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Overview
Mahiram is a South Asian lifestyle portal that
reaches millions of people around the world. It's
important to know that you—and each person on the
site—play an important role in keeping the community
safe.
This site is dedicated to helping you learn how you
can keep yourself and your family safe online, and
on a lifestyle portal like Mahiram. Throughout this
site, you will find useful safety information, tips
and resources to navigate online communities and to
help teach your family and friends to do the same.
Mahiram is steadfast in our commitment to keeping
people safe online through unique safety features
and technology, partnerships with safety
organizations and law enforcement, and our support
of new laws that will nurture the growth of online
safety tools, education and research.
We hope that this site will give you some of the
necessary tools and tips to stay safe, and have fun,
while online.
General Tips
Mahiram makes it easy to express yourself, connect
with friends and make new ones, but who you let into
your space, how you interact with them, and how you
present yourself online are important things to
think about when using social networking sites. Here
are some common sense guidelines that you should
follow when using Mahiram:
• Don't forget that your profile and Mahiram forums
are public spaces. Don't post anything you wouldn't
want the world to know (e.g., your phone number,
address, IM screen name or specific whereabouts).
Avoid posting anything that would make it easy for a
stranger to find you, such as where you hang out
every day or a picture of you in front of your
office or school.
• People aren't always who they say they are. Be
careful about adding strangers to your friends list.
It's fun to connect with new Mahiram friends from
all over the world, but avoid meeting people in
person whom you do not fully know. If you must meet
someone, do it in a public place and bring a friend
or trusted adult.
• Harassment, hate speech and inappropriate content
should be reported. If you feel someone's behavior
is inappropriate, react. Report it to Mahiram or the
authorities.
• Don't post anything that would embarrass you
later. It's easy to think that only our friends are
looking at our Mahiram page, but the truth is that
everyone can see it. Think twice before posting a
photo or information you wouldn't want your parents,
potential employers, colleges or boss to see!
• Don't say you're over 18 if you're not. Don't say
you're younger than 18 if you're not. If Mahiram
customer service determines you are under 14 and
pretend to be older, we will delete your profile. If
customer service determines you are over 18 and
pretend to be a teenager to contact underage users,
we will delete your profile.
Tips for Teens
• Don't say you're older than you are. Mahiram
members must be 14 years of age or older. We take
extra precautions to protect our younger members and
we are not able to do so if you do not identify
yourself as such. If Mahiram customer service
determines you are under 14 and pretend to be older,
we will delete your profile.
• Mahiram is a public space. Members shouldn't post
anything they wouldn't want the world to know (e.g.,
phone number, address, IM screen name, or specific
whereabouts). Don't post anything that would make it
easy for a stranger to find you, such as your local
hang out. It's always fun to post pictures but
remember that what you might consider a harmless
picture of you and your friends in your uniforms at
a school football game is actually a map telling a
stranger exactly where you go to school.
• Don't post anything that could embarrass you later
or expose you to danger. Please remember that
Mahiram is public and many people have access to
what you post, including potential employers,
colleges, your teachers and peers at school that you
might not even know. You shouldn't post photos or
info you wouldn't want adults to see or people to
know about you.
• Protect your privacy. Set your profile to private
which lets only your friends view your profile.
Users under the age of 16 are automatically assigned
a private profile. Only accept friend invitations
from people you know and trust.
• People aren't always who they say they are. Be
careful about adding strangers to your friends list.
It's fun to connect with new Mahiram friends from
all over the world, but avoid meeting people in
person whom you do not fully know. Remember that you
don't really know who is on the other end of an
Internet connection.
• Harassment, hate speech and inappropriate content
should be reported. If you encounter inappropriate
behavior, inform your parents or a trusted adult and
report it to Mahiram or the authorities.
• Don't get hooked by a phishing scam. Phishing is a
method used by fraudsters to try to get your
personal information, such as your username and
password, by pretending to be a site you trust. If
you suddenly start receiving abnormal bulletins or
messages from a friend, they might have been
phished. Check with them before opening any files or
clicking on any links. If you think you, or a
friend, is a victim of phishing, change your
password immediately.
• Avoid in-person meetings. Don't get together in
person with someone you "meet" online unless you are
certain of their actual identity. Talk it over with
an adult first. Although it's still not risk-free,
arrange any meetings in a public place and bring
along friends, your parents, or a trusted adult.
• Think before you post. What's uploaded to the net
can be downloaded by anyone and passed around or
posted online pretty much forever. You shouldn't
post photos or info you wouldn't want adults to see
or people to know about you.
Tips for Parents
Mahiram offers following tips to begin a dialogue
about safe Web practices:
1. Start a Conversation
• Talk to your kids about why they use
Mahiram, how they communicate with others, and how
they represent themselves online. Recognize the
importance of social networking in their daily
lives, similar to that of cell phones, email, or
instant messenger, and express an interest in
understanding the role it plays.
• Ask them why they like being online and who they
hang out with online. Ask them to show you their
friends, what they are listening to, and what
interests them within the community.
2. Report Inappropriate
Behavior
• Harassment, hate speech, and inappropriate
content all violate the Mahiram ‘Terms of Use’ and
should be reported. If your kids encounter
inappropriate behavior, they should report it to
you, the authorities and/or Mahiram, as the
situation merits. To report a problem, go to Contact
Mahiram and select "Reporting Abuse."
3. Talk about Mahiram
and the Internet
• Mahiram, like the rest of the online world,
is a public space. Members shouldn't post anything
they wouldn't want the world to know (e.g., phone
number, address, IM screen name, or specific
whereabouts). Tell your teens they should avoid
posting anything that would make it easy for a
stranger to find them, such as their local hangouts.
• Remind them not to post anything that could
embarrass them in the future or expose them to
danger. Although Mahiram is public, teens sometimes
forget that the information and photos they post are
accessible to others.
4. Remind Teens to Be
Cautious
• Just as in the offline world, people aren't
always who they say they are. Remind your teens to
be careful about adding strangers to their friends
list. It's fun to connect with new Mahiram friends
from all over the world, but members should be
cautious when communicating with people they don't
know.
• Encourage teens to be themselves, but to exercise
the same basic safety principles they do in the
physical world. They wouldn't chat with a stranger
at the mall or give someone they don't know their
cell phone number. Remind them that reckless online
behavior can be just as dangerous.
• They should talk to you if they want to meet an
online friend in person, and if you think it is
safe, any meeting should take place in public, with
friends or a trusted adult present.
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