Sound advice indeed, and not only from the perspective of a parent of teens. This problem is one that is frequently overlooked, or simply not considered. One of the "Pandora's Box" features we have unleashed through the internet is the ability for the unscrupulous and malicious minded, or the overly-zealous of any persuasion or motivation, to easily "mine" the net not only to find "whole" pieces (pages, texts, images) that can be incriminating and/or embarassing, but also to assemble a collection that can be highly misrepresentative. Worse, it is too easily possible to create the website or Facebook/MySpace equivalent of identity theft - not in the classic sense of misusing credit cards numbers and SSN but misrepresenting a person's views, statements, and positions.

What was created as a hip, fun space for people in their late teens and early twenties is being manipulated by people my age. Many say the young should know better, but I believe they never dreamed that older folks would invade their sites.
It's an extension of the helicopter parents, Society as a whole can't give these kids any privacy. You are correct that adults who create such sites better be smart about what they post and be vigilant about what is added to their sites by "visitors" with an agenda.

Mike,

This is so true. Believe it! Attorneys WILL investigate your clients by viewing their myspace, facebook, and other social networking websites. And, if what is said on that website is relevant to the issues of the case and made by a party opponent, chances are it is coming into evidence. Recently, I have obtained some devastating admission of defendants in auto case simply by viewing and printing out their myspace and facebook pages. This new technology can be helpful. But, it can also be very harmful to a case in our judicial system.

Mike D:
You have to represent your client zealously and use the information if it's out there, but it's a shame that it's come to this. Kids have no idea that we're spying on their chatrooms.