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This morning I was shocked when I learned that six months ago, a 19-year-old girl from Bogota was killed by two men who she had met through Facebook. The story made headlines in all the Colombian newspapers at the time the crime happen on September 17, 2009. However, I had not heard about this horrible story until today that the main newspaper from Colombia, El Tiempo, ran an article about the assassins being sentenced to 25 years in jail.
After investigating the crime, Colombian authorities found that the victim, Ana María Chávez Niño, had accepted Anderson Sierra, one of the two men who committed the crime, as her friend on Facebook. Seemingly, he gained the victim’s trust and they started a friendly relationship through this social networking site.
Anderson Sierra resided in Medellin while the victim lived in Bogota. Nevertheless, the girl and Anderson Sierra made arrangements to meet in Bogota. The police report explains that Mr Sierra came to the lobby of the girl’s building, where security cameras were in place, and greeted the girl with a kiss on her cheek. The murderer was with his friend, Juan Sebastian Obando. The two male and the young women went up to her apartment where later that afternoon she was killed.
This is a horrible incident, and made me, once again, wonder about who we are letting get into our lives through these social networking sites. I am very carful when I accept friends and for the most part I only accept request from people who I know. Nevertheless, there are young and naïve people, like Ana Maria Chavez who open their lives to strangers.
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Many would think that this type of case could only happen in Colombia because, in the eyes of many, is a dangerous country. Yet, only a few days ago a man was jailed in England after being found guilty of kidnapping, raping and killing Ashleigh Hall, a 17-year-old childcare student from Darlington.
I am not suggesting that Facebook was directly responsible for the death of these girls. Of course if these men wanted to commit crimes, they would have found ways to do it. Nonetheless, it helped as a platform to gain the girls’ friendship and create different identities that they could trust. I don’t believe that all the people who are part of the social networks are bad or have bad intentions, but it only takes one bad person to ruin the lives of many.
Incidents like this only make me think that even though social media and networking sites are creating conversations, making the world smaller and joining people together, they can also be dangerous if the users do not take the necessary steps to protect their privacy. As the digital divide becomes narrower worldwide, more and more cases of this type might arise if the necessary actions are not set in place from the beginning.
We need to realize that even though social media is putting forward an unimaginable range of opportunities, it has also a dark side. I am not a pessimist, and I think it is a matter of increasing awareness of issues like this. Public knowledge, outreach, and action can be the most important deterrent. Thus, we have to be activists and learn how to use these tools for the greatest good and when something wrong along the way happens, we must voice it.
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