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2010-03-09T08:57:00.001-05:00

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More on ChatRoulette

2010-02-10T16:54:00.004-05:00

Hopefully, by now that you have all digested the initial announcement of the appearance of the new video chat stranger danger. Let's take a step or two back and put this in perspective.

Many times in the past, I've said that for the most part, kids are safe and want to be safe. Indeed, the research backs up my contention. However, the research also points out that there is a small part of the teen population that is at risk. These are the same kids who would be at risk even if the Internet didn't exist.

Beth Martin of Everest Middle School had a talk with her 16 year-old daughter and her friend. She said, "They didn't seem fazed by it. They told me that fact that I was shocked showed how naive I was about the web. Their response was that kids should be smart enough to know not to do that. Wow! That shocked me too. I think they are right about a lot of kids but I think kids on the fringe would try this."

The fact is that when sites like this come along, not only the kids on the fringe, but many mainstream kids will check it out. Curiosity is natural. For most, their curiosity will be quenched and it will quickly fade. However, it is still important to talk to kids about it, but do so by recognizing that most are safe. We have to begin to build a culture based on trust that treats kid as intelligent beings. We have to get them to help each other and held us help the few who might be in danger.

Let them know you realize that only a small group of individuals will be endangered by this kind of site and that THEY know who these kids are. They are the ones in the best position to help. Ask them to be alert to friends who might be hurt by using sites like this. Ask them to help their friends avoid trouble. Ask them to contact a trusted adult if they think someone might be endangering themselves.

It may or may not be effective, but it WILL start building a community of trust and perhaps it will result in at at least one tragedy being avoided. Let's treat our teens as online partners, not naive sheep.

Incidentally, when I went online to check this out. This is what the people on the other end saw. My web camera software does face movement tracking and allows me to overlay (wear) hats, wigs, masks, and distort my face numerous ways.

When kids saw this, one of three things happened.
1) They clicked off immediately
2) They called me a pedophile
3) They gave me a thumbs up.

Chat Roulette: A Gamble We Can Live Without!

2010-02-09T09:27:00.005-05:00

When I first started giving Internet workshops in 1995, there were a few
sites that I used to give people a snapshot of what the web was all about.

The most popular of these sites was called WebRoulette. You would click a button and be taken to a random web site.

But this post is not about WebRoulette. These sites still exist though WebRoulette has long since been bought by a casino site. Random web site generators still exist, but be careful. Some harbor spyware, but this post is not about spyware. It's about the 21st century version iteration of this phenomenon, Random Video Chats.

You read that right. If you go to chatroulette.com and click the start button, your web camera will start up in one window and you will be face to face with a random stranger in another.

I first heard about it in a Facebook post from Kerstein Creative that said, "The most unusual, intriguing, weird, frightening concept in social networking I've read about yet. (Can't say I've seen it, because I'm a little freaked out by it.)" and pointed to this article in the New York Magazine. http://nymag.com/news/media/63663/

After reading the article, I had to check it our for myself. The results were very much as described in the article. Here's a snapshot of what I saw. It really reflects the part of my block description that says "with great latitude given in the definition of human."

In a four minute period I saw 66 males and 7 females mostly in the teens and 20's. There were 22 connections that had their cameras blacked out and 6 "others". Others were cameras pointing at signs, walls, or other object.

The disturbing part was that of the 66 males, 6 were X-rated. There was one set of breasts displayed and unquestionably the most bizarre connection was this one.

Do I even have to say it? A web camera in the hands of an unsupervised teen, is an invitation to trouble. I understand that they might use it to talk to grandma or aunt Tillie, but do you want them talking to this guy? If your child has a web camera, at the very least, have a long talk with them!

NH Proposes Amending Law to Include Cyberbullying

2010-01-19T11:17:00.007-05:00

This is one of those posts where I have to point out that I'm not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV, but it's not going to stop me from putting my opinion out there.

NH House Bill 1523 is designed to provide schools with clout to enforce the state's Public Safety and Violence Prevention Act.

It adds definitions for bullying and cyberbullying and requires schools to set policies and procedures for dealing with it. It also mandates training for staff and the involvement of pupils, parents, administrators, school staff, school volunteers, community representatives, and local law enforcement agencies in the process of developing the policy.

Overall, I think the law will do a good job of addressing the issue. There are some provisions that I really like, and two items that cause me a bit concern.

Having community involvement in the development of policy is an good idea and the inclusion of students in the process even better.

I also love the idea that the law puts the emphasis on staff training, rather than requiring specific curriculum. My stance on this is well documented. Cybersafety and cyberbullying are part of online citizenship which should be naturally infused throughout the cults schools that do what they should be doing, but doesn't prevent parents from suing if policy and procedures are not followed. To many schools make a show of creating policy and then ignore them.

The first thing that concerns me is the requirement of the schools to report incidents to the state. This wouldn't be a bad idea if the state was providing resources, training, and funds to help support the goals of the law, but with out that, it is nothing but additional paperwork and liability placed on already overburdened school.

