Teenagers warned of identity theft

TEENAGERS have been warned to be careful about giving out their mobile numbers and what information or pictures they put up on their Bebo or MySpace websites.

The message from the Data Protection Commissioner’s office comes as schools begin to play a part in making young people aware of their rights in terms of privacy and how their personal information can be used and abused.

Deputy Data Protection Commissioner Gary Davis said: “With the growth of social networking sites, people are conditioned to be very open about the information they make available about themselves. But they need to ask if they would be happy about their parents or future employers seeing them and would they put it up if they thought that might happen,” he said.