Pandora’s Blog

Gino Cosme’s blog called my attention to this (big ups my man!). The National Crime Prevention Council partnered with Sony Creative Software and the Ad Council to create “Delete Cyberbullying,” a public advertising campaign aimed at preventing cyberbullying. Part of this overall campaign was Cyberbullying PSA Development Contest.

Visit the NCPC’s Delete Cyberbullying page for more info on Cyberbullying and a few more videos, and visit Sony’s winners page for more info on the winners.

But , most uimportanlty, make sure you watch these two videos! Show them to your kids, start a discussion, and invest in PC Pandora monitorig software to make sure yoru kids don’t fall victim – or worse, become bullies – to this social malady.

“School” category
Winner: Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary
San Antonio, Texas
Instructor: Marvin Jimenez
Title: “Words Sometimes Really Do Hurt”

“Independent Producer” category
Winner: Josh Bourgeois
Thibodaux, Louisiana
Title: “Illuminate Cyberbullying”

The Herald reports on a survey that shows that 28% of 11-18 year olds have visited an adult site and 11% have had a sexually explicit chat online. Not that staggering when you consider the accessibility and the drive of your average teen.

But it’s still something to recognize. And it’s a reminder that parents need to monitor their child’s Internet activity. And guess what, the easiest best tool on the market is available for less than a tank of gas (less than HALF a tank for you SUV-driving suckers out there): PC Pandora monitoring and parental control software

One in 10 children has sexually explicit chats online, says survey
By Josie Clarke, The Herald, Scotland

More than one in 10 UK children has had sexually explicit conversations online, according to a report released today.

More than one-quarter of 11 to 18-year-olds (28%) have visited adult websites, while 11% of the same age group had been involved in explicit chats.

The Mobile Life survey for the Carphone Warehouse found 27% of young people had interacted with strangers online and 10% had met someone in person that they originally met on the web.

The poll of 6000 adults and children in the UK and the US found one in seven UK children (14%) admitted having felt uncomfortable in online situations.

It revealed half of UK children (49%) lied to their parents about what they were doing online, often pretending to do homework when they were surfing the net or on social networking sites.

One in three (33%) admitted they would be in trouble if their parents knew what they were looking at online. The study found a significant difference between what parents thought their children were doing online and the reality.

The majority of parents (87%) believed they were fully aware of the content their children accessed, while 86% were confident their children would not do anything they disapproved of.

Most had not checked their children’s online history, but 26% of those who had found something they were unhappy with. One-tenth of parents said their children had reported worrying online incidents.

Despite parents’ concerns about online safety, more than half (55%) said the Internet had vastly improved their life and access at home was as essential as a fridge or cooker.

TV psychologist Dr Tanya Byron, who contributed suggestions to the report to help parents discuss the Internet with children, said: “The key is for parents to treat online safety the same way they approach other danger areas.

“Would you let your children learn how to cross the road via trial and error? No, you teach them the Green Cross Code. Now, with the increasing importance of wireless technology, we must all learn and teach the Online Safety Code.”

Her suggestions include parents learning how to set privacy settings on home computers, telling children never to give details to strangers and to limit personal data on social networking sites and teaching children how to report abuse or offensive material.

Andrew Harrison, UK chief executive of the Carphone Warehouse, said: “We’re committed to researching the best ways to keep children safe online and hope our new findings will encourage parents to speak openly with their children about the internet.”

The long awaited Cox Communications National Summit on Internet Safety happened this week. There was lots of news about it. Cox Communications and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) held the third annual summit in Washington D.C. Children’s advocate John Walsh and Lauren Nelson, Miss America 2007 joined and presented findings.

The findings are interesting, but not shocking. Below I have pasted the official corporate press release. Also, this story – How Safe Are Your ‘Tweens’ Online? from pcmag.com – is the best one I found that covers the summit. Give it a read as well.

As you look at these statistics and wonder about your own child, don’t forget the monitoring software like our PC Pandora can help you keep YOUR kid safe online from both predators and cyberbullying… and even their own naiveté.

Happy Friday

Third Annual Cox Communications National Summit on Internet Safety Provides Key Information for Protecting Children Online; Children’s Advocate John Walsh and Lauren Nelson, Miss America 2007, Help Explore Tweens’ Online Behavior

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Cox Communications and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children(R) (NCMEC) held the third annual Cox Communications National Summit on Internet Safety today in Washington D.C. Sixteen students from Cox communities nationwide participated in discussions on Internet safety led by children’s advocate John Walsh and Lauren Nelson, Miss America 2007.

