Keeping Our Kids Safe Online
Teaching Safe and Responsible Use of the Internet
LMSD
Tom McGee
Technology Specialist
Lower Merion School District
1

The Big Ideas
• It will take a community to help steer our
students onto the right path when using
the internet
• All community members of the LMSD need
to be educated on the internet safe and
responsible procedures
2

When YOU were a kid,
describe how your parents kept YOU safe?
How did your parents know how to teach
YOU safety skills?
How are you going to keep kids safe
if you don’t understand how the Internet works?
3

The Approach
Our first measure of defense must not be
to “shut it down”, but to embrace it,
educate ourselves on it, and teach others
the positive and negative effects of internet
use
A matter of perspective
4

5

Who is in the Community?
Students
Parents Teachers
6

Scope & Sequence
• Cyber Community Citizenship
• Personal Safety
• Cyber Security
• Intellectual Property
• Cyber Bullying
7

Statistics
8

71% of teens (Ages 13-17)
Reported receiving messages online from
someone they don’t know.
40% reported that they’ll usually reply and
chat with that person
18% said they’ll tell an adult.
http://www.isafe.org
9

45% of teens 13-17
have been asked for personal information
by someone they don’t know
10

30% of teens (Ages 13-17)
Surveyed have considered meeting
someone that they have only talked
to online
14% have actually had such an encounter
11

1 in 4 youths (ages 10-17 )
has been exposed to sexually explicit
pictures online without seeking or expecting
them
12

1 in 5 youths (ages 10 to 17)
has received unwanted sexual
solicitations online
13

1 in 17 youths (ages)10-17
has been threatened or harassed
online.
Only about half of the children who were
threatened or harassed reported the
incident to their parents
14

Survey of 10,000 students were asked:
12% were asked to meet someone face to face
14% received mean or threatening messages
31% visited an inappropriate Internet site
31% saw nothing wrong in chatting with a stranger
50% trusted those with whom they chatted with
11% met someone face to face
52% said hurtful things to another
38% illegally copied music
15

Most Children do not inform their parents
when they face a difficult situation online,
such as being contacted by someone
they don’t know.
The main reasons for their hesitation are:
•embarrassment
•fear of losing access to the Internet
16

My Theory:
They’re Kids, and kids do kid things! Kids like to
test boundaries, experiment, & explore. Kids like
to put themselves out there even though they
may seem shy. Imagine being on the world’s
biggest stage without the feeling of anyone
watching you?
Who is teaching kids about “Proper” use of the Internet?
Who taught you the proper use?
Are we emphasizing Responsible Use of the Internet in schools or at
home enough?
17

Some More Statistics
19% of students feel safer in the
cyber world than they do in the
real world
18

Some Statistics
31% of students feel it is
easier to talk to people on the
Internet than in real life
19

Some Statistics
10% of students have been
asked by a stranger to meet
somewhere face to face
20

Some Statistics
10% of those students have
actually met an online
stranger face to face
21

Some Statistics
•39% of students trust
people that they chat with
online.
22

Some Statistics
•24% of students say they
see nothing wrong with
chatting with a stranger.
23

Some Statistics
9.5% of students have
been asked to keep their
Internet relationship a
secret
24

Some Statistics
20% of teens report that it is safe
(i.e. “somewhat” or “very safe”) to
share personal information on a
public blog or networking site.
25

Some Statistics
As well, 37% of 13- to 17-year-olds
said they are “not very concerned”
or “not at all concerned” about
someone using information they’ve
posted online in ways they don’t
want.
26

Some Statistics
33% of 13- to- 17-year-olds
reported that their parents or
guardians know “very little” or
“nothing” about what they do on
the Internet.
27

Some Statistics
48% of 16-17s said their parents or
guardians know “very little” or
“nothing”
28

Some Statistics
Fully 22% of those surveyed
reported their parents or guardians
have never discussed Internet
safety with them.
29

Some Statistics
Over half (51%) of parents either
do not have or do not know if they
have software on their computer(s)
that monitors where their teenager
(s) go online and with whom they
interact.
30

Some Statistics
42% of parents do not review the
content of what their teenager(s)
read and/or type in chat rooms or
via Instant Messaging.
31

