A new policing unit being set up in Wellington will soon start monitoring the internet for criminal activity.
The unit has been built to cope with the growing popularity of social-networking websites, where an increasing number of teenagers are becoming vulnerable to internet crimes.
The popularity of social-networking sites has exploded in recent years, with Facebook alone attracting an average of 250,000 new members every day.
But a Netsafe survey has found 50 percent of New Zealand's children and teenagers joining up are posting sensitive personal details, like their phone numbers and email addresses.
"When you put sensitive information online in public spaces you lose control of it," warns NetSafe Research Manager John Fenaughty. "Anyone can surf to it. They can also copy it forward it on to other people and once they do that, you don't have any ability control it and see what happens to it."
Police say that information is increasingly ending up in the hands of criminals, the target of the new active policing unit being set up.
Four officers will begin patrolling the internet for criminal activity in the coming weeks in a move supported by the Privacy Commissioner, who has seen a rise in the number of complaints stemming from the internet.
"I think the online environment is particularly seductive for young people because you're not face-to-face with someone," Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff. "You might be unduly trusting of how that information is going to be used."
To help get that message through, the Privacy Commission is promoting online clips to internet users reminding teenagers to think before they upload.
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