Pandora’s Blog

I came across this awesome lady’s (Greta) blog called Kiss My Gumbo. Aside from the creative and hilarious name, she’s got something important and unfortunately-not-so-shocking to report.

In this blog post, Teenagers Gone Wild…in Mandeville, she tells a tale of local teenage vandals. Now, back when we were kids, there were eggings, Tapings, etc. But never usually as disgusting as this… and then the vandals never had a place like MySpace to turn to and brag about their actions.

I will post her full comments below, but I want to plant a seed in your head as you read: notice her points on the current tween/teen generation (“Generation I”) and the parents “in charge” of them. Greta is dead on right. And it’s another reason why parents need to be monitoring their child’s Internet activity and involved in their child’s life – NOT as a friend. If the parents of the kids who did this were involved or monitoring their child’s activity with PC Pandora, maybe justice would be brought… Then again, maybe the parents are so lame to begin with that they know and just aren’t doing anything because they don’t want their kids to get into trouble. Talk about shameful parenting…

Here’s Greta’s post [please visit her blog and post a comment]:

Please e-mail gretaperry@gmail.com with tips regarding the crime done to my neighbor’s property over Thanksgiving. If you wish to remain anonymous, you’ve got my word. Someone is talking about it or bragging about it on MySpace. The vandals need to be held accountable for their actions and their parents need to know what they did. This was no teenage prank, this was pure evil and was hateful. Now to the post - read on as this is a long one for me and not humorous like it usually is. (lots of funny archives)

I could just scream at some of the stuff going on with teens now. My oldest is 11 and I hope he stays that age forever! No, I won’t tell my kids that I walked to school uphill both ways in the snow. But, let’s face it, when yours truly was a teen in the 80s, it was a totally different world. It was big deal to have my own phone line, I had a locked diary, I bought half my “boat” car at 16 and my parents matched my funds. Ya, I was a little rebel and had hair of various colors at different times and had my ear pierced 8 times on 1 side. But, I always had good grades and the ambition to go on to college and make something of myself.

Well, I know I don’t have to tell you that thing are different than they were when we were teens - but it is scarier today than ever before. Internet predators lurk on MySpace. Kids text message each other impulsively with lightning speed. Many of our kids are medicated and their mind’s are altered. Pictures and videos are slapped on YouTube without kids giving it a second thought. And we all know what the lack of parental involvement and being your child’s “friend” has done to this generation. Don’t get me started on parents who don’t look at their kid’s computer, MySpace, IM’s or text messaging because it is invading their privacy PUH-LEEEZE! I tell all my friends with teens that I am glad I get to watch them go through the teens first.

Now to the Mandeville part of the post. Mandeville, LA is no different than Anytown Suburb, USA. So really this story has to do with teens. My wonderful neighbor who drove with her whole fam damily to New York to be tourists and volunteer in a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving, got a call on her vacation that her property was vandalized. Thankfully, the neighbors and her ex-husband cleaned it up before her family returned. This family has 2 teens and one younger child. While they were away, the house was “targeted” and “vandalized” in a way that is totally repulsive. The family’s personal property was destroyed and now is on the search for the “teens or tweens” who destroyed a once perfect yard. Toilet papering a house is bad enough and is a mess to clean up. But ultimately, it is a harmless prank. No, not this time, this was calculated group of teen/tween evil. Supplies were purchased, they knew the family was out of town, they had a car and they obviously had to do their work after the city curfew.

They salted the entire lawn front and back as well as the shrubs. It is already turning brown in spots. They put shaving cream EVERYWHERE, they put saran wrap around trees and poured oil on it (not sure why), they strangled her scarecrows with condoms, they stuck Kotex pads with ketchup on them all over her garage. Sick stuff I tell you! I am using my blog to try to help this family and find out who did this crime. After all, your house could be next and neighbors should help neighbors!

“You just disgraced us,” Sgt. Ti Goetz said to Carlos. “This is our worst fear come true.”

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy Joseph Mican Abadla Carlos, 31, was recently arrested in a sting operation targeting Internet child predators. He has been charged with two felonies for allegedly trying to meet someone whom he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex.

The sting by the South Bay Predator Task Force, which resulted in the arrest of Carlos and three other men, was filmed by Court TV as part of a special called “Inside: Predator Task Force.” The task force, created by the Hawthorne Police Department with detectives from six other police departments, arrested 15 people during its 12-day operation.

Read the story here: Internet predator sting snares Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy. It’s fascinating, disgusting and disgraceful. Watch the episode when it airs on December 2 at 10 p.m. ET on Court TV.

If the ones who are supposed to watch and keep us safe can’t betrusted — how can you trust anyone. Watch after your OWN child. Know what they are up to with monitoring software like our PC Pandora!

A survey was conducted nationally in August 2007 by Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) that focused on children’s Internet habits. It revealed an alarming gap between what parents say they are teaching their children about Internet safety and the reality of what they are doing to ensure their kids are practicing these measures.

