Countless Gunn students use social networking sites. But few are fully aware that what they post on the Internet will stay with them for the rest of their life, and that their safety may be in jeopardy.

On Feb. 8, senior Brittany Tankhim’s Facebook account and Yahoo e-mail account were hacked. Tankhim said she thought she had either left her account logged in at school or someone she knew had logged into her accounts because she had a password that was easy to guess. “The person had taken over my e-mail and Facebook, changed the passwords and the security questions,” Tankhim said.

The same day, someone hacked the Facebook account of senior Christine de Banate, a friend of Tankhim’s. The hacker, who de Banate later found out was someone she knew, sent out a modified message on Facebook through Tankhim’s account of a personal conversation between de Banate and another friend. “A lot of things were added, a lot of things were exaggerated and a lot of detail was put in, basically just to start drama,” de Banate said.

“It really baffled me,” Tankhim said. “This person had no ties to my computer and no ties to me personally. Basically, I was picked at random. The [hacker] was targeting a person, and anyone in that person’s [Facebook] network could have been targeted.”

Unlike most victims of cyber-bullying. De Banate and Tankhim were able to identify the hacker and regain access to their accounts without taking legal action or notifying the school.

Tankhim is not the only one worried about her privacy online. On Feb. 20 over 50 Bay Area community members, including Gunn students and parents, gathered at the Gunn library for an Online Privacy and Digital Security presentation for parents and teens. Pro-Tec Data CEO Naomi Fine informed the audience about privacy intrusions and what precautions people can take with social networking.

Fine said people have different definitions of privacy. “There are certain laws that state what privacy is, but each individual really needs to decide for themselves what they want to be private,” Fine said.

Fine said there are four ways privacy can be invaded: spamming, information collection (surveys asking for personal information), information processing (hacking) and information dissemination (sharing of personal information).

Fine said the most dangerous information one can share is his or her Personal Identifiable Information, which includes one’s phone number, date of birth, photos and credit card number. “Private information is valuable and provides the key to trust,” Fine said. “The digital footprint you create may run far and have a long-term impact.”

Fine advises users of social networking sites to adjust their privacy settings so that they know who they are giving access to what information, and “post only information that you’d be comfortable with your parents, grandparents, teachers, future colleges and future employers seeing,” Fine said.

The Palo Alto Unified School District has an open access policy, which means that most Web sites, besides those with pornographic content, are accessible on school computers. However, all students signed a contact at the beginning of the year that states that computers must be used solely for the purpose of education. Technology Coordinator Lettie Weinmann said, however, that the school’s definition of educational is loose. “We think there’s education in looking at e-mail or at sites of personal interest,” she said. “I, personally, am a fan of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. They are places where students can practice communication skills in a real context.”

Weinmann said she has heard a few reports of students forgetting to log off their accounts at school with hacking ensuing. In one incident, a student accidentally left their InClass account open, and another student emailed the student’s teacher. “I don’t think we hear all of the reports, but people really need to be careful to log off,” Weinmann said.

Weinmann said that the school plans to institute a single-log in program on the computers, so that students will have to type in their student ID and password to access school computers. Students will be given a certain number of allotted pages to print for each semester. Weinmann said this system will give the student more security over their accounts and more incentive to log out on computers.

Assistant Principal Phil Winston said the administration determines the ramifications for cyber-bullying, like altering a student’s Facebook account on school computers, on a case-by-case basis. “It depends on the circumstance, but we want every discipline issue to be a learning experience,” Winston said.

Additionally, there may be repercussions for students’ actions on the Internet outside of school. Last month, when a junior made a fake Facebook account in hopes of throwing off a Palo Alto High School basketball player’s game, he was given a one-day suspension. “If students from opposite schools are taunting each other, we absolutely try to stop it,” Winton said. Similarly, if students post photos of videos on the Internet showing students defacing Gunn property, the administration is usually notified. “Usually parents or students [inform us],” Winston said. “In the world, there are more good people than people who do bad things, and these people bring the issues into the forefront.”

Tankhim said she hopes that others learn from her experience. “People should learn that they shouldn’t put anything on the Internet that they wouldn’t want anyone else to know because it really is the World Wide Web and it could get anywhere.”