Could the internet "kill" your children??

It's no secret... There are criminals actively targeting your teenagers online right now.

The father of Christina Long, a young girl killed by an online predator, said he would "give anything to take that computer back," and that he had "no hint" of what she was doing with the computer.¹  The body of Katherine Olson was found in the trunk of her car after going to a babysitting job she found online.²  Kacie Rene Woody, a 13 year-old girl, was kidnapped and killed by a predator she met in a chat room.³  Judy Cajuste, a 14 year-old girl from New Jersey, was murdered.  Police suspect an online predator.⁴  Police are investigating online predator involvement in the killing of 15-year-old Kayla Reed in Northern California.⁵

It's an unfortunate but true fact.  The Internet is quickly becoming a powerful tool for criminals to attack and exploit children.  One technique sexual predators use is to pretend to be an interested friend in chat rooms until they develop a relationship with your child.  Then the predator requests personal information such as your child's phone number and address.  The results are often too scary to imagine.

Risk Online

It is important to note the types of dangers that children may be susceptible to on the Internet. In addition to the useful and educational information available on the Internet, a great deal of content exists that is not appropriate for children. This content can include nudity or other sexually explicit material; hate group or racist web sites; promotional material about tobacco, alcohol, or drugs, graphic violence, information on satanic or cult groups, or even recipes for making bombs or other explosives.

Unfortunately child pornography is frequently exchanged via the Internet, and sexual predators can use the Internet to try to reach out to children for sexual purposes. Children could be targets of cyberstalking or harassment that includes repeated and unwanted contact through the Internet that is rude or threatening. Also, people can send viruses to other computers that could damage or destroy your hard drive.

Other Internet dangers to children include sexual exploitation or enticement. Sexual predators may target children online while maintaining relative anonymity. The nature of online interaction facilitates deception about the predator's identity, age, and intentions. Millions of children online form a large pool from which predators can select victims. Thus parents and educators need to carefully supervise children's activities while they are on the Internet.

Sexual predators frequent various chatrooms looking for children. These predators target likely victims; make contact; and work to develop friendship, emotional reliance, and interest in sexual topics. He or she may initiate offline sexual relations quickly or spend months "grooming" the child towards a sexual relationship. Sexual predators may use material goods, such as compact disks and games, to attract children offline. There have been cases in which predators have sent children bus tickets or money to cover the cost of travel or traveled to meet children.

The natural characteristics of children may facilitate victimization. Children of all ages have a lack of emotional maturity that can make them more susceptible to manipulation or intimidation. Also they have a strong desire for attention, validation, and affection along with a lack of caution or self-preservation. Children are taught to obey adult requests and demands and may be less likely to know when it isn't appropriate to do so. In addition, children are naturally curious about sex and other "forbidden" topics. It is important to note that children also may be hesitant to tell a trusted adult if they are approached in an inappropriate way, because of a feeling of embarrassment or the stigma of being a "tattletale.

It is also important to note that children may become involved in criminal activity on the Internet. Children can be the perpetrators in sexual exploitation or harassment cases. Other crimes that children may engage in include sending viruses, hacking, gambling, the illegal purchase or distribution of narcotics and weapons, fraud, and the illegal copying of software or other copyrighted material.

The dangers of using other blogs for inspiration

Blogs are just as much online communities as forums are. Whilst with a blog the author makes much of the content, really good blogs involve interaction through the comments feature. In this post I want to write about the dangers of using other blogs for inspiration for your own articles.
If you are committed to your blog, I would suggest making at least one post per day – something which I always try my best to do. It can be harder on some days than others to find the inspiration to write an original article. Writer’s block can extend to bloggers too!
During these moments of ‘blogger’s block’ you may start to remember posts you have recently read on other blogs and decide to write an article on that subject. Whilst there is nothing wrong in using other blogs for inspiration, you have to be careful.

Things u should take note..

1)Do not have an online profile.

As most blogging services allow bloggers to create an online profile. While it might be fun to post information about likes and dislikes, it is best to refrain from posting any personal details. Often, personal details inadvertently provide insight into physical location or habits. The aggregate information in a personal profile can also assist someone interested in pursuing an individual.
2)  Post anonymously

Manage your blog anonymously or adopt an alias for all online posting. This will help protect you in the event that you draw unwanted attention.

3)Avoid personal or identifying details.

Avoid any personal or identifying details when posting in your blog. Do not post in advance about locations that you will be or about areas that you live near.

4)No photos

Refrain from posting a picture. Photos can invite trouble or unwanted attention.

5)Avoid inappropriate dialogues

Be careful not to engage in dialogue that could be interpreted in a way that it was not intended. Sometimes humorous threads can get out of hand. If the dialogue degrades to an area that makes you uncomfortable, disengage from the dialogue and refrain from further posting. Also when making decisions about individuals online, consider their past posting behavior and attempt to consider their true intentions.
6)Lurkers

Always remember that just because you do not have a dialogue with someone does not mean that they are not reading everything that you write. Many people merely lurk on line and don't engage in comment posting, but do read what is written. Your audience could be much larger than you realize.

7)Timeless

Internet content is timeless, and keep in mind that even if you remove content, it might be archived or syndicated. If you do not want something read, do not post it to the Internet. High Schools, Colleges and Employers all search the Internet to discern an individuals history. Sordid details about a late night will not help land a coveted job.

