Keeping Our Children Safe in CyberSpace

Michelle RitgerSupervisor of Instructional Technology and Information SystemsFlemington Raritan Regional School District

What Does It Mean?

WYCM

LMIRL

PA/ PAL/ POS/ P911

F2F

WRNWTGP

WWW

Surf the Web

Internet

IM

Screen Name

ANA/ MIABashboard

Netiquette

Worm

LOL

Chat Room

Social Networking

CyberBully

Firewall

CyberSafety

Avitar

121

E-Mail

Spam

Virus

CyberStalker

Trolling

Blog

Webcam

FilterSpycam

Cyber Statistics

• 61% of teens 13- 17 have a “presence” in cyberspace through social networking sites

• Presence includes pictures, sports shots, and other “identifying” information

• Using this information, person can “find” anyone

• 71% of teens have received messages from people they don’t know

• 45% of teens have been asked for personal information

• 30% of teens have considered meeting someone they met online face- to- face- 14% actually have

Cyber Crimes

What are Cyber Crimes

• Crimes that take place online- instead of face- to- face

• Including, but not limited to-– CyberBullying

– CyberStalking

– CyberThreatening

– Flamebaiting

Examples

• a 13-year old girl named Megan Meier, who was just days shy of her 14th birthday, commits suicide by hanging herself in her bedroom closet. The reason? She was being bullied by a “hot” 16-year old male, who had initially captured her heart on MySpace by making her feel valued, but who then turned on her. He cyberbullied her with taunts and finally told her that she was a horrible person who deserved to have a horrible life. After Megan’s death, her grieving parents learn that the “hot” 16-year old male was in fact a fictitious character created by the parents of one of Megan’s girl friends — a girl she had become estranged from. http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/yulelog/2007/11/14/parents-in-myspace-disaster-follows/

Examples

• 14 and 15 year old girls make a “study date” with a guy from Biology. The guy is not from their class, but a sexual predator. The person from Bio class had his picture taken by a neighbor. That neighbor created a Cyber account using the guy’s picture and personal information. Unknowingly, the girls went to the apartment thinking they were going to study. The girls are held “captive” until their escape two days later. One girl will spend the rest of her life hospitalized.

Examples

• In St. Louis. A 13 year-old girl hung herself after a "boy" she was dating through Myspace insulted and harassed her (according to the story, the "boy" asked to be her Myspace friend, then they started talking online and eventually called each other boyfriend and girlfriend before he started saying that he had "heard that she wasn't very nice to her friends" and then began sending the girl increasingly cruel and harassing emails). Turns out that this "boy" was actually a neighboring couple who posed as a 14 year-old boy in order to deliberately lure this girl into talking to them, trying to see if she said anything bad about their daughter. http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_popculture_blog/2007/11/girl-commits-su.html

Examples

• The most recent case to hit the news is that of a 21-year-old woman, Nicole Williams, who has been accused of sending harassing text messages to a 16-year-old girl that she was jealous of (because of a boy, naturally). Williams also allegedly allowed her friends to use her phone to send messages and leave vulgar voicemails for the girl, some of which threatened rape. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2008/12/cyberbullying-laws-picking-up-after-myspace-suicide-case.ars

So- What Can We Do

“Quick Tips”

• First, remember never to give out personal information such as your name, home address, school name, or telephone number in a chat room or on bulletin boards. Also, never send a picture of yourself to someone you chat with on the computer without your parent's permission.

• Never write to someone who has made you feel uncomfortable or scared.

• Do not meet someone or have them visit you without the permission of your parents.

• Tell your parents right away if you read anything on the Internet that makes you feel uncomfortable.

• Remember that people online may not be who they say they are. Someone who says that "she" is a "12-year-old girl" could really be an older man.

• http://www.fbi.gov/kids/k5th/safety2.htm

For Elementary School Students

• Introduce students to chat rooms (i.e.- imbee.com)

• Teach students netiquette

• Role play

• Guest speakers

• Web resources

For Middle School Students

• Continue to discuss chat rooms• Role play• Set up class blogs and chats• Discuss “escape” tools- such as

ctrl+alt+del or shutting the computer down

• Let students know they can always talk to their parents, you, counselors, or other adults

• Continue to stress anonymity

For High School Students

• Continue to discuss chat rooms• Role play• Set up class blogs and chats• Discuss “escape” tools- such as ctrl+alt+del or

shutting the computer down• Let students know they can always talk to their

parents, you, counselors, or other adults• Continue to stress anonymity• Discuss current cases of cybercrimes (be sure to

get parent permission- many of them are quite graphic)

• Invite the FBI and State Police in for presentations and conversations

Videos

• KSI - Kid Scene Investigation -- Protecting Your Kids http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFF1UtPm5C4

Keeping Our Children Safe in CyberSpace

What We Can Do At Home

What Can You Do At Home

• Your SubtopicLearn Internet acronyms that children use to keep parents from snooping (Examples: POS - parent over shoulder, POP - parent on prowl, CTN - can't talk now).

• Remind your child to stay anonymous. Don't share personal information online.

• Share and discuss news stories about cyberstalkers and online sexual predators.

• Visit social websites like myspace.com with your child. Discuss sites that may offer too much information, inappropriate photographs, or that might have other "red flags" associated with them.

• Install Internet filters, but don't assume that they will take the place of parental supervision.

What Can You Do At Home

• Discuss with your child the person the importance of never meeting cyber acquaintances without being certain of that person's identity and, even then, have discussing details with a parent. Underscore the importance of only meeting in a public space and with parental supervision.

• Teach your children to log off and/or block anyone, known or unknown, who engages in online harassment. Sometimes it may be necessary to change an email address, profile, or password in order to stop a "cyberbully" from causing problems.

• Show your child how to use "buddy lists" and how to block or delete others.

• Children who blog should be taught that any content posted to a website can ultimately be downloaded by nearly anyone with a computer.

• At home, allow Internet connected computers only in a family area. Monitor your child's computer use.

QUESTIONS

Keeping Our Children Safe in CyberSpace

Michelle RitgerSupervisor of Instructional Technology and Information SystemsFlemington Raritan Regional School Districtmritger@frsd.k12.nj.us