By Dan Aceto

Staff Writer

His name is Mike Sawyer.

He likes football, music, Xbox and has 123 friends on Facebook.

But there’s one problem: Mike Sawyer isn’t real.
  Sawyer is a fictional Facebook account created to demonstrate how easy it is for users to misrepresent themselves on the Internet.

Middle school teachers Paula Doe and Leslie Walker and Rob Pellerin, the school’s resource officer, designed the profile to find out whether students would accept a friend request from someone they didn’t know.

The results astounded the profile’s creators.

In less than two weeks, 123 Scarborough Middle School students accepted Sawyer’s friend request.

When Sawyer’s birthday arrived in early February, Walker said she was shocked by what she saw:  Countless messages wishing the nonexistent student “happy birthday” were posted to his Facebook wall.

“They’re totally clueless,” said Walker, a computer teacher at the school.

Doe held a training session Feb. 16 for eighth-graders on the importance of maintaining privacy through social networking sites such as Facebook and instructed students how to better protect information they post online. She said Facebook has more than 42 individualized privacy settings users may not necessarily know.

Doe, a technology specialist for both the middle and high schools, said theydecided to try the experiment because of the growing number of teens and young adults who use the social networking site to post photographs and information about themselves. 

“They don’t understand what info they’re putting on there and how many people can see that info,” Doe said. “There’s a difference between someone you know through a friend and someone who is actually a close friend.”

Facebook has more than 500 million active users who each month share more than 30 billion pieces of content, including Web links, posts and photos.

Common Sense Media, a website dedicated to promoting online safety among children, published a report in 2009 that 22 percent of teens check a social networking site more than 10 times a day.

According to a report by Pew Research Center Publications, 73 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds have at least one social networking profile.

Doe said she was most concerned about the number of friends children have on the social networking site. Although the definition of a friend has not changed over the years, Doe said, children’s perceptions of what a friend is in an online setting certainly has.

When Doe asked students how many friends each of them had on Facebook, the average number fell anywhere between 100 and 200, and one student excitedly declared he had more than 923 friends on the website.

“It’s alarming the amount of friends they have at that age,” Doe said. “Just because someone says they’re from Scarborough does not make them your friend.”

Doe said she worries parents are not playing as integral a role in understanding the people their children speak with because of increased use of cell phones and online chatting 

“It used to be kids would have to call another friend’s parents to speak with their child and there would be that connection. Now parents don’t have that,” Doe said. 

One of the first security measures Doe taught during last week’s presentation was how to allow only a users’ friends to see Facebook profiles.

Doe also urged users to control tagging and sharing of photographs. 

She said she is afraid many children take photos all the time at different social functions such as sleepovers, and often upload photos without thinking twice about who might see them.

In addition to the many privacy options available on Facebook, Doe said users should follow other general rules before they post material.

She said many students often post when they are going away on vacation and the information could possibly be seen by others outside their friend network.

“It’s like, ‘Welcome to my house, take what you want,’” Doe said.

She said it also is important users maintain anonymity and avoid posting profile pictures that show their face. Although all other photographs can be hidden, she cautioned the profile picture can still be seen by anyone unless users choose not to allow people to search for their profile.

She also said to make sure the box “keep me logged in” is never checked so others cannot gain access to an account in a public setting.

Doe advised students against posting their phone numbers, home addresses and birthdays online when they create an account because the information can be tied to other forms of identification, such as credit cards, Social Security numbers and home addresses.

She said users should avoid the security question, “What is your mother’s maiden name,” for retrieving a forgotten password because that family information might be accessible on Facebook. 

Eighth-grader Karly Defries said she didn’t know a phone number could be used to trace a person’s home address and is now more wary of what she will post on the site. 

“There are a lot of creepers out there. It’s scary,” Defries said.

She said she was once approached by someone who was able to find she lived in Maine through the site Woo World, which allows people to chat through the use of animated characters.

“It freaked me out they could find that information,” Defries said. “I haven’t used it since.”

Eighth-grader Taylor Scott also raised concerns.

“I get friend requests all the time from people I don’t know who are trying to talk to me,” he said.

Eighth-grader Ben Suszczynski said he was only allowed to create a Facebook account after he attended Doe’s workshop on maintaining privacy.  He said his parents were concerned how easily information can be acquired on the site.

“They did a search for someone they knew on Facebook and were able to see where they lived, and everything,” Suszczynski said.

Pellerin, the school resource officer, said he is most concerned people will misrepresent themselves on the website in an attempt to find information about children.

“I suspect there are predators out there, whatever their intentions are, trying to make friends with kids,” Pellerin said.