This year’s Summit focused on the online behaviors of tweens, children between the ages of 8 and 12, and was inspired by the results of the Cox Tween Internet Safety Survey. For access to the complete survey results, fast-facts culled from the findings, photos and b-roll from the Summit please visit www.safeteensonline.com .

“I have worked at the Boys & Girls Club in Orange County since I was sixteen, and I always work with the tweens,” said Navid Rastin, 18, one of the summit participants. “I can tell how hard it is for them to make friends. Social networks are a place where they look for friends, but they find a lot of peer pressure there, and they do a lot of crazy things, including posting inappropriate pictures. It’s all about self-esteem.”

Again this year, discussion at the Summit covered a mix of encouraging and troubling news revealed by the most recent survey on Internet safety. Key findings from the survey released today are:

• 90% of tweens report having used the Internet by 9 years old.
• Tweens online presence doubles or even triples between the ages of 8 to 10 and 11 to 12.
• 34% of 11 and 12-year-olds have a profile on a social networking site. Tweens with social networking profiles post more personal information online.
• More than 1 in 5 (20%+) tweens post information about themselves online, including pictures, the city they live in and how old they are. 27% of tweens ages 11 to 12 admit to posting a fake age online.
• 28% percent of tweens have been contacted over the Internet by someone they don’t know.
• The percentage of tweens that tell parents “a lot” or “everything” they do online drops rapidly with age. Only 69% of 11 to 12-year-olds tell Mom and Dad a lot/everything versus 86% of 8-year-olds to 10-year-olds.
• Of tweens who have been contacted online by someone they don’t know (28%), 18% keep the messages to themselves, and 11% percent have chatted with the unknown person.

“Our first line of defense in keeping kids safe is parents and guardians, and most parents seem to be taking this responsibility seriously,” said John Walsh, host of “America’s Most Wanted” (FOX). “73% of the tweens who participated in our survey indicated that Mom and Dad had talked to them ‘a lot’ about Internet safety. The remaining 27% represents too many kids to leave unprotected when there are people out there who have the compulsion to commit horrible acts. Each child with Internet access must learn as much about safety as possible. The stakes are just too high,” he said.

Lauren Nelson also shared her own personal experience in an effort to raise awareness about the dangers for children on the Internet. “When I was thirteen, my friends and I made the bad decision to share personal information on the Internet with someone we later learned meant to harm us,” said Nelson. “We told him our names, ages and where we lived. Thankfully, we told our parents about what we had done, and nothing bad happened to any of us, but not all kids are this lucky. Tweens share a lot with their parents, but start to keep things to themselves as they mature; parents need to understand this and do their best to keep the lines of communication open.”

Tomorrow, Walsh and Nelson will also discuss the survey and implications for families live in local broadcast television and radio interviews, and they will also be available via Web cast from 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. EDT to answer questions about Internet safety and discuss the teen survey in greater detail. To view the Web cast, go to http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=49596®d=n

Also tomorrow, the tweens are headed to Capitol Hill where they will meet with Senators and Representatives from their respective states in an effort to bring awareness to the issue of Internet safety. During more than twenty-five separate meetings, the tweens will speak one-on-one with Senators and Representatives including: Shelley Berkeley (D-NV), John Boozman (R-AR), Rick Boucher (D-VA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), John Kyl (R-AZ), Blanche Lincoln (D-AK), Charlie Melancon (D-LA), Jeff Miller (R-FL), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Mike Ross (D-AR), Jon Porter (R-NV), Jack Reed (D-RI), Harry Reid (D-NV), Lee Terry (R-NE), David Vitter (R-LA), Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH), Jim Webb (D-VA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

The Tween Summit is an extension of Cox Communications’ ongoing Take Charge! initiative (www.cox.com/takecharge), which helps parents, guardians and kids make smarter media decisions. The Teen Summit will air on Cox’s local cable channels nationwide starting later this summer.

About Cox Communications: Cox Communications is a multi-service broadband communications and entertainment company with 6.2 million total residential and commercial customers. The third-largest cable television company in the United States, Cox offers an array of advanced digital video, high-speed Internet and telephony services over its own nationwide IP network. Cox Business is a full-service, facilities-based provider of communications solutions for commercial customers, providing high-speed Internet, voice and long distance services, as well as data and video transport services for small to large-sized businesses. Cox Media offers national and local cable advertising in traditional spot and new media formats, along with promotional opportunities and production services. Cox Communications wholly owns and operates the Travel Channel. More information about the services of Cox Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at www.cox.com, www.coxbusiness.com, and www.coxmedia.com.

