It was great to see the Associated Press's "Net threats result of kids' online behavior." It means newspapers and broadcast media worldwide just may run this story, and more parents will be getting facts instead of scary messages based on ignorance, politics, well-intentioned guesswork. Here are some facts we have now:Fact No. 1: Posting personal info online isn't actually what makes kids most … [Read more...] about Online victimization: Facts emerging
Risk & Safety
Requests for teens’ sex photos: Study
Four percent of US online youths have been asked to send sexually explicit photos of themselves over the Net, and about 1.5% have done so, the Associated Press reports, citing a new study by the Crimes Against Children Research Center. That's not just extremely unwise; those photos could be considered illegal child pornography, distribution of which is a federal crime. One of the study's authors, … [Read more...] about Requests for teens’ sex photos: Study
The wrong kind of spin control
The term is "sock-puppeting," and its definition is "the act of creating a fake online identity to praise, defend or create the illusion of support for one’s self, allies or company," the New York Times reports. The CEO of the Whole Foods grocery chain engaged in sock-puppeting for eight years on Yahoo discussion boards. The Federal Trade Commission noticed and called him on it, and the case … [Read more...] about The wrong kind of spin control
Teens in Net prostitution ads
Two high school students and a 19-year-old "ringleader" advertised themselves as "party girls" available as a threesome in an online classifieds sites, the Pioneer Press reports , citing an FBI investigation. The 19-year-old "was arrested by the FBI last month and charged in US District Court with sex trafficking of minors, a federal offense." The Pioneer Press adds that the case is just the … [Read more...] about Teens in Net prostitution ads
Cyberbullying: Local view
A county official on Long Island made a public statement saying Suffolk County is working hard to "persuade parents to monitor for cyberbullying as aggressively as they would for sexual predators," Newsday reports. The county had pretty high-profile exposure to the problem late last year, when a video of a local teen girl being beaten up by three peers appeared on YouTube (see "Teens' fight … [Read more...] about Cyberbullying: Local view