By Cody Ellerd

There’s a place where Mercer Island kids hang out that many parents don’t know about. The youngsters go there to talk, blow off steam, gossip and flirt. Alcohol is rampant, sex is hot — and safety is an afterthought. Most kids don’t even have to leave their bedrooms to get to this place.

It’s called MySpace, a phenomenally popular online networking Web site geared toward youth. Millions of people go there every day to see and be seen. On the surface it seems harmless, but for moms and dads concerned about their children’s safety, MySpace is raising red flags.

“A lot of parents don’t know their kids have a MySpace,” said Beth George, the mother of two boys who attend Mercer Island High School and use the site. She said she has talked to a number of parents who insist their kids don’t have MySpace profiles and then are shocked to discover they do. Beth and her husband, Mike, are trying to raise consciousness about the site. They don’t want to stop kids from using it, they just want to make sure they do it safely.

On MySpace, users write blurbs about themselves and who they’d like to meet. They indicate whether they are there to date, find friends or simply network. They also sometimes fill out and post surveys, answering questions ranging from the mundane (Pepsi or Coke?) to their drug habits, favorite alcohol and whether or not they’ve ever shoplifted.

Some users’ profiles are lurid and hedonistic. One young woman who says she attends Roosevelt High School in Seattle lists a diverse array of interests, including reading, partying, sex, stripping, skiing and certain bodily functions. Another user, a 24-year-old in New Jersey, greets viewers with a snapshot of her barely-covered breasts and a salacious headline.

Plenty of others, though, keep their profiles wholesome and appreciate the site as a mild distraction — a hip way to connect with friends and craft a slick image of themselves.

Still, the Georges worry that it’s too easy to glean personal information on the site. MySpace users’ profiles include a lot of that information and many are open for anyone to see. While basic identifying elements, such as last names, phone numbers, street and e-mail addresses are not posted, teenagers often fill their profile pages with so much chatter that details about a person’s life are easy to piece together. With a first name, photo, hometown and school listed — the basic setup of a profile page — other facts are easy to deduce. Users also list long descriptions of their personalities, such as horoscope signs, group affiliations, hobbies and music they like.

They send messages to each other on public bulletin boards. “It was good we got to party together, I just hope I didn’t say or do anything too retarded, cause I don’t remember all of that night. (You’ll) have to fill me in!” reads a message on one Mercer Island girl’s bulletin. Her MySpace is a virtual photo album of sorority girls in skimpy outfits with drinks in their hands.

With many teens, especially girls, building profile pages that are sexually suggestive or give the impression that they like to party, the concern is that predators or older men looking for a date could easily track them down.

One MySpace group called “Mercer Island Sluts,” for instance, may be a joke that sends the wrong impression. “This is a group set up for all those guys/girls who need a quick late night booty call before dozing off,” the group page says. Several of the 16 forum members say they are Mercer Island High School students.

The dark side of MySpace came to the fore recently with the case of Kara Borden, a 14-year-old girl in Lititz, Penn. whose parents were allegedly murdered by an older man Borden had met on MySpace. The pair was captured on the run in Indiana on Nov. 14.

While that is a drastic example, Mike George is concerned about a more innocuous but still disturbing aspect of the site. He worries that information kids post in their profiles could come back to haunt them later if, say, a potential employer were to see it.

“You need to make sure that what you put on your page is what you want the world to see,” he said. The rule they give their boys is “don’t put anything on the site you don’t want your grandparents to read.”

Many teens create profiles with the assumption that only their friends will see them, but that is not necessarily true. Although personal pages can be blocked to viewers outside the users’ networks, few actually are. Also, sometimes a Google search for an individual’s name will return their MySpace page.

“They think it’s their space, but it’s the world’s,” Beth George said.

When the Georges first discovered that their sons, ages 15 and 17, were on MySpace, they were alarmed, but decided to not only let them keep their profiles, but to participate.

Mike set up his own profile page and, much to the chagrin of his older son, began inviting his kids’ friends to join his network. His idea was that it would be a more honest way to keep an eye on the young Mercer Island MySpace users and establish some boundaries. Plus, if kids were aware of parents watching, he figured they would tone down the licentiousness.

“I think every parent should have (a profile),” Mike said. “It’s like a party when the parents are out of town. If kids know that the basement is no longer unsupervised, they’ll clean up their pages.”

School administrators are becoming more aware of MySpace and other social networking sites and have taken some steps to address issues they raise.

Islander Middle School held a school-wide assembly in October to talk about Internet safety. A sergeant with the Seattle Police Department came to demonstrate how easily predators could track down a victim using basic information people often post online. The assembly was accompanied by classroom discussions and a parent session that attracted 50 to 60 parents.

Parents wanted to know how to stop their children from using the Internet in an unsafe manner, said Mary Jo Budzius, who coordinated the middle school program.

“The answer is you can’t, but you can hold them accountable,” she said. That might mean making sure e-mail addresses don’t contain street addresses or phone numbers and putting the computer in a common room of the house. As for the students, she said, “some took it more seriously than others.”

Frederique Meijer, a freshman at Mercer Island High School who checks her MySpace page once or twice a day, said she understands adults’ concern, but she doesn’t consider the site to be dangerous.

“I think it’s harmless as long as you don’t go looking for trouble,” she said.

Strangers have sent her messages in the past, but she knows better than to respond. “If some creepy old guy sends me a (message) I’ll just ignore it,” said Meijer, who is 14 but lists her age as 16 on her MySpace page. Her mother knows she has a profile and Meijer said her mom is OK with it.

Despite his concerns, Mike George thinks MySpace can be used as a positive thing.

“I want them to use it in interesting ways that can’t hurt them,” he said. His page, like many, is decked out with graphics and music, interactive games and even a silly video of his wife wearing fake teeth that Beth never expected to see posted online. Mike also posts quotes of wisdom and pictures of blackened lungs to send an anti-smoking message.

“This is really neat stuff. I wish we’d had it as kids,” Mike said. He adds, with a laugh, “but I sure wouldn’t have wanted my parents on it.”