About Cox Communications’ Take Charge: Cox’s research on teen Internet safety from the last three years, online safety tools and tips, and links to NCMEC and other sources are available at www.cox.com/TakeCharge. Cox’s Take Charge program was launched in 2004 to educate parents and guardians about the importance of Internet safety and to help families get the most out of mass media in the home. It provides scores of resources to help parents and guardians manage what their children see, and don’t see, on TV and the Internet — from instructions on setting parental controls, to a guide to the lingo teens use online, to tips for more constructive conversations between parents and kids. Teaching young children and teens how to stay safer online is a major element of the Take Charge program, thanks in part to Cox’s partnership with NetSmartz.com, a collaboration between NCMEC and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Cox has donated more than $30 million worth of advertising time to NetSmartz and NCMEC to encourage safer online behavior among children. Cox’s Take Charge site will be updated with the complete 2008 tween research findings at the conclusion of the summit.

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC): The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984, the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children’s hotline, which has handled more than 2.2 million calls. It has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 128,000 children. The organization’s CyberTipline has handled more than 600,000 reports of child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim Identification program has analyzed 15,000,000 child pornography images and videos. The organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. To learn more about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit its web site at www.missingkids.com.

SOURCE Cox Communications; http://www.safeteensonline.com

Last Thursday, Oprah repeated a story on Justin Berry. The original airdate was Feb 2006, but this rebroadcast was the first time I had seen or heard of this story. Thus, it’s worth discussing here…

Justin was an average 13-year-old honor student. One day, as the Internet was still blossoming, his friend brought over a webcam. Justin was impressed and got one for himself. The self-proclaimed “computer nerd” decided to join – as Oprah said – “an internet site where kids post profiles of themselves hoping to connect with each other” – aka social network site.

Almost instantly he got messages from other members. He had joined the site hoping to meet girls… instead, he unknowingly met a world of manipulative sexual predators and pedophiles.

What started out as friendly conversations with his webcam, turned into odd requests from his online friends. It started with ‘take your shirt off for $50’. The pedophiles helped him set up a paypal account and even an Amazon.com wishlist and would pay him and send him gifts as he continued to fulfill requests. Each request was another step forward… leading to full nudity and explicit sexual acts – alone and with others – on camera.

His mom had no clue. Ironically, she worked with kids who were sexually abused as her profession. She had installed software, but he circumvented it. [NOTE: this was old school filtering. Not any monitoring software. We pride ourselves in making PC Pandora so stealthy that no kids will ever know its running on the machine unless you mess up and let them know.]

When Justin was 16, pictures of him leaked out into his high school. He decided to move to Mexico with his father. This wonderful father of Justin’s only offered to help further his online child porn business and maximize the income when he learned of his son’s activity.

From about age 14 to 18, Justin owned and operated several different subscription-based professionally designed (with the help of his online friends) pornographic sites, where he was the star. He competed with other kids in the business, became addicted to cocaine and marijuana, and made lots of money while losing his childhood and teenage innocence.

When Justin turned 18, he continued to run his site and effectively went from victim to perpetrator. Not only that, but he basically hired other kids and got them into the business. He was a bonafide child porn king.

Then he met Kurt Eichenwald, a New York Times reporter who came across Justin’s pictures while working abroad on an entirely different story. He asked to meet Justin and slowly but surely convinced him to shut down the site, stop doing drugs (he was a full blown addict) and go to the authorities… he did. And the rest is now an FBI case and investigation.

You can read the full New York Times article written by Eichenwald that exposed this terrible side of the Internet in December 2005: Through His Webcam, a Boy Joins a Sordid Online World. It’s long and a bit older, but PLEASE READ IT.

What parents need to take away and understand here is that as much as he is a victim, he also consented to everything… On several occasions, he actually took plane trips to visit his “online friends” in various states and locations. Each time, he was repeatedly molested, then went home and carried on. He didn’t stop.

The argument here is that he is a victim because adults manipulated him. That may be the case and that is certainly a part of it… but another part is the inability of this common current-generation teen to distinguish between what is and what is not appropriate on the Internet - not knowing or conceiving of a world without it where not everyone is nice and anonymity doesn’t transpire. Remember, he turned on the PC each time. He gladly accepted money and gifts. [It's also worth noting he even tried several times himself to stop, but he couldn’t.]

