Reading and All That Jazz 5th Edition by Rita McCarthy ,Peter Mather

Exercise 5

Online Relationships
More and more, people are looking to the Internet to find friends and partners. There are drawbacks to meeting partners online, however. People can misrepresent themselves, pretending to be very different--older or younger or even of a different sex--than they really are. Investing time and emotional resources in an unrealistic romance can be painful. There have also been a few instances in which online romances have become dangerous or even deadly. Online incidents of harassment or abuse are becoming more common and more serious, and the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that nearly one-half million people each year experience cyberstalking. Cyberstalkers may send harassing or threatening e-mails or chat room messages to the victim, or they may encourage others to harass the victim. In order to be safe online never use your real name as an e-mail username or chat room nickname. Avoid filling out profiles for accounts related to e-mail use or chat room activities with information that could be used to identify you. If you do experience harassment online, do not respond to the harasser, log off or surf elsewhere, save all communications for evidence, and contact your local police department.
(681-682)
Bias: _____________________________________________________________
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