Note: While these stories are based on actual events, names and certain details have been altered or removed to protect the privacy of the subjects.

Not so personal blogging

Krystal was a 14-year-old Grade 10 student living in a small rural Ontario town. An aspiring author, Krystal got a fellow student to show her how to set up a blog to publish her work and talk about her life and future plans. She added a chat feature where readers could discuss Krystal's work or anything else.

The number of people reading Krystal's blog kept growing every month, and she soon had a growing group of regular readers who chatted live online every Thursday night. Over time, people let down their guards to the point where they were sharing personal information such as names, ages and cities where they lived. They also talked openly about a variety of issues.

Sam, one of the original blog readers, asked Krystal to set up a private chat. Sam had been a fan of Krystal's blog and her postings for a long time. Once they were chatting privately, however, it didn't take long before Sam propositioned Krystal for sex and asked her to send him a pair of her panties. Krystal abruptly ended the session and blocked Sam's IP address from entering the site. The next week, Sam made two telephone calls to Krystal's home—once he knew her real name, it was easy to find her home number in the small-town telephone listings.

When Krystal's parents found out, they contacted the police. A forensic investigation of Krystal's computer eventually led to a 38-year-old Toronto man being charged with invitation to sexual touching and child luring.