The next thing gives me concern is the definition that includes a one time incident. It appears to be to be an attempt to deal with incidents like the Megan Meier case, but this will become a rallying point for free speech advocates and possibly a basis for a Constitutional challenge.

Leaving it out wouldn't preclude acting against a single incident. I think the law has enough in it to allow following up on that kind of case. While excluding it wouldn't preclude following up on a single incident that is severe enough, it lessens the likelihood of abusing the law and raising the wrath of free speech organizations.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Education and legislation go hand in hand. One must inform and help the other.

Common Sense Cyber Safety

2010-01-12T18:28:00.003-05:00

The FTC has just launched Netcetera, a fee downloadable publication about Cyber Safety. It's aimed at parents and Teachers and offers good common sense information and advice. They will also send out free printed copies in English or Spanish. No scare tactics or sensationalism here. Just good solid information and advice. You can find out at the FTC http://www2.ftc.gov/opa/2009/12/netcetera.shtm and get it directly from http://www.onguardonline.gov/pdf/tec04.pdf

Internet Safety Technology Task Force Report Commentary

2009-01-17T15:13:00.006-05:00

Hi Folks. As you know, I’m the Educational Technology Director of WiredSafety. WiredSafety was a member of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force (ISTTF) that was formed last year, as part of an agreement between 49 Attorneys General and MySpace. I participated as one member of the WiredSafety team. The views express here are my personal views and not necessarily those of WiredSafety.

The ISTTF was run out of the Berkman Center at Harvard and headed by John Palfry who oversaw the activities of an amazing group of industry leaders, technology experts, Internet safety non-profits, and some of the leading researchers in the country. We were tasked to look into technology measures to keep children safe on social networking sites with a focus on finding reliable age verification technology. The final report was issued on January 14th, with headlines and mixed reactions from all quarters. I’d like to take a few minutes to give you my personal view of the situation at it stands.

If you have read the reports, most of the headlines focus on the finding that the Internet may not be a dangerous as the mainstream media has been presenting it and that cyberbullying and peer to peer confrontations pose more of a risk than sexual predators. The report indicated that most teens who want to be safe are safe, but there is a small population of at-risk youth that can fall prey to predators. In general, it stated that these teens, because of a combination of psychological and family life conditions, would be equally at risk off line as they are online.

Additionally, we concluded that while there were some technologies that provided ways for parents to keep their children safe, there was no technology that would scale up and be effective for the general population. For example, there were biometric devices that would sense physiological characteristics to insure the person using the computer was a child. This is something that an individual parent could do, but hardly something that could be mandated by legislation or implemented on a large scale.

The conclusions had the effect of upsetting some of the Attorneys General who have a quite different and understandable perception that is based on the significant number of arrests made through sting operations. They feel that the ISTTF has presented an erroneous picture of the situation. This is unfortunate, because I feel that a close reading and careful analysis of the report actually shows that both sides are describing very much the same situation from different perspectives.

It is much like the Indian fable of the blind men and the elephant. A group of blind men are asked to describe an elephant. One touches the trunk, one the leg, one the ear, etc. Each person describes the elephant from their personal perspective, but none of them sees the elephant as he is.

Let’s take a closer look at the elephant, or in this case the children who we want to protect. The ISTTF had no accurate way to determine exactly how many youth fell into the at-risk category, but the most commonly used figure was 3% of the online teens. To some that may indeed seem like a small sample, but let’s do some very simple math.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are about 42 million children between the ages of 10 and 19. It is estimated that more than 90% of those teens are online. If 3% of those teens are at risk, that means we have over a million at-risk teens. That number is certainly not in conflict with the arrest figures and the perception of the AG’s. On the other hand it is not in conflict with the idea that cyberbullying and peer to peer interactions are a very serious problem.

Cyberbullying has resulted in suicides and in that larger majority of cases it results in other psychological trauma, absenteeism, physical symptoms and a whole spectrum or reactions. Additionally, it impacts a much larger portion of our youth population. Even the most conservative estimate is that 30% of the youth population suffers from cyberbullying.

At WiredSafety, we conduct thousands of information surveys of students and our figures, because they are done without parent and in unthreatening settings, indicate that 85% of teens have experience or participated in online bullying in the past year.

If we now look at the bullies, the bullied, and the sexual predator victims as a group, all indications (anecdotal) are that the vast majority of sexual predator victims and potential victims are likely to either be cyberbullies or cyberbullying victims. So we aren’t talking apples and oranges here. When we talk about the bullying problem, we find that the potential sexual predator victims are part of that same pool.

The AG’s want and rightly need to focus on getting the predators off-line, The can also work with the industry, parents, community, and educators to deal with the cyberbullying problem which as we know from the Megan Meier case, can become a legal issue.

