Archive for November, 2008

Wacky Internet Predator Wednesday – Vol. 24

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

Just one Internet predator arrested in the past week. I guess that is good news for thanksgiving… or is it? The one guy that was caught? A 24-year-old former church music leader in Ohio. He was indicted by grand jury on a charge of arranging a sexual encounter with someone who he thought was a [...]

New Study Says: Internet = Good for Kids

Monday, November 24th, 2008

A new study by the MacArthur Foundation has come out stating that the Internet is good for kids, mostly for their socializing skills. This is the most extensive U.S. study on teens and their use of digital media and it shows that America’s youth are developing important social and technical skills online – often in [...]

Cyberbullies Get a Free Pass?

Friday, November 21st, 2008

I came across this interesting article from Canada. The basis of the article is the claim from Bill Belsey, an Alberta elementary school teacher and founder of the website bullying.org (who also organized this week’s national Bullying Awareness Week campaign), who says that cellphone companies and Internet service and content providers are paying only lip [...]

Students and Teachers Lack Basic Cyber Security Education

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

I don’t understand how this can still be the case today. A new study shows that, basically, teachers are uncomfortable and unprepared to talk to their kids about cyber safety. Furthermore, most districts have no mandates in place that make internet safety courses a part of the curriculum. Taken from the one-page fact sheet: The [...]

Wacky Internet Predator Wednesday #23

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Quick round up today of only three perverts busted in the last week for trying to solicit kids online. Of course, these guys will continue to try hard in their quest, but parents can make sure their kids are safe by talking to them and monitoring their internet activity with PC Pandora monitoring software. Here’s [...]

Keep Internet Predators Away From Your Kids By Being Proactive And Staying Vigilant

Monday, November 17th, 2008

Internet predators are real. Very real. Sadly, many people want you to believe they are not a threat. Some self-proclaimed “experts” like to downplay the threat, say it’s over-hyped and even accuse of fear mongering. But the truth is that the threat is not exaggerated. They are out there and they are trying to lure [...]

Florida Goes on the Offense Against Cyberbullying

Friday, November 14th, 2008

Last spring the state Legislature of Florida passed a law that requires every school district in the state to have a strict bullying and harassment policy in place by Dec. 1 that meets state guidelines. Slowly but surely, districts are complying. This is great news on one hand… yet sad on the other. Do kids [...]

Our New Friends: StopInternetPredators.org

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

Well, the nasty Internet predators must have been especially slick this past week, as I have no reports to relay for my Wacky Internet predator Wednesday round-up… I do, however, have some news to share relating to the perverts that troll the web looking for kids to solicit. I am very excited and couldn’t be [...]

2 of Our New Friends, a Good Resource and a New Friend

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

I thought I’d take the time today to go over a few of the new solid friendships we’ve formed in the last several months. The first one is the duo of “Bill & Dave”… or “Dave & Bill.” They have founded a number of online groups all aimed at encouraging people to be safe when [...]

Son Attacks Mom Over MySpace

Monday, November 10th, 2008

All I’m saying here is I never heard of a story when I was a kid of some kid trying to kill his parents because they took away his GI Joes. Yet more fuel for the ‘you have to know what your kids are doing online’ fire. If your kids are seriously addicted to a [...]

Wacky Internet Predator Wednesday – No. 22

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

What a crazy week… We made history by electing the first African American president, and in the last week 16 Internet predators have been busted across the country! A 49-year-old New York man thought he was sending sexually explicit video of himself to a 14-year-old boy in Lorain County (Ohio), but learned Tuesday he had [...]

HAPPY VOTING DAY!!!

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

The day has finally arrived and history will be made today. We will elect either the oldest President ever and first female Vice President, or the first African American President soon. A smart person once told me there are two things you NEVER talk about with strangers: religion and politics. However, I feel compelled to [...]

How To Ensure Internet safety Of Your Kids: Teach Them How To Be A Responsible CyberCitizen And Monitoring Internet Activity

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

Child Internet safety is huge these days, and rightly so. But there are a lot of folks that claim the issue is being over-hyped and overblown with fear mongering. I don’t understand how that can be true. The bottom line is that the ‘chip’ on the gambling table is your child’s safety and life. Why [...]