A PARENT’S GUIDE TO INTERNET SAFETY

MAINE PRINCIPAL’S ASSOCIATION

STUDENT TECHNOLOGY ABUSE

Students are using the sites above to interact with kids all over the world

The information they place on these sites are used daily by pedophiles

Students who type in the name of their school and their first name can put themselves in serious jeopardy; a person with evil intentions might find them in, literally, under a day.

*MY SPACE.COM *FACEBOOK.COM *ZENGA.COM *LIVEJOURNAL.COM

WHAT CAN SCHOOLS DO?

Assistant principals all over the state are given privileges to view these sites at schools, so they can do searches of who and what students from their schools are posting.

WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?

Assistant principals are creating profiles, pretending to be a student at his/her school

He/she receives hits immediately from students from the school

He/she goes directly to the student to explain they could have been a “bad” guy

Many kids have disappeared and been found dead; authorities are tracing it to a meeting that was set up on MySpace.com

Help

TEACH THE CONTROLS

There are safety features that can be enabled on MySpace, that kids are not using

However, they need to be diligent to still not put in identifying info., because the “bad” guys have found a “back door” to get into the profiles.

Actually visiting to a student’s site that contains too much information, during an assembly, and illustrating how, within seconds, someone can have a photo of this child’s home available…. is very powerful.

CYBER BULLYING

Kids are using school e-mail and even personal

e-mail accounts to send threats to other kids, to teachers, and to create a bomb threat (weapon threats in Southern ME)

One student sold another student’s truck on e-BayKids are taking photos, with camera phones, of an

immoral nature and posting them online….they think it’s in secret but….

EDUCATORS HAVE HELP

No matter if a threat was written at home or not, we can take action

Isolate the computerContact our IT personnel, or student’s ISP Inform local law authoritiesCall MCCTF, Detective Scott Bradeen (Maine Computer

Crimes Task Force) Any threats of shooting or bombing, call Det. Bradeen

Call Federal Agencies – FBI has a Maine office that works mainly with hate crimes, civil rights issues in schools (James.Lechner@ic.fbi.gov

MORE ADVICE….

Students logging in is critical We need our tech people to save router

log files. This will save enormous man hours in case of a cyber bomb threat etc.

We should add remote desktop assistant on classroom computers

Even if a “hate crime” on computer did not originate at the school, we need to offer mediation and/or counseling.

Having a banner that must be read before logging onto any computer stating, “YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS TO PRIVACY” is effective.

See no evil? Not an excuse for schools anymore EVEN IF WE FIND

SOMETHING ON A BLOG OR MYSPACE THAT WAS NOT CREATED IN SCHOOL, WE CAN STILL READ THE RIOT ACT AND INVOLVE PARENTS

ONE STUDENT PUT A PHOTO OF SELF IN A DRUNKUN STATE…..SCHOOL DID ABOVE…student not allowed in sports

USE IDEA “DISTRACTS FROM DAILY EDUCATIONAL PROCESS”

RESOURCES AVAILABLE

www.haltabusektd.org/resources/online.htm www.netcrimes.net Bullying.org Bullybusters.org Jayne Hitchcock, president of Halt Abuse Harassment issues require a warning that it is

illegal & is better if message given by a law enforcement officer

Personal computers, floppy disks, and plug in drives from home should be banned; way too much can be brought in; puts school in a high risk

Plus, personal computer search will require probable cause; school computers do not

WHAT ELSE DO WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT REGARDING OUR

POLICIES? FILE SHARING PROGRAMS – INDIVIDUAL TEACHERS CAN BE

CIVILLY LIABLE IF A DOWNLOADED COPYRIGHT MUSIC OF SOFTWARE IS TRACED TO HIS/HER COMPUTER

ITUNES, DVD’S, VIDEOS, IF NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO EDUCATIONAL USE; NOT ALLOWED

IPODS, IF NOT BEING MONITORED SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED Cell phones with video capability are a very serious threat. If we have any

issue with improper use of cell phone, such as a picture showing up on a myspace blog, we can call cell phone provider and get help in the abuse of the phone. (i.e. harassment)

SRO’s (student resource officer) should be considered at high school level…..they are not armed; they can discern if and when Attorney Gen. is required, or help create sanctions at schools.

A Parent’s Guide to Internet is a great brochure

Internet Safety Tips List of those to call in order of

seriousness:local policelocal FBI

www.ic3.govwww.cybertipline.comwww.missingkids.comwww.netsmartz.org

Training CD’s available at www.fbi.org

IT WILL TAKE ALL OF US: HOME, SCHOOL, & LAW ENFORCEMENT

TO STAY ON TOP OF THESE ISSUES