What parents need to understand is that all kids are like this. It’s not the parents’ fault; it’s not he kids’ fault. It’s nature. It’s the reason our children need our protection form the dangers in the world that they will not recognize themselves. It’s a reason why parents need to be there and be active in their child’s life - to teach them and show them what is appropriate and what is not, so that in the event they are given this path – they will be able to say no on their own. Justin was young. The predators got to him and were successful. But parents everywhere can stop this from happening to their kids. They just need to be active. Justin’s mom openly said her son was being secretive in his room and would ‘x’ out of Internet sites when she walked in. If just ONCE she had been forceful and demanded to see what he was doing she would have discovered the truth.

Though this story is old and, yes, I will freely admit it is an EXTREME SCENARIO case – it is nonetheless a reminder that kids are kids. They can be manipulated by sickos online and without realizing what they are doing they will consent. (FYI: I do argue that there is a huge difference between a 13-year-old who is methodically groomed and 16-year-old who wants to live a promiscuous lifestyle.)

Parents need to be there to protect kids from both Internet predators – and their own innocence, which can turn to teenage stupidly in the blink of an eye. Parents need to monitor computer activity of their kids. Period. This is a whole new ballgame and it’s a whole new mentality of youth.

Use PC Pandora in your home to know exactly what your kids are doing online. Know whom they are talking to and where they are going. The virtual world is quickly melding with the real one, and consequences and ripples from each carry over into one another. You cannot afford to just let your kids roam the Internet without knowing what they do. PC Pandora monitoring software can be your eyes and ears. It’s a matter of personal safety… not spying or snooping. It’s called being a parent and letting your child know that you are the boss and you are going to protect them by any and all means necessary, which includes not letting them do stupid things that can haunt them later in life… or worse, end it prematurely.

I guess that’s enough of a rant. Again, the article is long and older, but please read it. We can always use a reminder… Oh yeah, and one last thing… for Pete’s sake people: DO NOT LET YOUR KIDS HAVE WEBCAMES INTHEIR BEDROOMS!!!!

Through His Webcam, a Boy Joins a Sordid Online World

Last year, the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health ranked Internet Safety as the 7th most important thing to parents. I did a blog post here; and here is a quick recap of the Top 10:

1. Smoking
2. Drug abuse
3. Childhood obesity
4. Alcohol abuse
5. Motor vehicle accidents
6. Teen pregnancy
7. Internet safety
8. School violence
9. Sexually transmitted infections
10. Abuse and neglect

This year’s poll findings show that Internet safety has moved up to #5. And while school violence was last year’s #8, we see actual “Bullying” on the list for the first time this year as #4! This is HUGE. Rightly so, bullying is placed above ‘Internet predators’. But it speaks volumes to the fact that the dangers on the Internet are playing a bigger role in teenage lives and in parental woes.

And, hey, it’s yet more proof that parents need to be monitoring computer and internet activity of their kids. That’s why we make PC Pandora monitoring software. Every parent should be able to know what their child is doing so they can protect them from dangers and threats online.

Anyway, Here’s the full article. It’s a great Friday read!

Obesity ranks as top health concern for kids, poll finds
Published: Monday, 14-Jul-2008 in Child Health News

As children’s waistlines continue to grow, so have concerns about childhood obesity. According to a report released today by the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, childhood obesity is now the No. 1 health concern for kids in 2008, topping smoking and drug abuse. In 2007, childhood obesity ranked third among parents’ top 10 overall health concerns for kids.

“The National Poll on Children’s Health report clearly shows that adults in America are very concerned about the problem of childhood obesity and its causes,” says Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the National Poll on Children’s Health. “While recent studies have suggested that the childhood obesity epidemic may be leveling off, the results of this poll reveal that adults in the U.S. are still very much concerned about this issue.”

The National Poll on Children’s Health, which asked adults to rate 20 different health problems for children living in their communities, reveals that bullying also now ranks among the public’s top concerns for children’s health, ahead of teen pregnancy and alcohol abuse. Other new topics added to this year’s list are Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and environmental toxins. Also making the public’s overall list of top 10 health concerns for kids in 2008: Internet safety, abuse and neglect, sexually transmitted infections, and lack of opportunities for physical activity for kids. The top 10 health concerns for 2007 that did not make this year’s list: Motor vehicle accidents and school violence.