Government policy makers can put in place legislation that helps identify the at-risk group. Industry can fund and train online moderators and counselors, as well as working with the online community to mobilize and report abuse.

Finally and equally important, it is need for education on all fronts. Parents, teachers, and students, especially those who don’t have online experience and technical savvy, must be aware of the risks, the danger signs, and the appropriate actions to take when they encounter them. While well thought out and effective legislation is important, the real problem is a behavioral one, it is education and intervention that is most needed and will do the most good.

Like the blind men, AG’s and the ISTTF are seeing different parts of the same problem. If combine the views and use it to create a bigger picture, I think we have solid footing from which to move forward with first steps being additional research and an action plan to address the problems.

If you would like to help WiredSafety, please take a few minute to take our online survey.

Thanks!
Art

MyYearbook.com and Megan Meier

2008-05-22T14:55:00.001-04:00

As an organization WiredSafety talks to thousands of teens each month. While no one can actually give an accurate statistic on how pervasive cyberbullying is, our conversations with teens lead us to believe it is more significant than the press leads us to believe. That may seem strange because to this date, the press has done a pretty good job of magnifying the problem of pornography and predators. While cyberbullying seldom results in suicide, Megan Meier's death put the spotlight on cyberbullying.

WiredSafety had been working with Tina Meier, Megan's mother, to launch the Megan Pledge to get teens to begin dealing with the issue on a peer to peer level. Yesterday, MyYearbook.com launched the online Megan Pledge on their home page. People are taking the pledge at the rate of more than 1400 an hour. Of course this rate will slow as all users login. The significant fact is that there are more than 34 pages of comments and many of them are cyberbullying stories. It doesn't take a university researcher to see that this is a serious issue.

Al Capone and Internet Safety

2008-05-16T07:35:00.004-04:00

I'm sure you are all aware of the suicide of 13 year-old Megan Meier, a St. Louis teen who thought she was talking to a 16 year-old boy who was actually an adult neighbor.

Today, the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles announced a four count indictment against, Lori Drew, the adult accused of being instrumental in Megan's death.

I think this is an extremely interesting case for many reasons. If you look closer at the indictment, you realize that there were no cyberbullying or harassment laws in place that could be used to get justice in this case. The US Attorney had to get creative and took a page from the Al Capone prosecution book. While there were laws against what Capone was doing, no one could get the goods on him for murder or other heinous crimes. However, they were able to put him away for tax evasion.

What has happened in the Megan Meier case is that the US Attorney has applied laws that are typically aimed at hackers and used the MySpace Terms of Service as a key portion of the issue. I am sure that this will catch the attention of the ACLU and EEF and you will be hearing charges that this prosecution is too broad and may be leading us down a slippery slope.

I seriously doubt that anyone will be prosecuted for minor violations of TOS as they might suggest. The US Attorney took great pains to emphasize that the decision here was made on the merits of this particular case. It was the death allegedly as a result of the actions of an adult online. That indeed is a serious case and anyone thinking that the US Attorney would be going after someone for anything minor is either delusional or paranoid.

Cudos to the US Attorney for seeking justice for Megan.

I love it when...

2008-04-27T18:15:00.003-04:00

I love it when students write to me about the lessons that I have on the WiredSafety website. Today I got one about my presentation titled, Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts. It said:

HI,
My name is Eva and I listened to this for an assignment. It got me very interested though...

She then went on and asked my advice about a problem she was having with spam, a topic covered in the lesson.

While there is no magic "interest meter" I can attach to my lessons, email such as this is all the feedback I need to be reassured that I'm on the right trail by focusing on Cybersafety through Information Literacy.

Take 5... or is it Take 82,000?

2008-04-24T19:37:00.008-04:00

It seems as if every time you turn on the TV there is a news story about teenagers in trouble because of their online behavior. Everyone is scratching their heads wondering why and wondering what can be done. In part, that will be the topic of an upcoming episode of "Real Talk" with Brenda Blackmon on WOR-TV, My9.

Today, Ryan, one of our Tweenangels and I taped a segment for that show, but this entry is only peripherally about us. Ryan talked about advice that we give teens and tweens who encounter cyberbullying. We tell them to Stop, Block, and Tell and Take 5! Stop what you are doing and don't respond. Block the bully. Tell a trusted adult and then Take 5. Walk away from the computer and do something you love for five minutes.

While this is good advice, Morgan Simone, the teen who taped the next segment seems to have taken the Take 5 concept to heart and then some. As many youngster do, she had bully problems, but she also had good friends to help balance things out. That all changed when she moved away. As the new kid in school she was without friends and the subject of constant attacks.

Rather than lash out or attack back, this amazing 15 year-old didn't take five minutes. She took her experiences, her feelings and her insight poured out 82,000, words that became "I'm Still Here", a novel for other teens.

The title is testament to her spirit and subject of her dedication, that along with the book, seeks to instill hope in others who suffer as she did. She dedicates the book to those who felt as if they were not good enough, not beautiful enough, and just not accepted, because you can still proudly say "I'm Still Here."

