From start to finish CUE 2010 was outstanding!

I was delighted to arrive in time for the Internet Safety Awareness and Education panel session. Anne Collier of ConnectSafely.org lead the discussions, which ranged from “sexting” to identity theft.   Anne was joined by:

Larry Magid of SafeKids.com: “It’s all about how kids relate and interact on the Internet. The Internet predator issue is minute compared to how kids harm themselves.” Larry had a few questions for us:

Question 1: What does it mean to be a friend in 2010? How do we encourage kids to be cyber citizens – who care about each other. WE have a lot of work to do. We have to help students create a new social culture where children become each others keepers. Larry referenced a Palo Alto high school that has had a rash of teen suicides. According to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, kids who commit suicide often put out warning signs.  Fellow kids are the most likely to see those warning signs.  But we seem to have this mentality to not respond.

Question 2: What does it mean to turn our children into agents of social betterment?

Rebecca Randall of Common Sense Media – There needs to be more of a home-school connection. Kids are leaving digital footprints, but they don’t really have the brain development to understand the consequences of their actions. Kids need to warn their friends that they’re posting something inappropriate.  As educators, we need to do things pro-actively and build a culture of responsibility – a “culture of dignity.”  It’s not just about doing no harm, but about doing good.

Lynette Owens – Trend Micro (content security) – Global Citizens Program – Tech alone is not the answer to Internet security – there has to be an education piece. The security piece is not as well represented in typical i-safety programs:

• Education by far has worst instances of malware – access to hacked URLs is 6X worse in education than all other organizations.
• Information software stealing is 4x worse in education.
• Disturbing statistic: 10% of ID theft = child identity theft. The technique of “social engineering” is on the rise. For example, with any current event,  such as the death of Michael Jackson or the Winter Olympics, criminals will rush to web and try to plant themselves wherever they think kids will be – but it’s really a hack link. They’ll make offers to children, which require downloading something to view whatever the offer is. Kids are often opening pop-up for codecs – that will log all keystrokes and send that information back to somebody.
• Teaching students about the security side of the Internet should be an essential component of our media literacy programs. Kids don’t like being manipulated. After watching some of the Internet Security 101 tutorials,  students will realize that downloading a cool movie, for instance, could result in loss to their privacy.  Our Internet safety programs should promote the process of critical thinking.
• Note: March 16 Trend Micro – will launch  Internet safety video conference. Will definitely be checking their site for this event!

The questions I will be revisiting on a regular basis, sharing with teachers and parents, and weaving into my Internet safety workshops are What does it mean to be a friend in 2010? and How do we create a culture of dignity?