Top 10 overall health concerns for U.S. children in 2008

1. Childhood obesity. Thirty-five percent of adults ranked childhood obesity as their top overall health concern for children. In 2007, it was ranked No. 3. Although other research has shown that Hispanic youth are at greater risk for obesity, this problem was rated lower by Hispanic adults than white adults and black adults.
2. Drug abuse. Drug abuse is viewed as a bigger health concern among Hispanic adults (50 percent) than white adults (29 percent) and black (35 percent) adults. It also was more likely to be listed as a top health concern among adults with lower incomes.
3. Smoking. Ranked No. 1 in 2007, smoking now holds the No. 3 position in 2008, with 32 percent of U.S. adults rating it as a major overall health concern. Among Hispanic adults, however, smoking is still rated as the No. 1 health concern for kids (52 percent).
4. Bullying. New to this year’s list, bullying was rated highly by both adults with and without children in their homes. Adults from middle-income households were more likely than adults with lower-income or higher-income households to rate bullying as big problem.
5. Internet safety. Adults with household incomes of $100,000 or more per year were more likely to view Internet safety as a big problem for children in their community. Overall, 27 percent of adults polled rated Internet safety as big health concern for kids.
6. Child abuse and neglect. This issue, which was ranked No. 10 in 2007, was rated as a top health concern for kids among 25 percent of adults polled.
7. Teen pregnancy. Black adults continue to rate teen pregnancy as the top health concern for youth in their community, with 35 percent reporting it’s a major health concern compared with only 21 percent of white adults and 33 percent of Hispanic adults.
8. Alcohol abuse. For the 2008 poll, 23 percent of adults listed alcohol abuse as a health concern for kids. In 2007, alcohol abuse was ranked fourth overall.
9. (tie). Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. AD/HD, also new to this year’s list, was a much greater concern among adults with low-income households than adults with middle-income and high-income households. Overall, 21 percent of adults polled rated it as a health concern for kids. Sexually transmitted infection. Sexually transmitted infections among youths continue to be considered a big problem affecting children’s health, with 21 percent of adults rating it as a top health concern. This issue also was ranked ninth in 2007.
10. (tie). Chemicals in the environment. The issue of environmental toxins was added to this year’s list, largely due to concerns among Hispanic adults and adults with low-income households. More than 30 percent of Hispanic adults and 25 percent of adults in the lowest income group felt environmental toxins in their communities pose a threat to children’s health. Not enough opportunities for physical activity. “Having this issue among the 2008 top 10 health concerns underscores the importance placed on childhood obesity as a major problem in adults’ minds,” notes Davis. Nineteen percent of adults rated this issue as a top health concern.

Issues that did not rank among the top 10 overall health concerns, but were included in the National Poll on Children’s Health include: driving accidents, depression, asthma, eating disorders, neighborhood safety, school violence, autism and suicide.

The National Poll on Children’s Health also found that adults who did not have children in their households were more likely than parents to list drug abuse, smoking and tobacco use, Internet safety, and sexually transmitted infections as top health concerns. Additionally, adults from low-income households (less than $30,000 per year) viewed drug abuse, smoking and tobacco use, and teen pregnancy as the biggest health concerns for kids. Adults, however, with higher household incomes (more than $100,000 per year) were more likely to rate obesity, Internet safety and drug abuse as major issues.

“We found multiple difference in the priority of health problems for kids in the minds of adults by race, ethnicity, income or some other characteristic. What this tells us is that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ public health approach to these issues,” says Davis, associate professor of general pediatrics and internal medicine at the U-M Medical School, and associate professor of public policy at the U-M Gerald R. Ford School of Public Health. “So as doctors, nurses and public health officials work to find ways to help their community deal with health issues, it’s important that they remember to tailor their approach to the priorities of the community.”

For its report, the National Poll on Children’s Health used data from a national online survey conducted in April 2008 in collaboration with Knowledge Networks Inc. The survey was administered to a random sample of 2,064 adults, ages 18 and older, who are a part of Knowledge Network’s online KnowledgePanelSM. The sample was subsequently weighted to reflect U.S. population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. About three-fourths of the sample were households with children.

For the complete report and podcast about poll results, visit the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health online at www.med.umich.edu/mott/npch.

The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health - funded by the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases and part of the CHEAR Unit at the U-M Health System - is designed to measure major health care issues and trends for U.S. children.