With all the negativity in the world, I look at youngsters like our Teenangels, Tweenangels like Ryan, and other exceptional youngsters like Morgan, and realize that with future leaders such as these, there is hope.

Oh, and while I don't have a signed first edition Hemingway, I do have a signed first edition, Morgan Simone, and it may be worth just as much some day.

From the Frying Pan into the Fire

2008-04-14T15:19:00.002-04:00

If there is any doubt about the poor state of online safety and appropriate netizenship in this country, it should be erased by the two latest incidents. We are all aware of the Florida teens who brutally beat another teen for postings she supposedly made on MySpace. There was no remorse and little understanding of the consequences of their actions. I'm sure they had little or no idea of how serious their actions were.

Whose fault is that? Obviously, there is no easy answer, but I do know this. I began teaching Internet basics in 1995 and even at that early date, every one of my students knew the ramifications of that kind of action. I recognized that this was the world that they would be in habiting and I wanted to make sure they lived by a set of rules and guidelines that would keep them safe and out of trouble. Schools need to develop cyber citizenship!

Compounding the problem is schools that make the situation worse by not acting responsibly when things happen. This week, Jolita Berry, a teacher in Baltimore was attacked by a student. The majority of the class stood by and watched or cheered the girl on. One student went for help. One filmed it with a cell phone and then posted it on the Internet.

Apparently, before the video surfaced, the school's initial reaction was to blame the teacher for using a "trigger word". The student threatened to hit the teacher and the teacher said she would defend herself. Is saying you are going to defend yourself tantamount to inciting a riot?

Of course, once the video surface and word of this hit the media, the school's response was that they take the incident very seriously and it would be investigated thoroughly. Too little, too late. What measures were put into place to prevent this sort of thing from happening?

What should happen here? I don't know what the school will do, but personally I would expel the student and take serious action against the student who posted the video. How is it possible that someone can witness a crime and then post that video on the Internet without passing it on to the authorities? It would be interesting to find out whether there is a school policy about use of cell phones. If there is, certainly using it to film a crime in action and turning it over to authorities would be reason to excuse breaking the school policy, but not turning it over and then posting it to the Internet creates a serious breech of policy, if not a violation of law.

We have to stop turning a blind eye to this sort of physical confrontation. The more we ignore it the worse it becomes. We have to stop making people folk heroes for posting this kind of outrage.

What will happen to the person who went for help. I'm guessing he or she is worrying about becoming the victim of the next beating. It is a sad, sad day when brutality is perceived as not having serious consequences and acting against it results in fear from one's own safety. It is just so wrong on so many levels that it boggles the mind.

Can I Get a Dr. Here?

2008-04-12T19:40:00.002-04:00

Ok, it's time for some no BS talk. I'll begin by making it clear

that the opinion about the state or educational technology and

Internet safety education are my opinions and not necessarily those

of WiredSafety.

Thirty-eight years ago I was a new teacher sitting in classroom with fifteen other new teachers. The then Superintendent of Rockaway Schools, Bob Linette, was conducting the class and asked us one by one what we thought of the American educational system. One by one each person sung the praises of our system. I was the last to reply and when he asked me, I said it stunk. The silence and looks on the faces of the other fourteen people said volumes.

Without pausing, he asked me to explain. I asked him and the group what part of their day was the math part, what part was the science part, what part was the social studies part? I said we were supposed to be teaching kids about life and how to success. I failed to see how this achieved that goal. I felt that school should be more like life, that kids should be solving real world problem and doing real world work. When I was done, he just said, "You're absolutely right."

Those three words set the course of my career and from that day on, I never looked back. Ever since then I've been trying to get schools to change the way they deliver instruction. It's thirty-eight years later and things have changed very little. Yes, technology is now in the picture, but technology implementation without changing how we deliver instruction is not going to work. In many ways technology has worsened the situation. There was already disconnect between curriculum and the skills that the 20th and 21st century required. With kids knowing more about technology than the teachers, the gap became a chasm.

As a result, the state of educational technology infusion in this country is a shambles. I'm not talking about the cables, routers, and computers. They are nothing to brag about, but compared to the hardware, the effective implementation of technology is in such a state that if it was in an episode of M.A.S.H., it would be on a gurney, with Hawkey and BJ doing everything they can do to keep it alive as it was heading for the operating room.

Lack of visionary leadership, lack of technical support, lack of professional development, budget constraints, NCLB, pressure to perform on high stakes tests that measure all the wrong things, and other mandates that hamstring teachers, make them little more than paper shufflers and test tutors. Yes, there are pockets of excellence. There are exemplary schools and programs, and there success stories, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

I've spent the last ten years of my life trying to make a difference in this arena. Now I've retired from that life and have perhaps jumped from the frying pan into the fire. I'm attempting to develop Internet safety instruction that schools can use.

