Internet Safety - How do I know when an online issue involving my child should be reported to authorities?

As part of an ongoing initiative to better inform the community about Internet Safety at home, the following information is provided with the expressed permission of i-Safe (a non-profit organization funded by the U.S. Congress and the Federal Justice Department) as reprinted from their current  newsletter ” i-Parent Times”.  More information on i-Safe can be found on their Internet site: http://www.isafe.org or visit the SCS HomePage (http://www.scsvt.org) under the News section.  To contact someone at SCS related to Internet information contact Karolyn Ahern (kahern@cssu.org) or Greg Thweatt (gthweatt@cssu.org). 

i-SAFE statistics show that 42 percent of kids have been bullied while online, and 35 percent of kids have been threatened online. Determining when to get others involved in an online issue can be difficult. One thing is certain: If you believe that your child is communicating with an adult, you should report it . . . immediately!   

Several things must be taken into account when making a decision concerning whether to report cyber bullying or online threats: the type of threat used (inappropriate language or photos, insults, threats of bodily harm, threats of death), frequency of the threats, the anonymity or number of sources, and the method used to threaten.  The severity of the threats is also important in determining your course of action: 

• Is your child receiving frequent threatening e-mails or instant messages (IMs)?

• Is the source revealing your child’s personal information online (phone number, name, school, personal secrets, etc.)?

• Is the source following your child from Web site to Web site online (stalking)?

• Is the source pretending to be your child online or sending messages supposedly from your child?

• Is the source posting harassing or hateful Web sites about your child?

• Is the source posting your child’s name on “slam books,” “hit lists,” or ”ugly lists” online, setting up “hot or not” Web sites intended to humiliate your child, or posting  inappropriate comments on your child’s or other’s blogs?

• Is the source sharing contact information about the child along with sexual statements or solicitation (i.e. “I’d like to (sexual comment),” or “For a good time, call (name)”)?

• Is the source sending malicious codes, spam, or spyware to your child or others while posing as your child?

• Has the source posted photos/images or sexual photos/images (actual or manipulated) of your child online?

If the communication is only a flame, set the e-mail or IM program to block the users e-mail address or IM user name, and report the offender to the IM or e-mail providers, your Internet service provider (ISP), or the source’s ISP.  If the threats increase, or the severity of the threats increases, contact law enforcement. You can also file a report with your local FBI office. To find your local FBI office contact information, go to http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm

Most importantly, keep the lines of communication open with your children so they will come to you if they are being bullied or threatened online. Teach them how to save e-mails and IMs (they may be needed to take action), to never respond to a threat or flame e-mail or IM, and to never meet with whom they are communicating online.  Trust your instincts—it is OK to call law enforcement and be “wrong.” It could prove a tragic mistake if your instincts are correct and you don’t make that report.

Internet Risks for Children: “MySpace should be YourSpace”

As part of an ongoing initiative to better inform the community about Internet Safety at home, the following information is provided with the expressed permission of i-Safe (a non-profit organization funded by the U.S. Congress and the Federal Justice Department) as reprinted from their current  newsletter ” i-Parent Times”.  More information on i-Safe can be found on their Internet site: http://www.isafe.org or visit the SCS HomePage (http://www.scsvt.org)  under News for more safety information.

What is free to use but costs $580 million? Well, it’s your kids’ favorite place on the Internet—MySpace.com. Recently purchased from Intermix Media, Inc., by the international media and entertainment company News Corp, MySpace is one of the hottest Web sites on the World  Wide Web. Registration is free, and the number of members continues to multiply (membership increased 400 percent in the first eight months of 2005) quicker than you can type your  username and password. At last count there were 26,646,000 members registered at MySpace. 

Think your child doesn’t have a MySpace page? You may be right. Then again, you may be wrong. In April, MySpace passed Google in the number of pages viewed monthly—and to think Google is now being used as a verb in everyday conversation (i.e. “I googled i-SAFE to make sure I went to the right Web site.”). Not only are the page hits going up, but the time spent on MySpace is triple that of the second most popular site. Nielsen/NetRatings found that MySpace users spend an average of one hour and 43 minutes on the site each month. Compare that to facebook.com at 34 minutes, and friendster.com at 25 minutes. 

Never heard of MySpace? Well neither has another parent—the mom of cofounder Tom Anderson. When asked about the site’s growing popularity, he told the New York Times, “I don’t want to say it’s overwhelming, but I see these numbers coming out, I keep thinking, ‘It must be a mistake. How can we pass Google?’ I mean, my mom knows Google, but she doesn’t know  MySpace.”  We’re pretty sure he’s joking, but he’s 29, and his mom doesn’t need to know MySpace—you do. 

So what should you do? You should think of MySpace as YourSpace, and HisSpace, and HerSpace, and Their-Space, because it is a public space open for anyone to view. If you’re unsure whether your child has a MySpace page, then sign up yourself and search for, or “google,” them. Th e search engine on MySpace allows you to search specific names, specific schools, specific zip codes, and more. Many parents tell i-SAFE they don’t want to spy on their children. To that we say, “MySpace personal pages are posted for the public, and you are a member of the public, as is anyone else in the world with Internet access.” 

If you only take away one thing from this article, take this: Communicate with and educate your children. Remember, parenting is parenting whether it is online or offline. Th e more you’re involved with your child’s life in the cyber world, the safer their experience on the World Wide Web will be. The more you educate your child, the less likely he or she is to give out personal information, and the better prepared they will be to react to dangerous situations. 

