/PRNewswire/ -- Every day, it seems, the news carries another cyber-horror story. Last week, five Internet predators in Pennsylvania were arrested for sexually propositioning undercover agents in a chat room, in several cases sending nude webcam videos of themselves to agents they believed were 13- and 14-year-old girls. On the same day, a truck driver in England pleaded guilty to seven counts of rape after admitting forming relationships with two girls on the Internet before sexually assaulting them.
For parents, the first line of defense against Internet dangers is to have frank and ongoing discussions about online stranger-danger, the need to keep personal information private, and the potential consequences of inappropriate online behavior. A revealing photo sent on a cellphone or posted on a social network site, for example, can live on in cyberspace for years with damaging effects on everything from personal relationships to job prospects. And a flirtatious online conversation can literally turn deadly.
Beyond the need for parent-child communication on the subject of cyber-risks, InternetSafety.com
recommends a variety of strategies that parents can use to help keep their children safe. Here are some basic tips for six common activities:
-- Sexting - The increasingly common practice of sending sexually
suggestive text messages, photos or videos through cell phones is a
big worry. It can invite public humiliation, cyberbullying or even
sexual assault. Teenagers are even being charged with child
pornography for sending or posting racy photos. One way to limit
children's sexting opportunities is to retrieve their cellphones at
night and charge them in the parents' room. Phones today are simply
small computers, and they should be regulated in the same way as those
larger machines.
-- Social Networking - Rule #1 is that children should never post
anything they wouldn't be comfortable showing to their parents,
teacher, or youth worker. One way to discourage inappropriate entries
is to join the social networks that your kids are on and 'friend' your
own children so that you can monitor what they're posting.
-- Chatting - Chat rooms are not only nesting places for predators, but
they often indirectly encourage rude and even abusive interactions
between users due to the anonymity and lack of consequences. If your
child is using chat rooms, find out which ones and check them out for
yourself. If you are uncomfortable with specific chat sites, you might
consider using filtering software to block access to those sites or
log all chats for later review.
-- Gaming - Increasingly popular MMOGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Games)
like Final Fantasy and World of Warcraft are massively addictive, with
reports of non-stop sessions as long as 48 or 72 hours. To prevent the
unhealthy practice of spending more time in a virtual world than a
real one, parents should either refuse to buy these games or impose
time limits. (The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more
than two hours of screen time per day per child 12 and under.) If the
child breaks the rules, simply uninstall the game from the computer or
confiscate the disc.
-- Searching - On most popular search engines including Google, the
safe-search settings aren't completely effective and are easy to turn
off. For that reason, younger children should not have a computer in
their room, and their computer use should be supervised. Filtering
software can also protect both younger and older children from
exposure to websites with adult, violent or other inappropriate
content.
-- File-Sharing - Peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks such as
BitTorrent, uTorrent, Bearshare and Limewire allow totally unregulated
access to files that other network members have shared, including
illegal pirated material and child pornography, not to mention opening
computers to security risks. Banning these programs in your home is a
good idea. Check your family computer periodically to be sure that no
one has downloaded any of them, and remove them if they have.
More tips as well as tools to safeguard children against cyber-dangers can be found at www.internetsafety.com .
-----
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Showing posts with label sexting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sexting. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Cox's New Survey on Cyber-Safety Finds Many Teens Going Online Wirelessly Without Limits or Controls
/PRNewswire/ -- For the fifth consecutive year, Cox Communications, in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children(R) (NCMEC) and America's Most Wanted host and children's advocate John Walsh, will present the results of a new survey on the behavior of young people online. This year, the survey also looks at teen behavior using wireless devices.
Under the auspices of Cox's Take Charge! program, the partners are helping parents understand the potential dangers of the Internet and learn ways they can help keep their kids safer online. The initiative includes both the survey about teen behavior and a frank discussion with a teen focus group at the Cox Communications' Annual National Summit on Internet Safety.
WHAT: Cox Communications' Annual National Teen Summit on Internet
Safety
WHEN: Wednesday, June 24, 2009
-- Teen Summit at 9:00 a.m.
-- Virtual Media Conference at 10:45 a.m.
WHERE: National Cable & Telecommunications Association
25 Massachusetts Avenue, NW - Suite 100
Washington, DC 20001
Key results from the survey conducted by Harris Interactive among a representative sampling of U.S. teens between the ages of thirteen and eighteen years include:
-- Technology enabled: Ninety-one percent of teens have an email address
and 60 percent have an instant messenger screen name. Seventy-three
percent of teens have a cell phone and 59 percent have a digital
camera.
-- Acceptance of Social Networking: Seventy-two percent of teens
surveyed have online profiles on social networking sites where many
have posted photos of themselves and their friends, along with
personal information.
-- Conflicted over Safety: Most teens surveyed are aware and concerned
about the risks of putting personal information out in the open.
Fifty-nine percent say having personal information or photos on a
public site is unsafe, and 26 percent say they know someone who has
had something bad happen to them because of this. Still, 62 percent
of teens post photos of themselves on blogs or social networking sites
and greater than 40 percent name their school or the city in which
they live.
-- Prevalent Cyberbullying: More than one-third of teens surveyed have
been cyberbullied, perpetrated cyberbullying or know of friends who
have experienced or perpetrated it, and 68 percent think it is a
serious problem. About 4 in 5 teens (81 percent) think that bullying
online is easier to get away with or to hide from their parents than
bullying in person.