Some Statistics
95% of parents couldn't identify
common chat room lingo that
teenagers use to warn people
they're chatting with that their
parents are watching. Those
phrases are POS (Parent Over
Shoulder) and P911 (Parent Alert).
32

Some Statistics
30% of parents allow their teenagers to
use the computer in private areas of the
house such as a bedroom or a home
office. Parents say they are more vigilant
about where their teen(s) go online if the
computer is in a public area of the
household.
33

Personal Safety
Keep yourself safe by doing the following:
•Never give out personal information online
•Personal information includes:
•name, school, phone number, cell number, address,
or sometimes an email address
•Avoid strangers or people you don’t know
34

webpages text messaging email
blogs Myspace
IM
CyberBullying
Cyberbullying involves the use of information
and communication technologies to support
deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by
an individual or group, that is intended to
harm others.”
--Bill Belsey, President, Bullying.org
35

Some Bullying Stats
• 42 % of students have been bullied online.
• 20% said that they were upset by some- thing that was said by a stranger
they met on the Internet.
• 57% of students said they have received hurtful messages online, while
13% said it happened frequently.
• 53% of students admitted that they have said hurtful things online, while
7% said they did it “quite often.”
• 58% of students have not told their parents or another adult when
someone has been mean or hurtful to them online.
—i-SAFE America Student Assessments 2004
36

What To Do If Your Being Bullied Online:
• Be strong and stop it early. Don’t stoop to their level and lash back.
• Don’t suffer in silence. Tell an adult. Keep telling people until someone
takes action.
• Don’t open or read messages from cyber bullies.
• Contact your Internet service provider abuse department.
• If the problem continues, alert the local police department.
• Tell your school if it is school related. If your cyber bully attends your
school, contact your teacher or principal.
• Don’t erase the messages. Log all dates and time. Put them in a folder and
hold them as evidence.
• Change your e-mail address or screen name.
• If it’s happening with text messages, change your cell number.
• Take screen shots of your chat room pages.
• Save URLs, e-mail addresses, and profiles of the bully.
• Stay protected—never agree to meet with a bully face to face.
• Block the bully if you are in a chat room or IMing.
37

Avoid Being Bullied:
• Be kind to others and use netiquette (no flooding, be nice to newbies, avoid using all caps, and set
a good tone).
• Don’t give out personal information online like pin numbers, passwords, home address, cell
number, family and friends’ names. The information can and will be used against you.
• Avoid exchanging pictures or giving out e-mail addresses to people you meet online.
• Don’t send messages when you are angry.
• Trust your instincts. When something doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t. Get out of the site, end
the chat, or turn off your CPU or cell phone.
38

Tips to protect your child against cyberbullying:
Children need to know that the rules and values they live by in
their daily lives apply to Internet use.
Don’t just tell your children what they can’t do. Discuss the
advantages of the Internet and encourage your children to visit
sites that benefit them.
Make a point to sit with your children and see the sites they like to
visit. Point out the sites you think are good and calmly explain
why you think a site is inappropriate.
Your children must understand that just as you decide what
movies they are allowed to see, you will supervise their online
activities with the same care and concern.
39

Tips to protect your child against cyberbullying:
Establishing lines of communication and trust with your
teen and educating yourself about the world of MySpace
and the dangers of the Web.
Awareness
is the key to prevention.
40

Tips to protect your child against cyberbullying:
• Tell your child not to respond to rude and harassing emails,
messages and postings.
• Make use of the “block” or “ban” feature to block the cyber-
bully’s screen name or email address so that messages
cannot reach your child.
• If your child continues to receive harassing emails, have them
delete their current accounts and help them open a new one.
• Save the evidence in case you need proof.
41

Tips to protect your child against cyberbullying:
• If a cyberbully has posted embarrassing photos or personal
information about your child on a Web site, contact your
Internet Service Provider for assistance, the Web site hosting
the page, and if necessary, also inform local law enforcement
to try to get the Web site removed.
• If the cyberbully is someone your child knows from school,
seek the assistance of school officials to stop the harassment.
• Find out if your child’s school has a policy on bullying that
includes cyberbullying and urge administrators to implement
training and education programs to discourage bullying.
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Intellectual Property
43