If you believe what I say about the state of educational technology in this country, then it isn't a stretch to realize that the state of Internet safety education is in worse shape. If teachers don't have the time or expertise to implement effective use of technology in the core curriculum, expecting them to implement Internet Safety instruction is total folly. It's like strapping a couch to the back of a sprinter and asking him to run a marathon.

I'm not sure if it's because I'm an optimistic masochist or because I graduated from Rube Goldberg High School and McGuyver High School, but I liked the challenge. Two years ago I started a program that I felt dealt with both problems at the same time. I coined the phrase

and began my program of CyberSafety through Information Literacy. It was a series of lessons that could serve both as professional development for teachers and Internet safety instruction for students. The lessons are aligned to the National EducationTechnology Standards and other core curriculum standards. Instead of being add-on curriculum, it could be integrated into the existing curriculum in a number of ways.

Inexperienced teachers could run the Flash based lessons and let me provide the instruction. Because the software allows teachers to control all phases of the presentation, including sound and sequence, as inexperienced teacher became more comfortable with the material,

they could make it their own by substituting their narrative for my audio tack and by selecting what to present and when to present it.

Now I think it's time to take the next logical step. We at WiredSafety have found that two of the most effective tools for getting teens to listen to our message is to have it delivered by other teens and to have the message wrapped around real stories about real people and real events. Our Teenangels have stories of their own that they relate. You can find out more about them by visiting Teenangels.org.

We at WiredSafety have stories activities and suggestions that we relate to parents, teachers, and teens in our presentations. Some of those stories are already contained in my CyberSafety through Information Literacy lessons. Over the coming weeks and months, I'm going to begin extracting those stories, add new ones, offer short suggested actions and activities, and create a library of 5-10 minute learning objects that teachers and parents can use whenever they have

time or whenever they see a teachable moment.

I'll blog about them here and post them on the WiredSafety site. As they begin appearing, I welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions.

Maybe together we can help Hawkeye and BJ get a patient off the critical list.

Why They Have Email Verification

2008-03-17T23:34:00.003-04:00

The subject line was "Welcome to MySpace" and the message began:
Hi Andrea -- Thanks for joining MySpace!
Here's your account info for logging in:
E-mail: AWOLINSKY_@_COMCAST.NET
Password: *******

It went on to provide a link for me to confirm the email address and open the account. I'd better make sure that I don't click the confirmation link or whoever set up the account is in business.

Ok, that's one of my email addresses, but my name isn't Andrea and I didn't open a MySpace account. What's going on? Is someone impersonating me? No, they're using my address and a different name. That's why the confirmation email came to my address. Lemme see what's going on here. I think I'll log in with the information provided in the confirmation message.

After I login, I go directly to the profile the person set up. Andrea says she's a 27 year old female from Cambridge, MA and that's all she has, but that's more than enough.

BTW - I've changed Andrea's name and location for obvious privacy reasons.

I'm going to assume that Andrea just made a typo on her email address. If her last name wasn't Wolinsky, I would have just gone to the account and canceled it and let her figure out what was going wrong, but I couldn't do that to someone with such a regal last name. :-)

With the little information she left, in about a minute, in a single search I was able to determine that she lived with her parents. I had their names, address, ages, and her phone number. A phone call and an email straightened thing out, but it just goes to show how things can go south in a serious way with the unintentional sharing of information.

In the end, no harm was done, everyone had a good chuckle, and I have another anecdote to tell in my presentations.

Webkinz Gets Best of the Web Award

2008-03-13T10:24:00.003-04:00

Each year we poll more than 12,000 teen and preteens to see which web sites they like the most. That's step one in a rigorous process that leads to the awards presented at at the annual Wired Kids Summit in Washington, DC.

After the results of the poll are in, the top 70 sites are examined by parents for safety and appropriateness. Once they have narrowed the candidates down, the final selections are based on the evaluation of WiredSafety's director, Parry Aftab.

This year the best of the web award went to Webkinz because they offer fun and entertainment for kids while protecting them from revealing personal information which could lead to cyberbullying, stalking and other potential dangers.

Congratuations, Webkinz!

The Megan Pledge - An Anti-Cyberbullying Campaign

2008-03-09T17:40:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago I gave you a peek behind the scenes of the 8th Annual Wired Kids Summit. Today, I'm here to tell you about the major focus of the Summit. The suicide of Megan Meier that took place after a cyberbullying incident brought national attention to the problem that is running rampant with teens. A Tweenangel chapter in New Rochelle, NY has done something about it and we would like to turn it into a national campaign.

The tweens have initiated the Megan Pledge, a three part campaign to help stop cyberbullying. There are three parts of The Megan Pledge, a signed individual pledge, a group banner and a black and white polka-dot ribbons to wear and share. The pledge itself contains both statements and a set of promises. It is signed and witnessed and given to WiredSafety’s Megan Pledge volunteer team and sent back to WiredSafety where the pledges will be recorded and entered in a data base with the objective of getting one million signatures by the end of the year.

