Pandora's Blog

Bob Sullivan at MSNBC did a very length in-depth piece on parents’ misunderstanding of tools available to them to help keep their kids safe online… i.e. monitoring software (have I mentioned PC Pandora is the best?). Unfortunately, he goes to the regurgitating media go-to person, who has schilled for our competitors in the past, but don’t [...]

I haven’t done this in a while. I like to showcase various news reports on the overall issue of safety and offer my ingenious commentary. Hah… Seriously though… below is an excerpt from a great story done by Linda Brees of The Greenville News in lil’ ol’ South Carolinny. This isn’t a rebuttal, as I [...]

Truly sickening. Donald W. Rager, 41, was a part-time police officer in Gurnee, Ill., and owner of a security business, Millcreek Protection Service, in Grayslake, Ill. He was also a former president of the Fraternal Order of Police and his entire life was devoted to protecting the safety of others. This sick piece of dogsh*t [...]

Special Saturday post here because this is timely – the state of PA Attorney General’s office is doing a contest called Operation Safe Surf, to promote Internet safety for Pennsylvania teens. The contest, co-sponsored by Microsoft and Comcast, is part of an initiative to keep kids safe on the Internet and was open to all [...]

I came across this guy’s blog, Dr. Frank Kardasz (ED.D.). According to his blog page, he “is an Arizona peace officer assigned to the investigations of Internet crimes against children.” On the page I have highlighted below, he wrote an excellent piece – based on much research and news articles, not just opinion – on [...]

I thought this was worth posting. A lot of sites have posted this bit of research from the University of Missouri, concerning the communication process that predators use to lure victims into a web of entrapment. Thought it does not have to do specifically with online luring and more with real life encounters, it can easily [...]

The big news today is from Massachusetts where the Supreme Judicial Court said for the first time, on Friday, that sexual predators could be prosecuted for communicating with their potential victims over the Internet. Now, before I paste the article, I want to give you my thoughts: There is a lot of hoopla over the [...]

This is a great story and one that I hope other children of this age will remember: Hampton girl, 12, helps police nab Internet predator From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review A Hampton girl is being credited with bringing an Internet predator to justice — and potentially saving the life of a friend. Jennifer Yeager, 12, a [...]

I thought this was the cutest video ever on Internet safety. It is done by 6th graders and teaches a good lesson: Visit TeacherTube for more videos and blogs and other items covering a variety of topics… You can use the search within the video player to find other videos on Internet safety. Nothing really [...]

So I have decided, subconsciously at first, to do this once a week… when I have pulled together a good amount of stories from around the country to showcase the plethora of sickos arrested, caught or tried every week for trying and in some cases succeeding in having sex with minors they met online. Here [...]

This kind of irks me. It’s legislation like this that, while I agree morally with it, it’s not right and it will jeopardize the ability for the governments to come together and pass rational legislation that will HELP the people. Here’s a story from Indiana that highlights a bill in the stat legislature that basically [...]

Here’s a nice scary thought… Do you live in Virginia? Well, over the last 2½ years, state officials have received (during undercover investigations) 215,197 Internet child pornography transactions from nearly 20,000 private computers … in the state of VA. And you still think Internet predators and child pornography is just a little thing that is [...]

This post isn’t shocking because it shows teens being cruel to each other, though the beating is pretty serious and effed up (why was this girl even friends with these people?)… But it’s more shocking – to me at least – because it demonstrates the value that teens have for MySpace, a pedestal that is [...]

Going to share some great developments in 3 states with you today. 2 are from last Friday, but 1 of them is from this week – and something you may have already heard about. This has been all over the news. The report here has a good video package to accompany: Virginia First State To [...]

I meant to write about this last week, but ran out of time on Friday. For all those that say fears are overblown, I submit the following four stories from Wednesday and Thursday of last week. These are abridged versions of the stories; you can click the links for the full monty: Ohio Cops Help [...]

Earlier this week, the North Country Gazette reported a story about the NY State Senate’s efforts to further increase protections to kids online by taking another whack at would-be predators. Since I live in the state, I have a soft spot for these stories. You can read the full article here: Senate Okays Exploitation Prevention [...]

I came across this Q&A on APP.com with Larry Rosen, professor of psychology at California State University-Dominguez Hills. Rosen has long studied “the Net generation,” the first to grow up with the Internet. I pasted the ENTIRE Q&A below because I think it’s a great take on the issue and has some good information within. [...]

Ripped straight from the headlines… Not an April Fool’s joke… Campton Man Convicted in Internet Sex Case by Geoff Cunningham Jr. of The Citizen of Laconia in New Hapshire This first guy was arrested a while back and just recently convicted of attempting to solicit sex from a person he believed to be a minor [...]