Terms 2 Know
Intellectual Property (IP)—Is a term used for copyrighted
material. IP can be a creative work, idea, or expression.
Examples: songs, movies, commercials, articles, photos,
software and paintings.
Piracy—is the official term used for when music, movies, and
software are ripped illegally.
P2P—peer-to-peer sharing. These are websites designed to allow
files to be shared by the site users.
44

P2P
P2P sites are not illegal, but trading unauthorized music and movies is.
The U.S. constitution protects P2P sites from being shut down.
The argument is that P2P sites are not providing the illegal files —they are only
providing a way to share files with others logged onto the site. Just because
there are P2P sites doesn’t mean you have to use them.
•Downloading music and movies without paying on unsanctioned sites is
illegal and can result in criminal penalties.
•There is a good possibility of downloading a virus when using P2P sites.
•You are also creating a gateway for a hacker to break into your car and jack
your stereo or other personal stuff on P2P sites.
•Other hitchhikers unknown to you could gain access to files on your hard
drive through the file-sharing network.
45

Stay Legal
Find a safe site where you can download legally. Songs and movies
that you find on legal download sites are:
• In the public domain.
• Uploaded by artists who are trying to get exposure.
• Released by record companies trying to build interest in a CD.
• Paid for by you for the right to download, and the site pays the
artist and/or record company royalties.
46

Cyber Security
Protect yourself and your computer from opening
unwanted email attachments, avoiding spam, catching
viruses
47

If I unsubscribe from the company I’m
getting spam from, the spamming will
stop.
True False
48

You can get a computer virus just by
opening an e-mail.
True False
False. To get a virus you need to open an e-mail attachment.
However, opening the mail can still let the spammer know your address
is active.
49

In most cases it will actually increase the amount of
spam you get because you are identifying your e-
mail address as a real address that is used by a real
person. Spamming companies send e-mail to
thousands of e-mail addresses everyday without
knowing if the addresses are real or not. When you
open them—or worse, unsubscribe to them—it tells
the spammer that a real person is on the other end.
They will continue to spam you harder and perhaps
even sell your e-mail address to a large corporation.
50

How Do Spammers Get Your
eMail Address?
• Using software that creates thousands of made-up e-mail addresses.
A web beacon is placed in the spam e-mail that is sent to you. Every
time an e-mail is opened, it is added to a live master list. The live list is
then sold to other marketing and sales companies, and the cycle never
ends.
• Companies scrape the web for e-mail addresses. Spammers road trip
for websites that list active e-mail addresses.
• Registering for software on other products online is an easy way to
hand over your e-mail address to be spammed. They usually tell you in
the fine print. That’s why you never see the part where they say that
you will be hit hard with an extra helping of spam.
• Spammers buy e-mail addresses. It’s a good chance that yours is one
of them.
51

Every time you open spam mail you let the spammer
know that your address is active. This is what you get:
• More spam
• Viruses or spyware (in attachments or links)
• Pop-up pornography
• Scams
• Even more pop ups
• Harassment
• Threats
• New spam scams
• Green eggs and Spam
52

Fake Subjects—Spammers fake the subject line of the e-mail so it looks like it could be from a friend. They
use hundreds of fake lines. Do these look familiar? “Re: your mail”/ “Re: “/”Hey”/ “How are you?”/“Thinking
of you”/”Check this out!”/”Fw: u need to see this”
Spoofing—Spammers also fake the From line. At first glance everything looks legit—maybe from a family
member, or your ISP—but when you open it...Wham!
Phishing—Spammers fake e-mail addresses from legitimate companies and place big warning messages in the
main body. They also say that your account is about to be closed if you don’t update your personal information.
They will do what they can to make the website look real. By putting in your information you just handed over
your license and registration to your car.
Adware—Any application that displays ad banners or serves ads to your browser can be called adware.
Companies pay people to spam you with these ads. Many offer free downloads to lure you to their site.
Spyware—Also known as trackware or thiefware, it uses your Internet connection to secretly transmit data to
the company supplying the ads. This data, including personal information required to install software on your
CPU combined with information about your online activity, is then sold or traded to others. It’s a sneaky way
companies learn about their customers. It’s also a violation of your privacy.
Firewall—It’s a filter used to block predetermined spam. Screening methods include predetermined domain
names or IP Addresses.
Spim—Spam sent through IM.
53

