16-year-old Adnan Patrawala, who had been missing for 2 days, has been found lifeless near Panvel, just outside Mumbai city. Reports claim that Adnan may have been strangled to death by kidnappers who had earlier demanded 2 crore as ransom.
Now it seems that Orkut may have been used to lure Adnan.
It seems that the kidnappers may have used the moniker *Angel* to communicate with Adnan, befriend him, exchange phone numbers and entice him with the possibility of a ‘real-life’ meeting.
I was stunned by this, especially just a few days ago I had read on Boing Boing (via David’s excellent blog) about a National School Boards Association report that the internet was safe and that we should use it more. The NSBA had determined that the much-touted risk of online stalkers and predators was basically nonexistant.
Adnan who (in his profile on Orkut) called himself a party-animal and who wanted to be a pilot, is being mourned by the Orkut Community. His profile has received almost 2000 scraps in the last four hours.
Information from the press that he “loved to spend money on his friends”, drove a Skoda car, love to party (the most syndicated picture shows him with a Bacardi Breezer) may point to indulgent parenting and adolescent precociousness but also to unbridled use of the collaborative web. As I write this, for the first time, the ‘web’ seems more like a metaphor for a spider’s net than for a mesh.
This incident sure to cause a reverberation in the online community. As teachers and educators we have a responsibility to help protect our students again such act. The correct response would not be a blanket ban on sites like Orkut and Facebook in schools, I can see this as a very likely knee-jerk response to this event.
A better approach would be continuing education about the possible consequences of undiscretionary online behaviour, much like the talk students get (or should get) today about sex education. Students have to be told, with examples like this unfortunate incident involving Adnan, that dangers exist and like one would not share personal information with a stranger or accept food from someone you didn’t know similar behaviours were inappropriate even when the other were a virtual entity at a computer screen miles from home.
A good article on what students should be exposed (or not) to is Putting Them in a Bubble, over on Jeff’s Blog
Till students become more adept at using collaborative/discussion tools on the internet, web monitors and net nannies are a good way to go.
I wonder what you all think about this. I await your response.
Rest in Peace, Adnan.
Further Reading (click on numbers to open links)
#1: Rediff article that talks of the Orkut Connection to Adna’s murde
#2: An article that claims that over a thousand sex offenders may be on MySpace. It also profiles Pancake26, a predator who uses simple code to lure children and young adults
#3: Indiscreet posting costs students University Seats, Jobs and more.
#4: Link to download the entire NSBA report cited above.
#5: An article that talks of the irreversibly of internet postings; how we ourselves are invading our privacy.
#6: MSNBC Dateline article on Why Parents must Monitor Internet Usage and MySpace
This incident is neither the first…nor the last of its kind. Folks who use internet don’t seem to learn. What our parents teach us when we’re little–don’t ever talk to strangers–couldn’t be more relevant in online world. While Adnan’s death is tragic…and if internet played any role in it, it should serve as yet another example that could be used in teaching kids about the perils of online interaction with strangers.
this is very sad, but in away it has broadened the fact that thisi happening it revealed this horrible fact that a young mans life has gone to waste due to useless friendships on the internet and actually trusting them into meeting up, when girls try and meeting random people from the net friends and family warn us not to, but guys think they are not to be harmed and they are tough enough to handle them selves!!! not true be careful not everyone on orkut, my space, facebook could be real people!!!! thanks for posting
thats very true, that software like netnannies and an INDIAN version netDaddy shall be used by parents to keep a virtual eye on their kids. This will help to reduce such cases.
I have found Indian site that offers such software – go4soft.com ….
may Adnan’s soul rest in piece.
WTF, that makes me really angry!
But i think this kind of “lack of humanity” happens everywhere, this on-line comunities are not guilty, i mean, there’s a lot more people who meet and got married because of orkut…
but i sure am sorry about the ones who have bad experiences.
[…] ORKUT USED TO ENGINEER MURDER? [image] 16-year-old Adnan Patrawala, who had been missing for 2 days, has been found lifeless near Panvel, just […] […]
Sad to hear social networking comes with such a high price.
There has been many instances prior to this which has been shocking and terrifying…. As they say there are always two sides to a coin… There have been many cases where couples have met as a result of social networking and have been able to take their relationship forward.. the internet is a vast environment and it is going to be an uphill task to prevent such things from happening but what we can do is educate the public.
may Adnan’s soul rest in peace
What an unfortunate incident! This is why I believe that parenting is even more important these days as kids become more independent online. Someone should warn every single kid using the internet about the dangers of online predators and face-to-face meetings.
I agree that blocking is not the answer.
If a child talked to a stranger and had a bad experience as a result, would we “block” our child from talking to people in general? The difference on the internet would be that it’s not just one site or one category of sites that could be “problematic,” it’s all sites. Threat is determined by individual exchange of information so that’s why the education of internet users is so important!
Rest in peace, Adnan.
Really unfortunate that this should happen. A 16 year old with a Skoda Octavia luxury car!!! that is tragedy waiting to happen. Parents need to monitor their teenagers, know their friends and whereabouts.
The internet cannot be blamed for this tragedy. On the other hand it should be used to further educate young people on the darker side of the internet, the dangers of not using proper discretion and the resultant consequences.
condolences to the family
[…] of The Red Pencil writes: This incident sure to cause a reverberation in the online community. As teachers and […]
[…] of The Red Pencil writes: “This incident sure to cause a reverberation in the online community. As teachers […]
[…] in Mumbai who’s death may have been abetted by Orkut, an incident that calls for a more careful exposure to social networking sites. To round up is Jeff’s post Putting them in a Bubble (this is not a carnival contribution, […]
miss u a lot adnan .. no clue why i’m feeling so bad for this guy who i dont even know??? .. feels like i have lost a brother .. the cullprits need to be given the worst punishment in the juditial system .. probabaly then they would understand how it would be like to kill so one when they are breathing (how heartless)
Update: Picked up a news thread this morning that said the police have ruled out Orkut as the rendezvous between Adnan and the suspects.
Adnan, i really wish i knew u. may be we would have been good friends. or may be i would have guided u. i will pray for u as long as u are in my memory. i hope to meet u when we are standing in front of our lord on the day of judgement. my heart is greive strucken and my mind has been disturbed by this incident.