MySpace has lowered the required age to post to 14. However, just by changing the birth date on the registration page, a younger user can misrepresent their age. A San Diego television reporter recently did a story on MySpace .com. They located a high school junior just by reading her MySpace page. Her response was, “It’s no big deal. It’s not like anyone can find me.” Even with the reporter sitting in her living room with a television camera, she did not comprehend that the information she revealed was potentially dangerous. If that can happen to a junior in high school, imagine what can happen to naive young users allowed to have a page on MySpace.com. Revealing personal information on MySpace, or any other site online, puts users at risk.  

We strongly encourage you to discuss the dangers of revealing personal information online with your child immediately. Inform other parents of the dangers online, and make a difference in your community by starting an i-PARENT campaign in your area. Contact us at parents@isafe.org.   

For more details, read the entire online i-Parent newsletter (http://www.isafe.org/newsletter/iparent.html) and check out “Get Involved,” on page 6.

Two Unlikely Hazards For Children … Online Pharmacies and Compressed Air Computer Cleaners

As part of an ongoing initiative to better inform the community about Internet Safety at home, the following information is provided with the expressed permission of i-Safe (a non-profit organization funded by the U.S. Congress and the Federal Justice Department) as reprinted from their monthly newsletter “The i-Safe Times”.  More information on i-Safe can be found on their Internet site: http://www.isafe.org

A Bad Prescription: Teens and Online Drugstores (by Lisa Cunningham, i-SAFE Outreach):  The Internet has given shoppers a virtually hassle-free way to compare prices and brand names, and to purchase almost anything online without ever leaving their home, including legal, or even illegal, drugs. The drug dealer is no longer lurking around your neighborhood corner; he is dealing openly in Cyberspace and making himself available at the click of a mouse. Most of us have even received e-mails, or  have seen pop-up ads, for “prescription medications for less” or “medications delivered right to your door.”   Steroids, narcotics, “club drugs,” chemicals needed to manufacture drugs, and even legal substances (i.e. alcohol, cigarettes) often not available to underage users are readily available online without an ID or prescription. This unprecedented access to online substances has given parents another thing to worry about in the war against drugs. 

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America reports in its 17th annual national study of teen drug abuse that “Approximately one in five teenagers has abused a prescription painkiller to get high, and one in 11 has abused OTC products, like cough medicine.”   The Internet gives teens easy access to the drugs they want. Teens avidly use chat rooms, message boards, and e-mail, and these modes of communication are also being used to arrange drug sales, advertise online pharmacies, and to share information on drug use. There are also many sites online that offer recipes, ingredients, and locations to purchase ingredients to make illegal drugs.  

Legitimate online pharmacies, including many drugstore chains such as CVS and Walgreens, which do require a valid ID and a faxed or mailed prescription from a licensed doctor who has seen the patient in-person, do exist.  Some online drugstores don’t verify the purchaser’s identity.  Additionally, “rogue” pharmacies only require a valid credit card to order, and, in most cases, the patient has never seen a doctor or received a written prescription. Many of these unregulated “pills for profit” pharmacies operate outside the U.S. and ship their goods in deceptively marked packaging to avoid detection by customs officials.  

The government is actively seeking to solve the problem of unregulated sales of prescription drugs online. In 2001, a California teenager, Ryan Haight, died when he overdosed on Vicodin pills which he purchased on the Internet without a valid prescription. As a result, the Ryan Haight Internet Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2005 has been introduced to the House of Representatives. The Act regulates the online pharmacies. 

There are measures you can take as a parent. Watch the history of sites that your child visits. Limit the purchases your child makes with your credit card, or with online accounts. Watch your credit card statements for evidence of illicit purchases and be aware of packages being delivered to your home.  If you suspect a site is illegal, you can report it to the FDA by calling 1-877-RxAbuse.

Computer Spray Cans May Be Lethal (by Greg Thweatt):  An unlikely health concern that is indirectly related to computer use is the growing activity by children and teenagers called "Dusting Off".  The activity takes it’s name from a compressed air product for cleaning computers called "Dust Off".  Attached to each can is a straw to blow out dust from small places (the keyboard for example).  “Dust Off”, and competitive brands, contain compressed air and a coolant/propellant called R2.  Kids are finding that if they spray the compressed air through it's straw into their mouth it causes a brief period of dizziness that they consider a "high".  The R2 actually displaces air in the lungs causing a brief blockage of oxygen to the brain, which causes the dizziness.  If sufficient amounts of R2 is inhaled it can totally displace the air in their lungs causing suffocation and death.

Inhaling compressed air is one of the more recent examples of “huffing” or inhalant abuse.  According to the National Inhalant Prevention Coalition web site, there are 1000’s of household materials that children can abuse including: paint, glue, typewriter correction fluid, air-conditioning refrigerant, felt tip markers, aerosol spray cans (hair spray, air fresheners, paint), nail polish remover, butane and many more.  Reports indicate that “Dusting Off” has occurred with older elementary and young teenagers. One of the early symptoms of use is a painful tongue as the R2 coolant irritates the surface of the tongue (similar to frostbite).  Other symptoms include brief dizziness and shortness of breath.  Because kids think this is “just air” they do not consider it a problem nor do they see it as "huffing". 

There are measures that parents can take. Parents should carefully secure such products and make time with their children to discuss the situation.  It is important that children understand the hazard of all inhalants as their friends may be unaware the dangers.  As with all house-hold products, compressed air cans such as “Dust-Off” are a safe product when used as intended.  With diligence and knowledge parents can help their children make safe and healthy choices.

For more information on abuse of inhalants visit:

• National Institute on Drug Abuse: http://www.nida.nih.gov/ResearchReports/Inhalants/Inhalants3.html

• National Inhalant Prevention Coalition: http://www.inhalants.com/index.htm

• Teen New Horizons: http://www.teennewhorizons.com/inhalants.htm