Freindster is the first ever social network of the world. It was the first social network I ever joined, and I am still active on it, although no longer as active as I am with my Multiply and Facebook accounts.

I love social networks and keeping up with my Freindster friends, knowing what they’re up to and all of that. I sometimes also do some lurking, especially when I have a crush and want to know more about a particular guy, well it’s Freindster I hit first. Haha.

I’ve never liked those closed accounts. You know, those profiles that only show the primary picture and nothing else. I’ve always felt those people were kind of snotty, opening up their profiles only to people they deemed deserving to see their photos.

But it turns out maybe they have a point. The spate of kidnappings in Mindanao has rapidly risen. Recently, some Ateneans went to Basilan and were kidnapped for ransom. The survival rate of victims is pretty random. Some fortunate ones are returned to their families, yet some others are murdered.

A friend of mine advised me to close my Freindster account to the public. He says that the kidnappers in Mindanao work by hanging out in malls and observing customers. They pay special attention to those who bring large bills or spend using credit cards. Even people who dress especially well are monitored. And it’s not only done inside a mall. There are also those kidnappers who hang out observing people with nice cars, or nice houses.

When the bad guys (hope they catch mesothelioma or something awful like that) have their eye on an unfortunate target, they monitor him closely, studying his daily routine and scouring Freindster for his profile. They try to find out everything about their target, then send all the information and photos to their contacts in Basilan (one of the most lawless cities in the Philippines, and a place one should never go to without police supervision).

The next step is for the Basilan kidnappers to do their job and kidnap the target, hauling him away to Basilan and then demanding ransom from his poor family.

I have no proof of this affair save for the recounting of survivors. I am not advising anybody to stop hanging out in malls (please, let us not let terrorists terrorize us) or to suddenly stop buying nice stuff for themselves, but as a safety precaution, let us all limit the information we publish on the Internet by closing off our profiles and photos to the public, and make sure that we do not “friend” everybody who asks us on Freindster, but only those who are actually our friends.

Same goes for other social networks such as Multiply, Facebook and, yes, even our blogs.

P.S. I mean “Friendster”. Sorry, it’s a geek thing.

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