How To Avoid Spam
• Choose a non-obvious e-mail address.
• Limit where you enter your e-mail address (registrations,
subscriptions).
• Use spam blocking and filtering software.
• Don’t open spam e-mail.
• Don’t respond to spam e-mail.
• Report spam to your ISP.
• Contact the spammers ISP.
• Report chain letters asking for money to fraud@uspis.gov.
• Report spam to the U.S. Government at spam@uce.gov.
54

Parent Tips
•Always keep your child’s computer in an open area. Never allow a computer with Internet access
in your child’s bedroom.
•Communicate. There is no better tool to bridge the Digital Divide.
•Become a part of your child’s online experience.
•Respect your child’s privacy.
•Regularly review your computer files.
•Teach your child the responsible use of online resources.
•Talk to your child about online dangers. Let them know you are there to help them get out of a bad
situation.
•Educate yourself on the ins and outs of the Internet.
•Talk to other parents about your experiences. It will help everyone.
•Let your child know responsible adults do not purse relationships with minors
55

Social Networking
56

Social Networking
Blogging and social networking sites like
MySpace, Friendster, Xanga and Facebook have
been linked to recent incidents involving Internet
crimes against children. These sites have
exploded in popularity.
The number of visitors to MySpace went
from 4.9 million in 2005 to over 67 million
this year [April 3, 2006, http://www.myspace.com].
[Janet Kornblum, \"Teens hang out at MySpace,\" USA Today, January 8, 2006, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/
2006-01-08- myspace-teens_x.htm?csp=34]
57

What does a person need to set up a
social network account?
A valid e-mail
Bebo Flickr
Blogger Orkut
Yahoo 360
Facebook Xanga
58

Myspace Accounts
August 9th, 2006: 100 Million Accounts
September 8th, 2006: 106 Million Accounts
To Date: 175 Million Accounts
Myspace reportedly attracts new registrations at a rate of
230,000 per day.
Myspace is the #1 most visited website in the U.S.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace
59

IM
60

How Well Do You Know Your Net Lingo
BRB Be Right Back
ISDO GISDO RU Paying Attention?
LOL Laugh Out Loud
POS Parent Over Shoulder
A/S/L Age/Sex/Location
A/S/L/P Age/Sex/Location/Picture
ROTFLMAO Rolling On THe Floor Laughing My Ass Off
EMA What Is Your Email Address
HHO1/2K Ha Ha Only 1/2 Kidding
IYKWIMAITYD If You Know What I Mean and I Think You Do
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srfrdude3: whats up guys?
shakyjake: sup?
soccerkid: yo!
shakyjake: what r u doing here rat face?
srfrdude3: yeah pencil head- u r not in our club
soccerkid: Your names were on my buddy list
shakyjake: we’re not your buddies...teacher pet
srfrdude3: this is a member only club for guys who don’t smell
shakyjake: try taking a bath for once, 4 eyes
soccerkid: i would take that back if i were you..
bugboy01: what’s going on peeps?
srfrdude3: Or what? Tell the teacher again?
shakyjake: If you tell the teacher about any of this, i will tell
everyone you like messy missy
bugboy01: BRB
62

dandilion8: hey
curlEQ: hey back?
flip_flops: Thanks for taking my back today!
dandilion8: BFFs, right?
curlEQ: Sandy is such a &^%^&*
dandilion8: She thinks she’s all that
flip_flops: i almost fainted when i smelled her bad breathe
curlEQ: ROTFL
flip_flops: PIR
flip_flops: K!
dandilion8: Let’s start a rumor that she likes Bedhead Eddie
curlEQ: OMG! Let’s do that
flip_flops: i don’t know...
dandilion8: BFF’s right? if you don’t, then u can’t be in the club...
63

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Web Resources
http://www.lmsd.org/staff/elem/internetsafety/index.htm
http://www.isafe.org
http://www.netsmartz.org
http://www.ocdsb.edu.on.ca/teacher_res/techres/int_safe.htm
http://www.protectkids.com/parentsafety/rulesntools.htm
http://www.cybertipline.com/
http://www.azag.gov/ChildrensPage/P_Tinternet.html
http://www.netalert.net.au/02074-Parents-Toolkit.asp
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Parental Safety Monitors
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