1

“CYBER SAFETY”How to keep our kids safe

in a potentially unsafe world.

2

Evolution of Communication

3

The Internet Offers a World of Opportunities

People of all ages are: Posting video Building online profiles Texting and Instant Messaging Creating alter egos in the form of online

avatars Connecting with people they wouldn’t

normally connect with Sending photos Broadcasting their location and what they’re

doing to hundreds of people

4

These ways of socializing and communicating can be fun and fulfilling, yet come with certain

risks:

Inappropriate conduct. The online world can feel anonymous. Kids, along with

adults, often forget that we are still accountable for our actions.

Inappropriate contact. Some online people have bad intentions: bullies,

predators, hackers, and scammers.

Inappropriate content. We are all fearful of what our children may see online:

pornography, violence, bullying.

With knowledge and communication, we can prevent some, not all, but some of these things.

5

Uses of the Internet: Negative impact of internet

Racism, Prejudice and Hate www.aryan-nations.org www.tightrope.cc/jokes.htm www.godhatesfags.com/ www.kkk.bz/ www.stormfront.org/forum/ www.freeyourmindproductions.com/ www.resist.com/

Self Injury- promote cutting or self-injury www.cuttingclub.com http://community.livejournal.com/razor_dreams/ http://allphilosophy.com/topic/show/344

www.palace.net

6

Eating Disorders- very few of many, promote eating disorders. Many have created clubs or online support groups for those with a disorder can help each other persist in the issue. http://grotto.projectshapeshift.net/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpIN31Euu

o4 http://www.proanamia.com/ http://community.livejournal.com/proanorexia www.houseofthin.com http://board.ringsworld.com/pro~ana.html

7

Suicide- Pro-suicide sites. Range from poking fun, to providing encouragement, to giving detailed methods for killing oneself. http://ashbusstop.org/ http://www.dmoz.org/Society/Death/Suicide/M

ethods http://listverse.com/health/top-10-ways-to-co

mmit-suicide/ http://tinyurl.com/2k8966 http://www.mouchette.org/suicide/answers.ph

p3?cat=experience http://www.noob.us/entertainment/how-to-com

mit-suicide-like-a-real-man

8

“Sara’s Secret”

9

Chatroulette

10

Social Networking MySpace- Largest social networking site Facebook- made up of many networks, each

based around a company, region, or school. Faceparty- Has an adult section which can

only be accessed with adult verification. Friendster- Adds the ability to share unlimited

personal files- especially video and photos. Hi5- Members discover friends, artists and

content. It’s a platform for established artists and underground talent. Members voice their opinions and increase the significance of an artist, person, or a piece of content.

11

Piczo- This site uses free form tools which makes it super easy to have a website up and running within minutes. It also seems to cater to children.

Tickle- According to the company, it’s the first social networking product to deliver deep user profiles that go beyond basic demographic data.

Xanga- A community of online diaries and journals. You can start with your own free journal, share thoughts with your friends and meet new friends.

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

Why Is Social Networking a Problem?

It’s simple: Kids are revealing to the rest of the world information that is inappropriate and too personal, especially information that can make it easy for a predator to identify, track, and lure.

Teens and tweens are identifying where they go to school, live, work, hang out and study. They are taking pictures in their homes and bedrooms in full view of posters and other personal items- useful information about interests that can be used for evil motives.

Some mental health and psychology professionals wonder “Are they being used by depressed kids to interact with others and isolating them even further from the real world?” Are they turning to these as a way to cope?

25

It can be a place where they use self expression, trying on different identities. At home they may be the prep while on their network they are gothic (an expression of mystery or a hint of darkness) or emo

(emotional- punk, goth, or a little of their own personal additions).

26

“Sexting” When people take and send sexually

revealing pictures of themselves or send sexually explicit messages via text message, it’s called “sexting.” 22% of teen girls and 20% of teen boys have

sent nude or semi-nude photos of themselves over the Internet or their phones.

22% of teens admit that technology makes them personally more forward and aggressive.

38% of teens say exchanging sexy content makes dating or hooking up with others more likely.

29% of teens believe those exchanging sexy content are “expected” to date or hook up.

(All of the above are from CosmoGirl and the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2009.)

27

Why Sexting Matters

In a tech savvy world where things can be copied, sent, posted, and seen by a large audience, the content cannot be controlled.

The intention of sending a picture , text, or email may be a mere token of love. Technology gives the world the capability of exposing our child’s most intimate self to those waiting in the wings.

It’s against the law. Sending nude photos of minors can be a felony offense. Some states have begun prosecuting kids for these offenses.

28

Talking about “Sexting”

29

Texas Law Regarding Sexting

On February 1, 2010, State Attorney General Greg Abbott announced adults with nude or semi-nude photographs on their mobile devices can be investigated and tried on felony child pornography charges.

Teenagers with photos of other teens aged 18 and under can be prosecuted and face up to 10 years in prison, Abbott said.

Based in Austin, NTDAH (National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline) offers troubled teens the only 24-hour help line in the country where trained teen advocates counsel fellow teens about digital harassment.

