes, yes, yes. I do not care how old or how

rich you think this man is. I've had people say to me, "No, Ronnie! He's a grandfather.

He's 50 or 40." Guess what, ladies and gentlemen, someone who's 50 or 40 or 50 or 60 or 70 or

80 or 90 or 100 can still rape you. There's this thing called Viagra. I don't care how

old the person is. Do not meet them by yourself. Always bring your friend. Bring a guy. It's

even worse for the person. Again, I'm not telling you that everyone on the Internet

wants to rape you, but you have to be careful.

This also works for boys. Guy, you think, "I'm going to meet a new friend today". How

do you know that this new friend is not gay? How do you know that this new friend of yours

does not want to have sex with you? There are many, many, many gay people around the

world forever, always. Hallelujah. But you must be careful. Just think, "Oh, I'm a man.

It won't happen to me." No. It will happen to you. It could happen to you. So please

be careful.

There's a really, really cool kind of website that I've seen. There's more than one these.

One of them that I've looked at is called Languageexchange.com. There's a whole slew

of them -- or many language exchange websites where you can go on for free. You can meet

a language exchange friend, and you guys can email back and forth. And you can have conversations.

Okay, rule No. 1: Never give personal information. Rule No. 2: If you get a chance to meet the

person, don't do it alone. And this is a really good precaution to weed out -- which means

"get rid of" -- crazy potentially dangerous people. Ask the person why they want to learn

your language. Now, all of the beautiful people from Japan and Korea -- ladies, a lot of guys

love you. You are so cute. You are so beautiful. But you are also very naive. So it's very

important that you ask the person, "Nande nihongo?" I can't say it in Japanese. "Why

do you want to study Japanese?" Be careful if the guy says, "I like Japanese girls".

That means, "I want to have sex with a Japanese girl". That Japanese girl is you. Or they

might say, "I really like Korean culture". "Do you really know about Korean culture?"

Maybe the person really has an interest in Korean culture, but it's important that you

ask them why.

Now, a lot of people -- you may know -- have been to your country. A lot of English teachers

go to Japan, go to Korea, go to China, and they meet beautiful girls like you. And that's

fine, but it's always good to ask them why. Maybe the guy went to China. Maybe he went

to a city near your city, and he thinks that Chinese girls are beautiful. He learns Chinese,

and he wants to continue his Chinese. That's good. Still be careful, and always find out why.

It's really important that when you speak to people -- even on EngVid -- that you know

exactly what you're going to talk to the person about. Don't give them personal information.

Don't meet them alone. Don't give them money. Except for me. All right. Be safe out there.

We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.