To learn more about Knowledge Networks, visit www.knowledgenetworks.com.

http://www.umich.edu

So, after I posted yesterday, I got headlines of FIVE more predator stories. Usually, if stuff comes in after I post, I hold it until the following week. But this was just too many to hold on to… AND, the last one is probably my all time favorite; file it under the “I couldn’t make this up if I tried” category.

• A 28-year old New Jersey man was arrested for luring a 13-year-old girl he met on MySpace. The girl’s parents found out about the relationship and called police. Oh yeah, before he was arrested, the girl had met him several times for consensual sex.
• A 15-year-old girl met a 34-year-old man on MySpace in Indiana. Girl lied and said she was 20 in her profile, and then said she was 15 later. Turns out the guy served 11 years for attempted rape of 2 little girls. Now, 15-year-old is crying “victim”, even though she knowingly went to a church to meet him, got in his van, and drove to a different location to have sex. She is not claiming rape… she consented.
• In Pennsylvania, a 49-year-old man was busted in an Internet sting for soliciting what he though were 13 and 14-year-old girls for sex. Oops! It was the cops instead!
• A 52-year-old former federal officer in Louisiana was sentenced this week for enticing, who he thought was a young girl online, to perform sexual acts over the computer.

And finally, I couldn’t make this one up… it’s been getting a lot of press lately in the “ironic” news section…

•  33-yearld-old Michigan man was arrested in an Internet predator sting after trying to solicit, what he thought was a 14-year-old girl, for sex. He showed up to meet the “girl” and was wearing – are you ready- a t-shirt that read “World’s Greatest Dad.” Ridiculous.

Just more reasons to use PC Pandora monitoring software to keep your kids safe from sickos like these… and in the consensual cases, keep them safe from themselves! Notice the top two stories involve old man, young girl, MySpace and consensual sex. Still think teens are innocent and shouldn’t be monitored?

It’s long, but fun… please (more…)

THREE POSTS IN ONE DAY! Wow… breaking records here at the PC Pandora blog.

OK, so here is the weekly round-up. While these are all somewhat different cases of “Internet predators” they remain clear cut examples of the ridiculous filth that use the internet for sick intent… and the teens who consent.

• In Iowa a 26-year-old meets a 16-year-old on MySpace. Girl runs away with man. Consent.
• In Phoenix AZ a 23-year-old meets a 15-year-old girl on MySpace. Man travels to girls house and has sex with her while her parents are home! Parents say their daughter was “victimize”… yet apparently she wasn’t screaming, “Get off me,” if you know what I mean… Consent.
• In Portland Oregon, a 28-year-old Portland man who crossed state lines in an attempt to have sex with a 5-year-old girl has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.
• In Connecticut a registered sex offender is facing criminal charges after he allegedly used a MySpace.com account to meet young men.

More reasons to use PC Pandora monitoring software to keep your kids safe from sickos like these… and in the consensual cases, keep them safe from themselves!

Read on… (more…)

Even though the research data is from 3-8 years ago, it shows a huge problem here in the states and emphasizes the use and impact of the Internet on the current youth population.

Cyberbullying is a huge threat to our kids and our society. This isn’t just a schoolyard bully throwing a few punches and calling someone a “gaylord.” This is kids emotionally destroying (or trying to) their peers, cowardly behind a computer screen, in front of the school, town, state and world… There is no more hometown bully that you can leave behind when you graduate or if you move; actions of cyberbullying follow victims and their families forever.

This is a situation that needs to be dealt with. Parents need to buck up and stop this from happening by teaching kids the proper way to live and behave in a society. You can forget about he environment, the economy and all your religion… if parents don’t want to teach the current young generation how to act like a responsible and respectful citizen, none of the other stuff will matter.

Technology is a tool. It shouldn’t be used as a weapon. PC Pandora monitoring software can be used to make sure your kids aren’t being hurt online or worse – hurting others.

Enough ranting… Here’s the story:

Online Cyber-Bullying Attacks Increased 50 Percent From 2000 To 2005
Vittorio Hernandez, AHN News Writer, July 15, 2008

Concord, NH (AHN) - Cyber-bullying is rising as “netizens” find it easier-and-easier to post photos and videos on social-networking websites and harass victims.

A report by the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes Against Children Research Center says the number of young Americans between the ages 10 to 17 who experienced online harassment increased 50 percent from 2000 to 2005.

