When you fling excrement through cyberspace, some of it sticks.

Plug in, log on ... and take care | Opinion | News.com.au

DEAR young MySpacer and Facebooker: You think the internet is a lawless frontier, a place to ignore convention and regulation and just write, free from pesky rules like spelling and social expectation.
You type things such as: "Nah. cant go. So keen but. :) (expletive) mum wont let me go. Dont know wot her last slave died of. Sucks. But im doing alright aye. U?"

We adults don't know what that really means. We are left in the communication gloom, understanding only skerricks but enough to get the drift that yours is a tribe to which we do not belong. And we know that is the way you like it.

You see logging on to Facebook or MySpace as familiar and fresh all at once. Feels wild and free, doesn't it? You can paint your space anyway you want, put swear words up and have an angry theme song as your background music. You can show how smart you are by including cool artwork and philosophy.

You write what you feel and say what you really think. You rail against whatever it is that makes you feel the way you do.

It feels good to put into writing what's going on in that up-and-down frame of mind of yours - to say it loudly and to have people hear you and respond.

They make you feel listened to and that what you think and say matters.

But keep this in mind, young web-user: you are not just having some harmless fun and you are not playing in the communication paddling pool when you plug in and log on. You have entered the world of publishing. And, any writer or editor will tell you, that comes with big responsibilities.

Here's the tip: if you hate someone, are mad at something they have done or even want them dead, saying that in print (even electronic print) can land you in a world of trouble.

All that is needed for a person to launch a defamation action is for you to say something that makes others think less of them and for you to publish it to at least one other person.

Having all those eager MySpace and Facebook friends makes that easy.

Defamation is a tort, or a civil wrong. It is built on the idea that everyone has a duty of care not to do others harm and if harm is done, courts can help make it right. And just a little bit of info to tuck away in your need-to-know folder: you, a person under adult age, are liable for your own wrongs. You might think that because you are not an adult, you do not have to worry about the law, but you do. That myth has legs because no one has taken a legal stick to the young and libellous yet.

All it is going to take is for someone to get seriously sick of a schoolkid dragging their name through the internet dirt and bingo: a landmark case will stop those who want to defame and besmirch others' reputations because of some personal axe to grind in their typing tracks. It is going to happen. Maybe to you.

Last year a Victorian man had to publish public apologies in two major newspapers after comments he made about a family through his Facebook page. The man had been threatened with suits for defamatory allegations against people he had once known. While contacting a person he wanted to add as a "friend", the man sent an additional message alleging criminality about someone else.

But his new Facebook friend was a friend of the family he was making the allegations against. The message was passed on to others across two states. In your words, oops and fail for him.

The case was the first time social networking sites in Australia had been roped into defamation action.

In the UK last year, businessman Mathew Firsht was awarded pound22,000 ($39,900) in defamation damages after a former friend set up false Facebook profiles in his name.

The fake info was only up for a short time but the courts deemed it was long enough to do him harm.

So much of the focus of young people's internet use has been on safety. We oldies tell you: never give your bank details; whatever you do, don't reveal specific information on your profile, like the name of your netball team or the school you go to.

Many of us are paranoid that some loony is going to steal your identity, or worse, your innocence and trust.

While all that is very concerning, I think maybe we should start encouraging young people not to commit crimes as well as avoid being victims.

Too many treat the internet like the Wild West and publish whatever they please about whoever they want.

When you fling excrement through cyberspace, some of it sticks.

And what a virtual and legal mess you will have made.

Think about that. Be careful.