Ladies,

Do any of these comments look familiar?

“I am heading to the market”, “I can’t wait until this afternoon, leaving for 2-weeks on vacation.” or my favorite “Don’t send me any gifts, I am on vacation and won’t be on the computer.”

I have seen these far too many times posted on Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook pages. Today’s society is communicating more and more by social websites to keep in touch with family and friends. There is too much information floating around in cyberspace that makes it easier for internet predators to do their jobs without leaving the house, and you give them this information willingly!

Protect yourself by using the most important self defense item you own, your brain. Look at what you post and what information is available to your “friends”. If they are your friends, they don’t need to know things like what city you live in, your email, your phone, etc. they know this information. Make sure you double check your privacy settings to make sure the information is not being seen or better yet, don’t fill in those blanks.

If you are in the job market, more and more businesses are searching you before they call you for an interview. Try to keep your sites from embarrassing your or keep you from getting a job. Don’t post pictures from your last bar party. Be wary about posting photos of your kids also, it could make you the next victim of internet predators. Another way to protect you is to “block all searches”.
Look at your site pages on how to do that. It will prevent everyone from finding you, keep in mind that you will not be able to do searches yourself.

Here are a few safety tips to keep you and your family safe while communicating with your friends:

1. Use filtering software on your computer; make sure you have up-to-date anti-virus software, and firewall settings.

2. Know who you are “accepting” as a friend. Remember, criminals disguise themselves as friends and there's usually no way to confirm who is on the other end.

3. DO NOT post on your social web pages when you are going to be out or on vacation. This alerts the criminal on where you are or that he can take his time in your home.

4. When online if you receive an offensive or dangerous e-mail, chat, or other communication. DO NOT respond. Report it to the local law enforcement. Do not delete the message, it is evidence.

5. If your children use the internet, keep the computer in the family room or other room that you occupy so you can monitor what your children are doing.

6. Do not let your children create personal profiles, complete them in your name with your as the administrator so your children can’t change the profile.

7. If you suspect online "stalking", report it to your local law-enforcement agency.

To learn more on this topic and more, the next Refuse to be a Victim and Women on Target class is on Saturday, November 6th.

Enjoy your summer and I look forward to seeing everyone back on the range Wednesday, September 8th. We will start the fall season with a review and drills.

Keep your eyes on the front sights:

Debbie Kimmick
Vice-President
NRA Certified Instructor