Nancy - To a degree I agree with your message of promoting or
encouraging children's use of Web 2.0 technologies as this obviously
will serve them well throughout their educational and career lives.
However, a bit of healthy caution IS warranted. Do you have children?
Would you parade your three year old around the mall with a shirt that
says "My name is Jenny Vale. I am 3 and I like horses." If not, why
not? Would you let your 12 year old hang out in a pool hall? Would
you let your high school sophomore go to NYC to meet someone alone?
How about holding up a large poster that says I'm Jenny Vale (999)
555-1212 at a WWE event? Why not? And what reason would you give them
for NOT doing those things? Because I believe there ARE people out
there who DO prey on children. Just because most online predators
seduce instead of "trick" teenagers doesn't make them any less
predatory. Teens are still children, not fully mature adults, and it's
illegal to engage in sexual behavior with them.
No, we shouldn't make children so fearful of surfing the web that they
never want to google or play an online game but advising them not to
share personal information such as their address and phone number in a
chat room is responsible and makes sense.
What I found when I looked at the Crimes Against Children Research
Center website was that "reliable information on the scope and nature
of the online predator problem remains scarce." To me that means that
we don't know the extent of the problem - not that the problem doesn't
exist.
Margie Jones
Media Specialist
South Street School
129 South Street
Danbury, CT 06482
-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy Willard <nwillard@CSRIU.ORG>
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Sent: Wed, Nov 11, 2009 12:15 pm
Subject: OMG! More Reefer Madness ~ Just Say "No"
No, I have not yet gotten my breakfast or coffee - but this in my email
inbox from Enough is Enough. These folks are very active in Virginia.
"It seems that everyday, we receive another report of a missing child.
Regardless of age, race, gender, location, or academic achievement, no
child
is immune. While the vast majority of cases of abductions do not
involve
the Internet, in today's tech-connected world, it's critically
important for
kids to guard personal information that could make them a target. In a
recent survey, one in ten youth posted or shared information on a public
blog or social networking site about places they typically go. The
majority
of teens today share photos and videos of themselves on a number of
public
spaces, placing them at increased risk to being targeted by an Internet
predator, cyberbully or identity thief. Please take time to
educate the children under your care about staying safe in their on- and
offline worlds. As parents, teachers and other caring adults, we all
have a
role to play in protecting children. We are the first line of defense!"
This attempts to raise fears about predation and abduction that are not
grounded in the research data. Look here:
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/internet-crimes/ This is Crimes Against Children
Research Center. Here is what they say: "The publicity about online
³predators² who prey on naive children using trickery and violence is
largely inaccurate. Internet sex crimes involving adults and juveniles
more
often fit a model of statutory rape adult offenders who meet, develop
relationships with, and openly seduce underage teenagers -- than a
model of
forcible sexual assault or pedophilic child molesting."
The kind of material that teens might post that create risk is
sexually-inviting material. NOT information about where they live and
places
they typically go. There are reasons to be concerned about different
kinds
of material that students might post. But it is very important to
address
generally - NOT in the context of fear of predator abduction.
More from this email:
Caution your children about posting:
"* Personal or Contact Information: Your child's full name,
address,
phone number, passwords, and financial identity information should only
be
provided on a secure site and under parental supervision.
* Intimate personal information: Private, personal and sensitive
information (such as a teen's journal) should not be posted at all and
should only be shared in private emails with a trusted personal friend.
* Reputation-damaging information or images: Explicit or suggestive
pictures, etc. should never be posted or sent."
Now I am more than a little irritated about this because this is a list
of
different types of information that has been taken directly from MY
material
- with MY headings (intimate personal, reputation damaging) - without
ANY
CITATION regarding source! My material is not yet published. I shared
this
privately with these folks.
But in fact, I do not present my guidance in this area in the context of
fear of predators - and would not want my name used in association with
spreading this inaccurate fear.
Note again the unwarranted fear communicated about posting information
associated with places they go - associated with concerns of predator
abduction. This is the kind of Reefer Madness information that will
interfere with establishing 21st Century schools with web 2.0
technologies.
Nancy
--
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
http://cyberbully.org
http://cyber-safe-kids.com
http://csriu.wordpress.com
nwillard@csriu.org
Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online
Social
Aggression, Threats, and Distress (Research Press)
Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use
the
Internet Safely and Responsibly (Jossey-Bass)
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