AboutVena McGrath Expertise As the author of a novel about my life online in chat rooms specifically, and a few adventures into online dating, I can answer almost any question anyone could ask about chatting online. The excitement, the adrenalin rush, the manipulation of the mind, the corruption of morals, the danger of stalking and harrassment online and offline, the lies, the secrets. The reality of this `fantasy` is frightening. My book tells a story that hopefully will make anyone who reads it more wary and chatwise than I was when I stumbled upon chat in late 1999 as a naive woman who didn`t have a clue what a chat room on the internet was. I have spent many hours online counselling men and women with broken hearts, wounded pride, and yes, very real fear. My passion is to try to help eradicate the not so good factors out of chat rooms and make them once again fun places where people feel safe.
Experience My experience commenced in June 1999 in international chat rooms and then a move in late September 1999 to chat rooms in Australia. I am still online, have my own chat room, and my first novel titled 'Secrets, Lies & Chat' was published by American-Book Publishing in 2005 and is now available from my website www.secretslieschat.net.au for a very competitive price. I have also released on my website an eBook which is a revised version of Secrets, Lies & Chat and only costs $4.95 5o download in either word or pdf format.
Organizations I belong to many writing organisations online and I belong to the chat room community of BigPond.
Publications Communique - a monthly newspaper produced by the NSW Government Department of Commerce
SMH ICON liftout 'The Net Effect' April 2004
Numerous articles in PoynterOnline
Numerous letters to the editor, SMH
My profile and short stories and articles are all online at AuthorsDen.com and some are posted on my website.
Education/Credentials High School Educated
TAFE Secretarial
Numerous OH&S certificates
Numerous Computer related courses
Expert: Vena McGrath Date: 6/21/2008 Subject: Online chatting LAW
Question I had a few people over last night and they entered a chatroom and were being rude etc. in the chat room, I'm concerned now because they said the room host was going to report my IP to ISP and I'm alittle worried about this. What all can happen?
Answer Hi J
I don't know which chat server your friends were using to chat on, so I really haven't got an answer. I know that with BigPond in Australia, where I chat, you accept the terms that BigPond have set for behaviour and use of their server rooms or you accept the consequences. The fact that a person entered the chat room signified that the person accepted the rules that are either displayed in the room or can be accessed via a website link from the room.
I quote here from the rules from the BigPond chat website. "BigPond will block, filter, deregister or refuse registration of any nickname without prior warning, notification or justification if the rules are not adhered to and will deny access to or use of its services to any individual(s), organisation or domain."
I do not believe that they can or do ban ISP addresses because if they do, they ban everyone using that particular ISP. All that can be done is to ban a nick name from all of the server's rooms. This may however have changed with the advent of much more sophisticated software available to police the Internet.
Room hosts also have the ability to ban specific nick names from rooms. This doesn't solve the problem of nuisance chatters because they can change their nick name and then re-enter the room. However, the hosts of chat rooms are very savvy and keep keen eyes out for ISP addresses, regardless of a nick name.
So for instance, if I entered a room as 'addicted' and proceeded to swear or abuse other people in the room and was banned and I then returned with another nick name, such as 'battered', and continued my abusive chat style, the hosts of the room would immediately ban me again because they would have noted my ISP address. They can do this easily with people that use 'scripts' for their chat language. They would also place my ISP on an instant kick which would mean no matter what nick name I used I would be kicked out of the room before I could type anything. I believe it could be harder with people that use 'java' script as I'm pretty sure that each time they log in some of the numbers that are displayed differ.
Once someone is noted as being a rude, abusive nuisance, the hosts of rooms can then go to the Help room and request assistance. This means that the problem goes higher up the BigPond ladder and becomes serious and can result in the actions I quoted above from the BigPond website.
I'm not an expert on this subject but I do know that there are ways to rid a room of abusive and rude chatters.
I can see no reason why anyone would think it was funny to enter a chat room and abuse strangers just for a laugh. I think that it's very childish and if that's all they can think of to do for fun, then they need to find lives. Chat is very serious to a lot of people who don't have friends dropping around; who are perhaps wheelchair bound or bedridden. This is often the only way they have contact with people outside their homes/immediate families/carers. You might like to bring this to the attention of your friends and remind them that words can harm many people, even more than physical abuse.
With the approval of a person's ISP, the owners of the chat server concerned could take action to find out the name and address of the person causing the disturbance and they would then be contacted and could face legal action (perhaps by the FBI). It's no longer easy for people to do what they like online and get away with it. People practicing illegal activities, including harassment and abuse, are now being found and face heavy fines and even jail terms in a huge effort to clean up the Internet and rid it of people that make it a dangerous place to visit.
And don't forget, no matter how you may think you have deleted something from your computer you don't wish anyone to see, there are experts with the software that can find those files. Deleting isn't like tearing up a piece of paper or burning it. The files remain on your hard drive until such time as they are overwritten by other deletions.
I hope I have given you some relevant information. I do suggest that if you are concerned about being contacted regarding your computer being used in a way that was regarded as being harmful to others, that you do a search on the Internet for the FAQs section of the home page for the chat server that you used. You will then be able to ascertain the risk factor you may be facing.
Thanks for the question and good luck. Please remember the other people online next time your guests decide to use your computer for mind games against people they can't see and don't know a thing about.
