Beware of traps laid to lure the MySpace generation

It's the Gen 2.0 equivalent of mouthing off to your boss down the pub. The superficial anonymity of the internet is a well-known stimulant for excessive sharing. But we're not always loose-tongued when it comes to the web - we're far more likely to spill the beans on our misdemeanours when asked about them casually online, rather than in a formal way, BusinessWeek reports.

While we tend to be suspicious of formal surveys  - even if they sport a 'confidential' caveat - we're more than happy to share information about our bad behaviour if it's dressed up with silly flashing signs, slang and cartoon figures. Yes, really.

Researchers presented half their subjects with questions on a computer screen with funny graphics and text. The others were asked to answer questions on a fake university website. When questions were accompanied by a cartoon of a smiling devil with the question 'How BAD are U?' more than half of the participants admitted to fiddling their taxes. But when the question was presented on website with an official insignia, despite being assured of their privacy, only 25 per cent said they had cheated.

According to George Loewenstein, a behavioural economist who wrote the report, assuring people of their privacy reminds them that such revelations can be problematic. Cheating on your taxes, meanwhile, is always a bad idea, whether you admit to it or not.

I'd only just had time to close down the horrendously intrusive survey I'd started filling in - I was distracted by the picture of a laughing clown and the words JUST how gullible RU? - when I happened up on this testimony to the dangers of online informality on RollonFriday, the lawyers' website. An applicant to a law firm decided to look the graduate recruitment officer on Facebook, then accidentally pressed a button called 'Hug Me', which then promptly sent a message to the HR officer to tell her that she'd been hugged.

Egg on face, the applicant wrote a grovelling email to the recruitment officer explaining exactly what happened and that he wouldn't make the same mistake with a client, arguably making the whole situation worse.