He said he would not advise children at such a young age to activate a Facebook account.

“There’s really no need to have a Facebook account at this age because the only friends they have are the ones they see day to day,” Pellerin said. “I mean, I know if it was around when I was a kid, I would have been participating, but it’s just hard to keep them safe. You’re able to make the page extremely private but it’s not user friendly.”

The day after Doe held her workshop, she invited parents to learn more during a “coffee with the principal” discussion.  

Michele Doiron, whose daughter goes to the middle school, was equally surprised by the number of friends students had on Facebook. 

“They think it’s a game for them, to see who can get the most friends,” Doiron said.

Susan Morrison said she is worried about the dangers of the site and does not allow her daughter to have a Facebook account.

“It’s not just a fun toy, this really is serious business,” Morrison said.

She said her daughter’s classmates think she is strict, but said her safety is more important than her friendship. 

“I’m a parent, not a friend,” Morrison said.

Although use of Facebook is blocked at school,  some parents were concerned phones set up with Internet access could bypass the connection and still allow students to sign on during the day.

Sam Rinaldi, whose daughter attends the middle school, said although Facebook is not something that should be entirely eliminated, it should be regulated and monitored like any other activity. 

“Instead of taking it away, we need to teach management,” Rinaldi said. “It’s important to understand the risks involved to help protect and educate our kids.”

Rinaldi said he doesn’t consider Facebook a “private room,” and has access to his daughter’s account to keep an eye on material she is shares.

“If it’s something they don’t feel comfortable saying in front of their grandparents, they shouldn’t be saying it to everybody,” Rinaldi said.

Walker said one of the main goals of the workshop was to get students to delete people on their friend lists who are just acquaintances.

“If we can get one kid to delete someone than it was successful,” Walker said.

Walker said she teaches a class on digital citizenship, which educates children on the importance of ethical behavior on the Internet, as well as dangers of inappropriate texting and cyber bullying.

“We do it as an awareness,” Walker said. “We’re trying to protect the kids because we don’t want anything to happen. At their age they don’t know the appropriateness so we have to explain it to them.”

Walker said nearly half of sixth-grade students she teaches have Facebook accounts even though the website does not allow children younger than 13 to register. She said many children don’t realize the severity of their actions and urges them to put things in perspective.

“One of the things we ask kids, is ‘would you put your picture, e-mail and home address on a billboard on the turnpike?’ And of course they all say ‘no.’ But on Facebook they think it’s great to flaunt what they’re doing and where they are,” Walker said.

Detective Laurie Northrup of the Maine State Computer Crimes Unit said her department receives approximately five to 10 complaints each week about cyber bullying and harassment. 

She said the Computer Crimes Unit intervened recently when a teenage girl who communicated for years with someone through Facebook she thought was also a teenager. She said the so-called teenager was identified as an adult male in a different state who tried to arrange a meeting with the girl. The department was able to notify authorities in the area to apprehend the man. 

“The Internet is so anonymous. Anyone can take a picture and name and pretend to be anybody,” Northrup said.

Last Friday, the Computer Crimes Unit arrested 23-year-old John Wilson of Greenbush for allegedly using Facebook to distribute child pornography. Wilson had used 15 different accounts on Facebook to conceal his identity, Northrup said. 

Northrup said Wilson had discussed molesting children, although no victims have been found. The investigation is ongoing. After being taken to the Penobscot County Jail Wilson was later freed on bail. She said if a case is taken to the federal level the minimum sentence for dissemination of sexually explicit material is five years.

Detective Scott Bradeen of the Maine State Computer Crimes Unit also is concerned about Internet security and said he frequently sees people “masquerading” on social networking sites.

“The big thing to remember is that anyone can be anything on the Internet,” Bradeen said. 

“In fairly short order you can find out the names of children, parents, sports schedules, when kids are at school and possibly when parents are at work,” Bradeen said. “So the person with the wrong intention in mind can make a victim of any child not being cautious of what they post.”

He said like anything else in life, it is important to understand the responsibilities associated with certain privileges.

“You’re not going to let a child drive a car if they’re 12 years old, but if they go to driver’s education at the appropriate age and learn to drive then it’s less dangerous,” he said.

Bradeen said children are not the only ones who need to exercise caution.

“We hear complaints all the time from adults being followed or harassed and they’re on Facebook telling the whole world their whole life and where they are at every moment,” Bradeen said.

Above all else, Bradeen said he urges people to reevaluate what they post online and take whatever precautions are necessary to ensure their safety.

“Using proper security is critical to protecting yourself,” Bradeen said. “Not everyone claiming to be friendly is actually friendly.”