What has ORKUT done to the World today??.

???? O R K U T?????

With the rise of Crime Rate in the city, popular social networking sites seems to be the medium and key link to crime on the web among daily users of sites like Orkut, Face book,Hi5 etc Youngsters of the age group of 18 to 25 yrs are becoming so addictive to it.
Emails were popular trend before but ever since Orkut was in town. Having a profile on Orkut just adds to one’s status Meryl fernandes says” I love Orkutting cant live without it i have to visit it thrice a day.”But the hidden question to this social network phenomenon is never answered adequately.
Is Orkut Safe Enough?
Following is the General reaction of the public towards orkut and safety.
Source:http://www.rxpgonline.com/postx71407-0-30.html

•Orkut has landed itself in more trouble, after a malicious profile of a Delhi schoolgirl was found to be uploaded on the site. Miscreants have posted obscene photographs and contact details such as her home address and telephone numbers on the profile, using suggestive names like ‘sex teacher’ for her.
•This incident follows the complaint filed by a 23 year old Delhi based air hostess, whose profile on Orkut was misused by pranksters.

•Orkut was in news again and this time due to the tragic death of Koushambi Layek who was murdered by her lover Manish Thakur, with whom she had developed relations on orkut.com. This incident again points towards the hazards of social networking.

•Mumbai, Aug 21 (IANS) A call centers employee had masterminded the plot to kidnap 16-year-old Adnan Patrawala, the son of a businessman, for a hefty ransom after befriending him on social networking site Orkut but decided to eliminate him after he and his two accomplices panicked when police came on the scene..
There is an alarming number of cases that still go unrecorded or untold .Fake profiles created by users gives an access to view other people’s personal profiles where important details such as age , place of residence and history of a person can be traced out and one can be located. It is not just the communities you join that speak volumes of you but also mutual friends , fans , testimonies and scrapbooks provide vital answers to every question of one’s identity. So the next time you think of Orkutting check out your profile again and secure it before another hackers have their hands on it.
How to keep safe on Orkut? Follow these simple guidelines!
•Always keep your scrapbook clean
Away from personal dairy stuff unless until the scrap crook invades it and rips you off your privacy and uses it against you.
•Don’t make your profile a goldmine for spammers and scamsters
•Don’t keep a photo which is big enough to be defaced/misused! Snaps in the album look good enough but not at Orkut. Any one can save the snaps and fabricate it for some fun.
•Try not to share email/phone number by scraps.
•Never talk work related stuff on scraps.
Use Gtalk an application that comes along with Orkut rather than gossiping about your boss here you never know he might be viewing your profile.
•There is not a race going on for maximum number of friends! Ok there in no competition on whose 1000 and above there are 6 million users if you never knew Do NOT accept the friendship request from anyone you don’t know/trust. Even if it is from opposite sex. You don’t know who could be out there creating a fake profile!
•Don’t click on luring URLs.
Orkut is just as the two sides of the same coin. Some find a whole new world of friends, fun and total masti while others are preying on and just waiting for their next target. Coming in contact with old friends, dating, finding patners, business networking,business deals, long distance relationships and endless other goodies also come with Orkut. But Draw your lines and do not cross your boundaries otherwise ‘Orkut –the world’s friendliest site’ may turn out to be an ugly one for you. So be safe and keep Orkutting!

LORRAINE NUNES