You can read the article that I found here: Survey on Internet Safety Reveals Parents Not Spending Enough Time with Kids Online. Below are some notables:

1. The technology explosion has ushered in “Generation I,” the first generation to grow up with the Internet as an integral part of their everyday routine. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 87 percent of youth ages 12-17 now use the Internet. In many ways, Gen I youth are light years beyond the technological abilities of their parents, presenting a challenge for their parents to keep up with them.
2. While the vast majority of youth (81.3%) say their parents have spoken with them about being safe online, they report few of their parents actually monitor or participate in their online activity.
3. Surfing the Net: Over half (52.8%) of kids say that their parents have never surfed the Internet with them. Just 12.2 percent of parents surf the Internet with their children monthly.
4. Online Contacts: More than half (53.4%) of the youth surveyed say their parents never so much as inquire who they speak to online. Despite the conversations that parents may have had with children, one-third continue to be allowed access to any Website they so choose – unrestricted by rules or controlled settings.
5. Restricting Websites: Two-thirds of children claim that a parent has restricted their online access to certain sites, but a mere 18.1 percent say their parents are always in the room while they are on the Internet.
6. Posting Personal Info: In spite of many warnings and incidents, one-fifth of all children still post personal information on social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, MySpace) or video-sharing sites (e.g., YouTube).

This confirms what I have feared. OK, the message is sinking in – but NO ONE is doing anything about it! The very least parents should be doing, if they aren’t goig to phsyically be involved, is to install monitoring software like PC Pandora! That way, you can watch and know from a distance… but at least you still KNOW!

It’s about that time, as the message is sinking in, that educational online safety panels, forums and meetings are taking place nationwide at town halls, schools and other public meeting places. Here are 2 stories about the efforts in Danbury Connecticut and Northwest Arkansas.

City to educate parents about online predators

Boozman summit covers protecting children online

Truthfully, I am very happy to see these popping up. One of our initiatives in 2008 will be getting placement/representation at these meetings. While a lot of education seems to be on knowing the threats out there, little is emphasized on how to prevent them or stop them from entering your home. Parents can sometimes be left with the “OK, this is good… but now what do I do” feeling. Well, our PC Pandora monitoring software is your answer!

…Now we just need a way to tell all these parents this! So we’re going to work on figuring out how. And I don’t mean a straight-up, blatant, uninformative product pitch as these meetings and gatherings. I mean an informative, “to help you out a bit in knowing what your child is up to, there is some great monitoring software out there that you can get – like PC Pandora version 5.0!”

I mean, seriously… If your job was to dig holes all day, and someone came up to you and said “hey, there is this tool called a shovel that will make this a bit easier for you”… wouldn’t you want to know more about it and get one?

Ok… that’s misleading… there is only one Turkey in here - the other one is commendable. Here are two stories worth checking out:

STORY #1

From last week… Melissa Clark at NBC 10 News (KTVE) in West Monroe, LA, did a great piece about the undercover officers at work in the Louisiana-Arkansas-Mississippi tri-state area, specifically in Ouachita Parish. There is no video, but the story is a good read: Ark-La-Miss Internet Predator Sting.

STORY #2

Now, here’s a story about a great bill with a MAJOR flaw - that apparently passed the House. While the bill (H.R. 4134, proposed by California Democrat Linda Sanchez and passed by voice vote last week) has a great intent, it has an outrageous flaw: it aims to channel $25 million over five years to ONE provider of online safety materials – the Carlsbad, Calif.-based i-Safe.

Critics and myself say that the measure is unfair to other child safety organizations and could impede competition and promote mediocrity in the field, such as our PC Pandora-based initiatives. Givng this one company that much power and control is dangerous – not to mention this is incredibly similar to a Haliburton situation. Everyone deserves a slice of the pie, espeically ones (like us) that have so much to offer. This bill, the way it is set up, is a slap in the face to other companies (like ours) and is a bad move between poliotics and business, rieking of backdoor payments.

You can read the cNet newsblog by Stefanie Olsen here: Controversy brews over online kids safety bill.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving everyone — and know where your kids are goig Friday night!

Wow. I am in absolute shock. I have never heard of this story before, but it is in the news again.

Mom: Web Hoax Led Girl To Kill Herself is an AP article by Betsy Taylor. Please read it.

The gist is that 13-year-old Megan Meier (who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder) made friends with a “Josh” on MySpace and talked with him for over a month. Then, “Josh” abruptly ended the friendship, telling Megan he had heard she was cruel. The next day Megan committed suicide…

Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan’s!!!!

To make this worse – the reason it is in the news again – is because the woman who created the fake profile has not been charged with a crime! This crime apparently does not fit anywhere into the law. It’s a loophole. And as a result, a child is dead and a family has been torn apart (parent’s are divorcing). However, law enforcement is refusing to “close” the case and will continue to act on evidence as it surfaces.