-- Engaging in Sexting: Nineteen percent of teens surveyed have engaged
in sexting -- sending, receiving or forwarding sexually suggestive
nude or nearly nude photos through text message or email. Sixty
percent of teens who sent sexts say they send photos to their
boyfriend/girlfriend, but 11 percent say they have sent sexts(1) to
someone they don't even know. Eighty-one percent of teen sexters are
under 18.
-- Online wirelessly: Nineteen percent of teens surveyed go online via
their cell phone and 19 percent say their parents are unaware. The
vast majority of teens (80 percent) whose parent know they go online
via their cell phone say they are not given any limits or controls --
far fewer than are given boundaries on their desktop PC or laptop.
"Teens are not only online, they are active in every nuance of cyberspace. Many have no controls over what they do online and of those who do, nearly 30 percent figure ways around the boundaries set by their parents," said John Walsh. "Those parents who have been vigilant over their kids' use of the Internet via their computers, haven't extended their watch to their kids' use of the wireless devices, which are increasingly offering predators all the access they need to our precious and vulnerable young ones. Teens are prone to choosing risky behaviors even though they know better, so parents must continue to regularly talk with their children and monitor their activities."
At the June 24th summit, Walsh will lead teen participants from Cox Communications' markets across the country in a discussion of cyber-safety and ways parents, guardians and teen mentors can help children stay safer online. Results of the survey and information from teen discussion at the summit will be presented immediately following during the live virtual media conference (details to be announced via media alert immediately prior); Walsh and select teens will be available to answer questions. Teens participating in the Summit will also deliver the news directly to Capitol Hill in meetings with members of Congress on June 25th.
-----
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Under the auspices of Cox's Take Charge! program, the partners are helping parents understand the potential dangers of the Internet and learn ways they can help keep their kids safer online. The initiative includes both the survey about teen behavior and a frank discussion with a teen focus group at the Cox Communications' Annual National Summit on Internet Safety.
WHAT: Cox Communications' Annual National Teen Summit on Internet
Safety
WHEN: Wednesday, June 24, 2009
-- Teen Summit at 9:00 a.m.
-- Virtual Media Conference at 10:45 a.m.
WHERE: National Cable & Telecommunications Association
25 Massachusetts Avenue, NW - Suite 100
Washington, DC 20001
Key results from the survey conducted by Harris Interactive among a representative sampling of U.S. teens between the ages of thirteen and eighteen years include:
-- Technology enabled: Ninety-one percent of teens have an email address
and 60 percent have an instant messenger screen name. Seventy-three
percent of teens have a cell phone and 59 percent have a digital
camera.
-- Acceptance of Social Networking: Seventy-two percent of teens
surveyed have online profiles on social networking sites where many
have posted photos of themselves and their friends, along with
personal information.
-- Conflicted over Safety: Most teens surveyed are aware and concerned
about the risks of putting personal information out in the open.
Fifty-nine percent say having personal information or photos on a
public site is unsafe, and 26 percent say they know someone who has
had something bad happen to them because of this. Still, 62 percent
of teens post photos of themselves on blogs or social networking sites
and greater than 40 percent name their school or the city in which
they live.
-- Prevalent Cyberbullying: More than one-third of teens surveyed have
been cyberbullied, perpetrated cyberbullying or know of friends who
have experienced or perpetrated it, and 68 percent think it is a
serious problem. About 4 in 5 teens (81 percent) think that bullying
online is easier to get away with or to hide from their parents than
bullying in person.
-- Engaging in Sexting: Nineteen percent of teens surveyed have engaged
in sexting -- sending, receiving or forwarding sexually suggestive
nude or nearly nude photos through text message or email. Sixty
percent of teens who sent sexts say they send photos to their
boyfriend/girlfriend, but 11 percent say they have sent sexts(1) to
someone they don't even know. Eighty-one percent of teen sexters are
under 18.
-- Online wirelessly: Nineteen percent of teens surveyed go online via
their cell phone and 19 percent say their parents are unaware. The
vast majority of teens (80 percent) whose parent know they go online
via their cell phone say they are not given any limits or controls --
far fewer than are given boundaries on their desktop PC or laptop.
"Teens are not only online, they are active in every nuance of cyberspace. Many have no controls over what they do online and of those who do, nearly 30 percent figure ways around the boundaries set by their parents," said John Walsh. "Those parents who have been vigilant over their kids' use of the Internet via their computers, haven't extended their watch to their kids' use of the wireless devices, which are increasingly offering predators all the access they need to our precious and vulnerable young ones. Teens are prone to choosing risky behaviors even though they know better, so parents must continue to regularly talk with their children and monitor their activities."
At the June 24th summit, Walsh will lead teen participants from Cox Communications' markets across the country in a discussion of cyber-safety and ways parents, guardians and teen mentors can help children stay safer online. Results of the survey and information from teen discussion at the summit will be presented immediately following during the live virtual media conference (details to be announced via media alert immediately prior); Walsh and select teens will be available to answer questions. Teens participating in the Summit will also deliver the news directly to Capitol Hill in meetings with members of Congress on June 25th.
-----
www.fayettefrontpage.com
Fayette Front Page
www.georgiafrontpage.com
Georgia Front Page
Follow on Twitter @GAFrontPage
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