Panel looks at teen cyber bullying, identity theft

When Internet access for many kids is only a touch away on their iPod or a click away on the mouse, parents are presented with new challenges regarding their safety online.

The third seminar in the three-part series “Safe Surfing: Old threats, New Technologies” was held Wednesday, Nov. 26 at Youth Eastside Services (YES) in Bellevue. Members of the community, including many parents, listened to a panel of experts discuss what parents can do to help protect their children from online dangers.

Kids are susceptible to identity theft, cyber bullying and online stranger danger any time they access the Internet, said Seattle Police Detective Malinda Wilson, who is part of the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit.

Harassment through text messaging is also on the rise, said Debbi Halela, director of general counseling at YES, who added that she has seen some kids surpass 3,000 text messages per month.

“The children are setting the rules because they think they know the technology,” said Wilson, who has been with the Seattle Police Department for 22 years.

Wilson gave a short presentation that showed how easy it was for an online stranger to locate a child’s school or home in less than 20 minutes, just by information learned from a chat room.

Many kids fail to understand the potential consequences if they don’t properly enable their privacy settings on the social networking sites. Incorrect privacy settings not only can have negative results, such as strangers being able to view private photos, but also may put the whole family at risk.

Kids posting photos on social networking sites such as MySpace were of particular concern to Wilson.

“You have to have common sense and control, to who sees those pictures,” Wilson said.

“When you publish it on the Internet, it’s really public,” said Brett Hill, a Microsoft employee on the panel.

Speaker Lori Homes, a parent educator for 20 years, agreed.

“Photo images online can be used and abused by other people,” Homes said.

Even though Homes said pictures online were not a good idea, there are steps parents can take to help protect their children online. Installing a monitoring software program is a great first step. Wilson recommended Spectorpro.

The experts also said parents should consider having the computer in the house in a common area, and not allowing Internet in children’s bedrooms. They also suggested that parents have kids leave cell phones in a common place at night, and know their child’s passwords.

It’s important that kids also take responsibility for their own actions online, and are aware of the risks involved. The experts agreed kids should never, under any circumstances, give out their personal information. And with the rise in popularity of the social networking sites, they recommended kids only be friends online with people they know in real life, and to refrain from giving their password to their friends.

Hill said if kids ever suspect they are being targeted or approached online by a stranger, they should tell their parents.

“Let kids know they are not going to be in trouble if they come to you,” said Halela.

Laura J. Mansfield is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.

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