The same report said the number of youth who admitted they made rude or nasty remarks to another person using the Internet rose from 14 to 28 percent for the same five-year period.

Corinne David-Ferdon, a health scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lamented the lack of sufficient cyber-bullying research data. Cyber-bullying recently gained national attention after someone posted a video clip on YouTube of five Florida high school girls beating another girl, who previously posted nasty comments about the five girls on MySpace.

Cyber-bullying is worse than face-to-face bullying because “you get a sense that the whole world is being exposed to what is being said to you,” explained Bill Bond of the National Association of Secondary School Principals in USA Today.

Victims of cyber-bullying have been driven to so much shame that some have committed suicide.

To address the abuse of social networking sites, Facebook joined 49 states and the District of Colombia in crafting a new safety deal that agreed on 11-point safety features. The agreement includes removal of Facebook Groups dedicated to incest, pedophilia, cyber-bullying and other topics that violate the portal’s terms of service.

Here’s a headline from over the weekend… The Canadian Teachers’ Federation has voted unanimously to ratify their policy on cyberbullying, saying that the issue is seriously out of control.

It kind of is here in the states as well. In fact, it is the new epidemic – by far. While lots of it can be considered youthful hazing, and many kids are smart enough to just ignore it (realizing that unless you are a total loser, nothing and no one in your first 18 years of life will matter when you graduate)… but there are those extreme cases where serious emotional damage is done to victims and families.

So how would you know I your child was engaged in cyberbullying? And I don’t mean just being a victim… how would you know if they were an instigator?

As parents, one of our duties is to make sure our children know how to contribute to and participate in society, respectfully and cooperatively in a way that will move the human race forward. Picking on people, viciously and cowardly behind a screen name, does not fit into the overall plan. It’s ridiculous and unnecessary… “Treat others as you want to be treated.”

That’s why parents need to be monitoring Internet activity of their kids. Software like PC Pandora can help. If your child is a victim and not telling you, you will find out and be able to talk to them – plus you’ll have all the evidence. If your child happens to be one of the cowardly spineless bullies, you need to put a stop to it.

Here are two stories that I thought were the best (from the onslaught of coverage of the story). I pasted them below. Check ‘em out and give me your thoughts on this issue…

Cyberbullying has become so serious in schools, the teachers federation wants to make it criminal offence
Mike Cooke, 680news, July 12, 2008

The Canadian Teachers’ Federation is pushing for Ottawa to make cyberbullying an offence under the Criminal Code because of its harmful and serious effects.

Text-messaging, chat rooms, email and social networking groups like Facebook are all being used by these bullies to target teachers and students.

Chris Collins, a retired super-intendent of schools, told 680News the biggest problem with cyber-bullying is the fact that it allows bullies to remain anonymous.

“They don’t have to face the person and [...] when you can hide behind anonymity it gives you a far greater scope to do things that are far more serious and far more harmful and it gives the bully protection that they don’t have when they do it face-to-face.”

One of the most high-profile incidents of online bullying happened in 2006 after a 13-year-old Missouri girl hanged herself. She was taunted by a 16-year-old boy on MySpace. The boy later turned out to be a neighbourhood mother in disguise.

Collins explained a lot of people take online bullying to heart. “It’s in black and white, [which] gives it a legitimacy [...] because it’s out there in print. People consider it to be reliable and many people will believe it.”

According to the teacher’s federation, current laws do not provide police the tools they need to investigate online harassment.

The federation is considering a draft policy that provides “explicit protection” for teachers and students against such behaviour.

This police has already been approved by the group’s board of directors and is expected to be supported by delegates at the group’s annual general meeting in Moncton Saturday.

Teachers’ federation adopts policy to criminalize cyberbullying
Helen Morris, Canwest News Service, July 12, 2008

Cyberbullying should be made a separate Criminal Code offence the Canadian Teachers’ Federation said on Saturday as they voted unanimously to ratify their policy on the issue.

“Because it’s (cyberbullying) so new . . . we haven’t caught up and we’re trying to catch up,” said Emily Noble president of the federation.

“Kids go on, say Facebook, and make harassing comments about someone . . . If I_had written you a letter I would be up before the courts for harassment,” said Noble. “People do it online and it’s anonymous.”

The CTF, which represents 220,000 teachers, held a special session on cyberbullying at its annual meeting in Moncton, N.B. The new policy aims to reflect the changing environment for today’s kids.