At the Wired Kids Summit, Tina Meier, Megan's mother and Deputy Director of the Megan Pledge campaign, presented the program along with tweens from the Ridgewood chapter.

A dedicated web site is being created and when it is announced, it will be with the endorsement and help of Facebook, Xanga, and Tagged, with others to follow as arrangements are completed. The site will have all the necessary information and resources to get a program started in your school. Watch for that in the coming weeks. However, there is no need to wait. If you would like to get a Megan Pledge campaign started in your school, just email me at awolinsky@3dwriting.com and I'll email you a starter kit.

Help fight cyberbullying. Be one in a million!

I Just Got Beat Up!

2008-02-29T15:36:00.003-05:00

IMVU is an avatar world/3D Chat/Social Network. I wrote about it a little after it was out of beta and had some serious concerns. I hadn't been back there since those early days and after reading an article about it, I decided to go back and check it out. There have been some changes for the better, but if my first trip back is any indication not a lot has changed.

If you click on Chat Now, you are randomly paired with another avatar. I found myself in the room with someone who opened with, "hey". I clicked on his home page and saw that he was a 20 year-old for TX.

I said, "hi, this is my first chat." Not exactly true, but I had forgotten so much about the interface since I was last there, it was like my first chat. His response was to walk up to me and begin beating me up! I said, "ouch?" and he said nothing. I followed with, "beating up on an old man?" (I'm assuming he visited my homepage and saw my age.) Still no reply, but he did walk up to me and tweak my ear. Again I tried to talk to him and asked, "what's with the bullying?" He left.

Actually, for me it was pretty funny to watch. I had absolutely NO idea how he got his avatar to do what it did and had no way of responding in kind, not that I would have. I can imagine what happens when two like minded immature individuals end up in the same room. Can you say, trouble?

My original concern has been answered by a change in their policy. Back then, you could search for anyone of any age. Now you can't search under for anyone under 18, but it wasn't the ability to search for teens that concerned me.

I sat down one day and searched state by state for anyone between 14 and 17 who was online at the time. Two things concerned me. First I was alarmed at the number of teens who were online during a time that they clearly should have been in school, (and probably were in school). But even that wasn't my real concern.

When you register, you have the word Guest tacked in front of your avatar's name. If you supplied credit card information and purchased your avatar, the Guest designation was removed. If I was gullible, I would have been shocked at the number of 13-17 year-olds that had given credit card information. Of course, some gave the information with the blessing of parents, some probably gave daddy's card information without permission, but my skepticism led me to believe that a significant number of the 13-17 year-olds were considerably older. The predator potential was significant.

When I first signed up, I thought the technology and concept was cool and kids would gravitate to it. I had concerns and I still have concerns. I'm not exactly a big fan of IMVU at this point, but I'll reserve further judgment until I spend more time there.

Harvard, tech firms seek to create safety Net

2008-02-29T09:03:00.003-05:00

It's a big step in the right direction, but regardless of what this task force accomplishes, it will only be a part of the solution. Without education and increased parental involvement, children will remain at risk.

3DWriting WiredSafety is Moving

2008-02-28T08:40:00.002-05:00

Well I'm not actually moving, but I am going to have it do double duty and merge it with my other blog, Truth, Lies, Rumors and Rumbles. If you are subscribed here and all you want is Internet Safety related posts, you don't have to do anything. I'll still be posting those kind of stories in both places, but if you are also interested in education related posts and musings on the human condition with great latitude on the definition of human, then maybe you should talk a look at TLRR. I hope to see you there.

Art

Wired Kids Summit Behind the Scenes

2008-02-09T14:05:00.000-05:00

On Feb. 6, WiredSafety.org held the 8th Annual Wired Kids Summit at the Cannon Office complex in Washington, D.C. From 9:00-2:00 panels of Teenangels and Tweenangels participated in discussions in front of congressional and industry leaders, but that’s not the subject of this blog.

Today I want to give you a peak behind the scenes so that you have a better understanding of WiredSafety and the amazing people who volunteer their time and effort to keep people safe online. You'll have to excuse the picture quality because they were taken with a cell phone. Better pictures will be coming in later blogs.

WiredSafety is the world’s largest Internet help organization with more than 5000 volunteers world wide. Aside from their regular duties as volunteers, a dedicated core of individuals led by Parry Aftab, pull together to plan and execute this summit. Meeting places are secured, invitations and RSVPs are processed, hotel and travel arrangement are made for staff, teens, chapter leaders, and chaperones.

All of this brings us to one day before the summit when everyone converges on D.C. and heads to the Marriott where teen, staff, and chapter leaders will be briefed on the coming day’s activities and final preparations will be made for the event.

Aside from the briefings, there are two other activities lined up for the kids. They are given an opportunity to meet and network with their counterparts from around the country while munching of a never ending supply of fruits, snacks, drinks, and pizza, but it isn’t all fun and games. Things get serious was the focus is placed on one of the majore announcements to be made at the summit.