The National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline can be reached at 1-866-331-9474

30

“Living Their Lives Online”, Frontline Video Clip

31

Video Chatting

Communicating visually with another person via computer. The term came from chat systems that evolved from typing text to incorporating two-way video. The terms video chat, "video calling," and "videoconferencing" are used synonymously.

Google Video Chat, Eyeball, iCU2, Webcam Now, Skype, ooVoo, Vsee, iChat, and TokBox are a few of the video chatting sites.

32

Nexting Urban Dictionary definition: Nexting is a technique used to

remove someone from your life in a clean, efficient manner that causes minimal to no drama.

Chatroulette- a Russian based website that pairs random strangers from around the world together for webcam-based conversations. Visitors to the website randomly begin an online chat (video, audio and text) with another visitor. At any point, either user may leave the current chat by initiating another random connection.

According to a survey carried out by RJMetrics, approximately 1 in 8 of feeds from Chatroulette involved 'R- rated' content.

The website has encouraged users to be at least 18 years old, and prohibits pornographic behavior. Users who experience harassment or witness illegal, immoral, or pornographic activity may report the offending user. After three users have complained about the same participant within 5 minutes the user is banned from the service[3] for 10–40 minutes

33

P2P File Sharing

Some kids share music, games, or software online. Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing allows people to share these kinds of files through an informal network of computers running the same software. If your kids download copyrighted material, you could get mired in legal issues. Sometimes spyware, malware, or pornography can be hidden in a shared file.

34

Safety measures- Install file-sharing software properly. Activate the

proper default settings so that nothing private is shared. By default, almost all P2P file-sharing applications will share downloads in your “save” or “download” folder. That’s why it’s important to set it to not automatically save to either of these folders. If you don’t set the defaults properly, other P2P users may access files you never meant to share, including personal documents on your hard drive, like your tax returns or other financial documents.

Before your kids open or play any downloaded file, advise them to use security software to scan it. Make sure the security software is up-to-date and running when the computer is connected to the internet.

35

What Can We do as Parents?

Remind our kids that online actions stick like glue. There are consequences for words they write and images

they post. Explain why it’s a good idea to post only info that they

are comfortable with others seeing. Some of your child’s profile may be seen by a broader

audience than you or they are comfortable with, even if privacy settings are on. Encourage them to think about the language they use online, and to think before posting pictures and videos, or altering photos posted by someone else. Future employers, college admissions officers, coaches, teachers, and the police may view posts.

Remind them that once they post info online, it can’t be taken back. Deleting from a site, there is still little control over older versions

that may exist on other people’s computers and circulate online.

36

Use Privacy settings to restrict who can access and post on your child’s profile. Some social networking sites, chat rooms, and blogs

have strong privacy setting. Talk to your kids about these settings, and your expectations.

Review your child’s friends list. You may want to limit your children’s online “friends”

to people they actually know. Talk to your teens about avoiding sex talk online.

Research shows that teens who don’t talk about sex with strangers online are less likely to come in contact with predators. In fact, researchers have found that predators usually don’t pose as children or teens, and most teens who are contacted by adults they don’t know, find it creepy. Teens should not hesitate to ignore or block them.

Know what your kids are doing.

37

Parental Control Options: Filtering and Blocking- tools to limit access

to certain sites, words, or images. Blocking outgoing content- a software that

prevents kids from sharing personal information online, in chat rooms, or via email.

Limiting time- a software that allows you to limit your kid’s time online and set the time of day they can access the internet.

Browsers for kids- these browsers filter words or images deemed inappropriate for kids.

Kid- oriented search engines- perform limited searches or screen search results for sites and material appropriate for kids.

38

Monitoring tools- software that alerts parents to online activity without blocking access. Some tools record the addresses of websites a child has visited; others provide a warning message when a kid visits certain sites. Monitoring tools can be used with or without a kid’s knowledge.

As the parent, you have a right to see any personal information a site has collected about your child. If you ask to see the information, website operators will need to make sure you really are the parent or they may choose to delete the information.

39

It’s never too late to start

Start Early if possible. Create an honest, open environment. Talk to your children.

Initiate conversations Communicate your values. Be patient.

40

Resources Moore, Robert J. (2010-03-16). "Chatroulette Is 89 Percent

Male, 47 Percent American, And 13 Percent Perverts". TechCrunch. http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/16/ chatroulette-stats-male-perverts/. Retrieved 2010-05-14. 

OnGuardOnline.gov. Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids About Being Online. http://onguardonline.gov/

Sabella, Russell A., Ph. D. GuardingKids.com: A Practical Guide to Keeping Kids Out of High-Tech Trouble. Minneapolis, MN: Educational Media Corporation, (2008).

"Digital-nation: Life on the Frontier." Frontline. PBS. WGBH educational foundation, n.p., 2 Feb. 2010. Public Broadcasting Station. Web. Transcript. 15 Dec. 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/ pages/frontline/>.

41

Blognbreakfast. "Comtrotting: A Journey through the History of Communication." 15 Oct. 2010. Wmv file.

Common Sense Media. “Talking About Sexting.”http://www.commonsensemedia.org/talking-about-sexting#

Internet Safety Educator. “Social Networking.“ http://internetsafetyadvisor.squarespace.com/social-networking/