Two things I must say here:

1. The article says that Megan’s mother monitored her daughter’s online communications – but I think it was an action that took place too late. This is a case of why it is essential to fully monitor teenage activity on the Internet (see our PC Pandora). In addition – DO NOT let your younger teens have a MySpace or Facebook account. They literally can be deadly.

2. I speak for everyone here when I say our hearts and thoughts go out to the Meier family… [rant] and I hope the parents responsible for this heinous act are caught, prosecuted and have their families ripped apart. You are all worthless degenerate disgusting human beings and I hope you a long, slow, torturous fate…

Absolutely disgusting…

[/rant]

I’ve known about some of these bills for a while, but here they are in the news. They are going through the House and still need to be considered by the Senate.

[Courtesy of the AP]

The bills would make it easier to monitor and prosecute cyber crimes against juveniles and to educate children about online dangers. According to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., law enforcement has identified nearly 500,000 individuals trafficking in child pornography over the Internet, but because of a lack of resources, only about 2 percent are under investigation.

Rep. Wasserman Schultz is the sponsor of a bill that would approve spending $1 billion over the next eight years to combat online child exploitation. It would also create a Justice Department office to coordinate prosecution efforts, increase money for a program that helps state and local law enforcement, and provide more dollars to hire agents and improve forensic lab capabilities dedicated to child exploitation cases. It passed 415-2.

Other bills would:

Each bill here was proposed by a Democrat but as you can see, accepted universal acceptance. It is sinking in that our nation’s children need to be protected from the scumbags that use the Internet to prey on them.

While the Gov’t is fighting from this side, it is up to parents to fight from the inside (incidentally that is the title of a great Queen song). Parents are responsible for what their child does and whom they talk to online. If they aren’t doing their job in the home, then the battle is already lost. Check out PC Pandora… and check up on your kids.

I love articles like THIS that downplay the online threat… Sure being abducted is a slim chance, but so is being in a fatal car accident – and they happen every day. You may have a slim chance of getting hit by lightning or winning the lottery, but it still happens. Therefore, it must stay on the radar.

And how much do we really trust that teens are telling the truth about being contacted??

Bottom line is that kids are kids and they need protection. And guess what - parents are responsible. Not lawmakers, friends or organizations… PARENTS!!

And parents, part of being responsible is not believing the hype… but also not fully believing everything your child tells you about their online adventures. Let’s face it, teens are going to lie. But you should still know everything your kid does online – while walking that fine line of great parenting and letting the child retain some privacy, of course.

PC Pandora is a fantastic tool to let you do just that. You can monitor everything your child does, and intervene when necessary. But the most important thing is that you will have a great peace of mind for less than $50!

Let me start by saying I have a few issues with perverted justice. Past blogs I have written have praised them for the job their doing. Yes, thanks for helping clean the ‘baddies’ off the Net… But I have also heard rumors of questionable practices and entrapment.

Google it.

All that aside, this REALLY pisses me off. This is old news, but just came across my desk… Read this: PERVERTED PAYDAY

According to documents Xavier Von Erck, the founder of online vigilante group Perverted Justice, has filed with the IRS, he is seeking tax-exempt status for the organization. You may say, fine – so be it. But when you learn that Von Erck himself pulls down a cool $120,000 per year – well, when was the last time any member/employees of any level of any non-profit group pulled in THAT much.

It doesn’t stop there, he also expects to be paid a total of nearly $2 million by NBC through next year in “consulting fees” for Perverted Justice’s role in setting up stings of functionally retarded creeps for Dateline’s “To Catch a Predator” series. In fact, NBC paid Perverted Justice $802,520 last year for the seven stings it conducted, roughly $115,000 per sting.

There’s more in the article, but the bottom line is they make a lot of money by performing what is an obvious payable service. Why are they applying for tax exemption? Something is fishy here…

This story came out last week, but it nonetheless is still current. If you want to know why it’s essential to protect your own kids and not to rely on others, this is a perfect example.

This is according to an AP article that can be found here: Porn Charge for Children’s Museum Worker

Robert A. Singer is the chief operating officer of the National Children’s Museum in Washington. He was arrested Tuesday on child pornography charges, accused of using his work computer to send explicit images to others, including an undercover New York City detective posing as a 33-year-old mother and her 12-year-old daughter.

The images sent from Singer’s museum computer depicted sexual acts between minors and adults. Singer also sent the daughter two images with instructions to “just delete it when you are done.” Singer also exchanged images with other people while sending the pornography to the detective in August and September.

Singer was charged with five counts of distributing child pornography in interstate commerce. He was detained Tuesday (Nov. 6th) pending a bail hearing later in the week (I have note heard further on the case). If convicted, he could face a prison term of up to 40 years on the most serious charges.

To make my original point, THIS guy works with children. If you can’t trust those that are around children all day, how could you expect strangers to protect your kids? Parents: it’s up to you. PROTECT YOUR OWN KIDS! PC Pandora monitoring software may be the best thing you could do to protect your family from online threats. We actually just released version 5 with more improvements that make it easier than every to know what your kids are up to online… There is no reason to not invest in this peace of mind!!