“It’s (cyberspace) the new playground. We’ve taught the kids in terms of the face-to-face and the physical bullying but this is in fact the new space.”

But Noble said while bullying has always gone on, it is this anonymity that differentiates the cyberbully from the traditional playground thug.

“This use of computers is a new tool . . .We are finding it is much more pervasive because there is an anonymity to it,” she said. “Kids can go online and they can pretend to be somebody else.”

A draft version of the policy said that it should be a punishable offence to use “information and communication technology to convey a message which threatens death or bodily harm or perpetuates fear and intimidation.”

The policy indicates a serious recognition of how common it is now for bullying to be carried out by text messaging, in online chat rooms, on blogs or social networking websites such as Facebook. The idea goes far beyond the expulsions and suspensions that some students have been punished with for bullying fellow students or targeting teachers.

“We will be lobbying the federal government to strengthen any gaps in the criminal code regarding misuse of the Internet,” said Noble.

A spokesperson for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said it’s too early to comment on the CTF’s Criminal Code proposal, but Noble said the federation has already started to talk to members of Parliament and have so far found a receptive audience.

“It is an issue that will resonate, we believe, with the policy-makers and the legislative makers,” she said.

But she said that it could be a challenge to get across to policy-makers the seriousness of the issue.

“One of the major difficulties in terms of the Criminal Code is that we tend to think these are just people on the Internet and it’s fun to play games,” said Noble. “We need to work with the policy-makers to say ‘”this is more than just kids playing video games.”

Shaheen Shariff, an associate professor in the faculty of education at McGill University and an author on cyberbullying, is pleased the organization has finally developed a policy on the matter, but doesn’t think making it a crime will help eliminate it.

“I understand completely their need to come up with a policy,” said Shariff. “I would advise them to please emphasize an educational response; make sure their membership understands that criminalizing this issue ought to be the very, very last resort.”

Giving credit where credit’s due… this story is left over from last week. Kansas Attorney General Stephen Six has unveiled www.NetSafeKansas.com, a new Internet safety Web site that hopes to educate children, teens, parents and others about threats they face online. Each section is age appropriate.

Obviously it’s a work in progress, as the site is pretty bare bones right now – however, it’s a great step and we applaud our Kansas brethren for keeping families safe online in the Sunflower State.

Though we’re not listed on the website, you should know that you can use monitoring software programs like PC Pandora to keep your kids safe online. In addition to all the tip sand educating yourself, know that technology is here to help monitoring your child’s Internet activity – and we are the technology. Check out our PC Pandora 5.0 and see for your self!

Hey, they may not be completely forward thinking in enforcing the teaching of “creationism” and “intelligent design” over actual hard fact and scientific proof, but at least they care about kids on the Internet!

Here’s just one of many stories on this bit of news:

Kansas attorney general visits KCK to unveil new Internet safety site
By Robert A. Cronkleton, The Kansas City Star

Kansas Attorney General Stephen Six unveiled a new Internet safety Web site this afternoon aimed at educating children, teens, parents and others about threats they face online.

“This is a Web site that is going to give Kansas kids and their families tools to use and learn and teach them how to be safe on the Internet,” Six said during a press conference at the Breidenthal Community Center for Youth & Families in Kansas City, Kan.

Earlier Thursday, Six made a similar stop at a Boys & Girls Club in Topeka.

The new Internet site, www.NetSafeKansas.com, has sections for kids, teens, parents and consumers.

“Each of the areas will take you to information that is appropriate for your age group or for whatever your interest is,” Six said.

He said the kids and teens sections provide information that focuses on threats of cyber bullying, cyber stalking and social networking Web sites. Included are tips on how children can protect themselves online and how to report improper or illegal activity on the Internet.

The parents section contains ideas about what to watch for with their children, while the consumer section will have current information on new scams and frauds as well as tips on how consumers can protect themselves, Six said.

“As we have increased convenience from the Internet, unfortunately criminals are using these same avenues to try to inappropriately contact kids and to scam Kansas families and seniors out of their hard-earned money,” Six said.

Six said he plans to renew his efforts to get additional funding to expand his office’s cyber crime unit. He had sought additional funds in late February, however, the Kansas Legislature did not appropriate the funding.

“Prosecution is a challenge because sometimes the perpetrators are in other states or other countries,” Six said. “But if we could get the Legislature to fund a prosecution side of this, I’m confident we could prosecute some people and make it known you can’t do these types of things in Kansas.”