The Assumption School Tweenangels have started an anti-cyberbullying campaign that was just presented on the Tyra Banks Show. Reacting to the suicide of 13 year-old Megan Meier, the tweens have started the Megan’s Pledge Campaign. After explaining the program to the rest of the group, all of the kids had the opportunity to hear from Tina Meier, Megan’s mother, who will be acting as the Deputy Director of Megan’s Pledge.

I’ll cover the pledge in more detail as I write about the summit in a coming blog, but for now, let’s get back to the behind the scenes action. At 5:00 PM the teens headed back to their hotels for some relaxation and a core of about a half-dozen volunteers stayed behind to take care of the food, printed material, and other supplies needed for following day.

That groups broke up at about 12:30 AM, but with the adrenalin flowing, there probably wasn’t a lot of sleeping done that night. I know I was blogging a 4:30 AM and met Parry in the coffee shop at 6:00 AM. By 7:00 we were all piling into cars and taxis to begin setting up.

The teens piled out onto the sidewalk just in time to help unload two SUV’s and a pick-up truck full of food and equipment. A rather stern D.C. policeman didn’t like where we were parked and told us we had exactly 2 minutes to unload. Well it took a little more than two minutes but two dozen teen and a half-dozen adults managed to pile everything on the sidewalk. All that was left was to get everything to the entrance a half block away and three flights up. Everyone grabbed packages and lined up single file to go through security.

What a sight that must have been to Representatives and staffers who had priority and were ushered to the front of the line as they arrived. The security guards were efficient, friendly, and helpful and I was really amazed at how smoothly things went.

Once everything was upstairs, signs were hung, tables were set, and all the necessary preparations were made. There was not a single idle hand and we were ready to go.

This blog hardly does justice to the people and the amount of work that went into the summit. The hard work and dedication of the WiredSafety volunteers is impossible to quantify. I’m proud to be a part of the organization and to be able to contribute what I can.

A Decent Proposal

2008-02-04T17:31:00.000-05:00

WiredSafety will be holding their 8th Annual WiredKids Summit in D.C. tomorrow. Members of the Jacksonville chapter of the Teenangels, make this tongue-in-cheek video about the research project that each chapter has to do as part of their training.

Education and Legislation

2008-01-30T09:13:00.000-05:00

New York has just proposed the Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) to keep people safe online. In the words of Andrew Cuomo, "Today I believe we're proposing the most comprehensive, smartest, toughest law in the nation to keep people safe online, especially minors."

That it is the toughest and most comprehensive, there is little doubt. It may well be the smartest as well. Only a closer look and time will tell.

The bill would require convicted sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses, instant message screen names, and any other online identifiers and make it a felony to not report changes in Internet activity within 10 day. It would allow judges and the state's Parole Board to restrict the online activities of sex offenders and would ban many sex offenders from using social-networking sites.

That all sounds sensible, but reporting your logins and then setting up a second set is something teens do routinely to get around the "legislation" that their parents create. Why would we expect criminals to do any less. Yes, the penalties for a predator getting caught are now considerably greater, but that does little to help someone who has been victimized by an offender who is trying to get around the law and has no intention of getting caught.

It must also be noted that this law has no effect on sexual predator outside of New York who contact teens in New York, though at least 13 other states have legislation proposed to limit Internet activities of sex offenders.

When it comes to Internet safety, my mantra has long been education not legislation, but I've modified that somewhat. I've come to recognize the need for smart legislation and my mantra is now education and legislation. Legislation is often poorly crafted and reactionary. Even the best crafted laws can provide a false sense of security. If e-STOP is to be touted as the smartest law, the legislators need to publicly acknowledge its limitations, counsel increased vigilance by parents, and provide funds for the training of the public and teachers in the development of safe, responsible netizens.

Swim Team on Porn Site

2008-01-28T19:28:00.000-05:00

Photos of members of an Orange County, CA water polo team have found their way to some gay porn sites, much to the alarm of students, parents, and school officials. A quick Google search will yield dozen of hits to give the details.

The article on the KNBC web site indicates that "police confirmed they are investigating whether a dispatcher, Scott Cornelius, photographed high school players for gay-oriented sites. Cornelius was granted a photo credential to the 2007 Junior World Water Polo Championships at Los Alamitos last summer"

Based on that snippet alone, you can be sure we will be hearing more about this. While those pictures may turn out to be attributed to the dispatcher is irrelevant. Once ANY picture is posted to ANY web site, for all intents and purposes the poster risks losing control of the picture. Anyone can grab it and do with it as they wish. As illustrated by my Ditherhead story and accented by this story, any picture can take on a life of its own with unpredictable results.

The simple fact is that nothing will prevent predators, creeps, and perverts from doing what they do. This sort of tragedy is bound to happen regardless of what we do, but parents and children need to be wary of what they post so as to not become unwitting accomplices to the twisted minds that do this sort of thing.

