Chat

Last updated 12 Oct 2009

Chat rooms can open up a whole new world to people connected to the Internet. Chat rooms are places on the Internet where you can talk to people “LIVE” in real time. You type in what you want to say and almost straight away it comes up on the screen so that everyone who is using that chat room can see what you have written and write back.

Because people in chat rooms are anonymous, they might not be who they say they are.  Here are a few tips to make sure when you use chat rooms you can stay safe:

  • Ensure the chat room you use lets you save conversations – which could be used as cyber evidence
  • Question the truth of what other people say – does it match what you would expect from a person in the real world?
  • Uncover other users IP addresses and ISPs – this information can be used to link a chat name to a person in the real world.
  •  Interrogate and check that other users have not concealed or changed their IP address or ISP.
  • Protect yourself by not giving out personal information that people could use to find you in the real world.
  • If you want to meet someone from a chat room, you should take a trusted adult or a friend with you and meet them in a busy, public place.  This is to help protect you in case the person you are meeting is not who they say they are.

Choosing your chat room

There are hundreds of different chat rooms you can choose from on the Internet.  When choosing a chat room, you should look out for the following:

  • How easy is it to save conversations?
  • Is the chat room moderated?
  • Is there an “ignore” button in the chat room? An “ignore” button will stop what someone is saying from appearing in the chat room.  This is useful if someone is being nasty or offensive.

Checklist:

  1. Always try and use a moderated chat room
  2. Choose a chat room that allows you to save copies of conversations
  3. Learn how to save copies of conversations so they can be used as cyber evidence
  4. When in the chat room keep personal information private
  5. Take the evidence you have gathered to the person responsible for the chat room