How we go about accomplishing this is not a simple matter. If I had a magic wand, every school would have a course on cybercivics where students would learn safe, responsible netizenship. But I'm not Harry Potter and even if I could magically conjure up the courses, we would still need knowledgeable teachers who are capable of understanding the online world of the teens. There are precious few of them right now and until today's teens become tomorrow's teachers, the numbers will be woefully insufficient to meet the challenge.

One thing we can do is to get kids talking to kids. That's what WiredSafety's Teenangels are doing. I'll talk more about them in the future. Until then, talk to your kids about incidents like this and have them take a look at my lesson titles Put Your Best Foot Forward.

Hitting and Missing the Target at the Same Time

2008-01-19T10:50:00.000-05:00

I recently read a newspaper commentary on the latest moves by MySpace to make teens safer. It correctly points out that that kids can easily get around every one of the safety measures that have been put in place and then advises parents to "Yank his or her profile. Forbid your teen from joining any popular social networking site, including Facebook, Friendster and Xanga."

If a child is willing to do all of the things outlined in order to get around the safety measures, why would one think that they wouldn't just as easily work around the banning and forbidding?

By taking such an action, all a parent would be doing is ensuring that they would be cutting off lines of communication and eliminating the opportunity to discuss problems should they arise. Rather than making their child safer online, it could have just the opposite effect.

Communication, supervision and education is a better approach. How that comes about depends upon the interpersonal relationships of parent and child as well as the knowledge of the parent as to what message to relate and how to deliver. It is also a topic too detailed to discuss single blog entry, but a good starting point is to read the report to Congress made by Dr. David Finklehor, one of the nation's top experts in the field of child sexual abuse. It will help parents understand that children who want to be safe generally are safe. It will also give them a profile of the potential victim and an idea of whether their child fits that profile.

Confucius, Socrates, Twain and Internet Safety

2008-01-17T09:57:00.000-05:00

"Learn what your kids already know or will know soon," is a suggested line from some literature that will be sent to parents prior to a presentation I will give in April. When it was sent to me, I suggested that what children know is nowhere near as important as what they don't know and what they need to know.

It brought to mind a saying I first heard in junior high from Lyla Filippe, my 9th grade English teacher, but that's a story I will cover in my other blog, Truth, Lies, Rumors and Rumbles. It has been found as a Persian apothegm, in Sanscrit, and in the writings of Confucius and Socrates.

He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool.
Avoid him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is a student.
Teach him.
He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep.
Wake him.
He who knows and knows that he knows is a wise man.
Follow him.

As I thought about it in relation to Internet Safety, a quote from Mark Twain came to mind. "When I was fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have him around. When I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."

In examining today's youth in the light of these two quotes, it seems to me that from about preschool age, a child knows not and knows that he knows not. As a result we teach him, but in the teens when it comes to many things, a child knows not that he knows not. The proverb advises us to avoid him, but I'm sure the proverb is talking about adults who know not and know not that they know not. In any case we have to teach teen and do it in a way that they come to the realization that that we do know a thing or two before they reach the age of twenty-one.

The adults I present to are people who know not and know that they know not, and thus must be taught so that they can pass the learning on the youngsters who know that they know not and to the teens who think they know it all.

In most of my presentations, I tend to deal primarily with the know it all generation and their parents. In April, I will be adressing parents in two different venues that span the age groups. There's a lot of territory to cover and it will make for an interesting two days.

All of this leads me to the Zen paradox of "The more I know, the less I know."

Something to think about?

Megan Meier and Fraud

2008-01-12T10:12:00.000-05:00

The fact that there were no charges filed after Megan Meier committed suicide as a result of bullying by an adult who assumed the identity of a teenage boy has outraged the public. There is no law that covers the situation and now various agencies are examining non-traditional ways of approaching the problem.

It brings to mind the prosecution of Al Capone for tax evasion. In this case, legal experts are looking into pursuing fraud charges. While this might satisfy some, it might created a dangerous prescient which endangers the right to anonymous speech on the Internet, a topic that has been discussed in many forums and upheld by the supreme course.

The consequences could have negative effect on law enforcement agencies who routinely use false profiles in efforts to trap predators. It could hamper whistle blowers and a range of other positive uses of anonymous speech.

While justice needs to be served, we must use restraint and foresight in the creation of legislation and the use of existing law to deal with the problem. The former will do little to obtain justice for Megan and the latter must be examined in light of possible negative impact in the future. A rush to either solution is ill advised.

The best way to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future is public education. Carefully crafted legislation may be an integral part of the solution, but education is the keystone. Children and parents have to know the impact and consequences of cyberbullying, as well as how to deal with it. Lest you think that there were no consequences for the perpetrator in this case, you are wrong. Whether you think it is right or wrong, the vigilante reaction to the incident has taken a heavy told on the entire family.