The internet is a haven for all types of predators. Always remember that just because someone says something is true, does not mean that it is. Predators adopt personas of who they think you want them to be. Just as we provide guidelines to young children, adults should be wary and take precautions when posting online as well.

While blogging can be a great outlet and channel, and in someway immortalizing thoughts, it is important that safety is considered and that good blogging practices are followed at all times.

Lets see what an expert says

They just had a big TV special on Dr. Phil about Cyber Bullying and the kids that are committing suicide over it. It seems to come mostly, from what they are saying, with kids picking on other kids that they think are gay mostly; but, it is a horrendous thing to be going on.

Dr. Phil asked a lot of teens about it and they seems to all know a lot of kids who were bullied but not to that extreme they thought. His feeling was if you are there and see them bullying someone it's your obligation to speak up and say something about it to either try to get them to stop it or to report it to authorities before it gets out of hand. They say an alarming number of kids from 10 to 18 are committing suicide over being bullied and it's so hard to control now with so much of it being online and in myspace and facebook and youtube and all over the net.

Have you heard of or seen any of these things going on anywhere?

It has to be horrible to leave someone that young thinking the only way they have out of it is to take their lives. These kids are jumping off bridges after leaving notes on facebook and other places or doing other things to take their lives.

What can we do to try to help stop this situation?

Do you know of any that this has happened to in your area? So many of the parents and others are totally shocked when this happens. They say they knew nothing about it.

This world has got to change. We should be lifting each other up and not tearing each other down. The world is a hard enough place to live in and make our way through with problems we can't avoid. What can we do to make it a better place????

What is Cyber wellness???

Cyber Wellness refers to the positive well-being of Internet users. It involves an understanding of the risks of harmful online behaviours, an awareness of how to protect oneself and other Internet users from such behaviours.

More more more

In 2008, two cyber wellness comic books from MOE were published to help students to acquire safe and responsible online behaviours. Through engaging stories enacted through characters that appeal to students' age group, the books provide useful learning points for students when they enter cyberspace. The stories also cover key challenges in the cyberspace such as games addiction, copyrights and dangers with cyber contacts. There are also questions at the end of each story to help our students think and reflect on what they have learnt.

More about cyberwellness

The Internet has become an integral part of modern life and children are most vulnerable to the threats posed by prowling hackers, paedophiles and molesters. With the increasing use of the Internet as a source of information for teaching as well as for class and project work, it is important for the school and parents to expose our children to some of the danger of the net. The solution to this problem is not to ban them from using the Internet but to teach them how to protect themselves by raising ‘Cyber Awareness’. 

Amarin Raises $104.9 Mln Through ADS Offering - interesting facts

Biopharmaceutical company Amarin Corp.Tuesday said it completed the previously announced underwritten public offering of American Depositary Shares or ADSs to the public at a price of $7.60 per ADS.
The company said, due to the exercise in full of the underwriters' over-allotment option, it sold a total of 13.80 million ADSs in the offering for an aggregate public offering amount of approximately $104.9 million.
The company received approximately $100.2 million of net proceeds from the offering, after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated expenses of the offering payable by the company.
Amarin expects to use the net proceeds to prepare for the commercialization of AMR101, file a New Drug Application and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

More cases....

Meier (November 6, 1992 – October 17, 2006) was an American teenager from Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, who committed suicide by hanging three weeks before her 14th birthday. A year later, Meier's parents prompted an investigation into the matter and her suicide was attributed to Cyber-Bullying through the social networking website Myspace. The mother of a friend of Meier, Lori Drew, was later indicted on the matter in 2008, but in 2009, Drew was acquitted.

Soon after opening an account on MySpace, Meier received a message supposedly from a 16-year-old boy, Josh Evans, but actually sent by Lori Drew using a fabricated account. Meier and "Josh" became online friends, but never met in person or spoke. Meier thought he was attractive. Meier began to exchange messages with this person, and was described by family as having had her "spirits lifted". This person claimed to have just moved to the nearby city of O'Fallon, was home schooled, and did not yet have a phone number.
On October 15, 2006, the tone of the messages changed, with Drew saying (via the account) "I don't know if I want to be friends with you anymore because I've heard that you are not very nice to your friends". Similar messages were sent; some of Megan's messages were shared with others; and bulletins were posted about her. According to Meier's father, Ronald Meier, and a neighbor who had discussed the hoax with Drew, the last message sent by the Evans account read: "Everybody in O'Fallon knows who you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a bad rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you." Meier responded with a message reading "You’re the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over." The last few correspondences were made via AOL Messenger instead of Myspace. She was found 20 minutes later in her bedroom closet; Megan had hung herself. Despite attempts to revive her, she was pronounced dead the following day.

So guys do not do anything silly inform an adult if you are ever cyberbullied

Culprit and concequence

1.Ok... i will confess I was punished for cyber bullying one of the people that goes to my school.

About a week ago someone added me on msn. I don't think im allowed to give away the email address but it ended with "@fbi.gov" Im guessing the FBI added me. Anyway, they were talking to me on msn and asking me question about this cyber bulling case. They said someone had reported that ive been cyber bullying them. They said they were going to take my computer away to check for files and take me to court but they did say "if you confess you will be only watched for six months" when they said watched they mean acatully see whats on my computer screen :s

So I want to know if they actaully have the right to watch my computer screen for six months ? isn't it invading my pirvacy???

cases

Case 1:

This girl used to be my friend but shes been like physically hurting me (she punched me in the eye for no reason, she hits me). I stopped hanging out with her but she still has my email. Im not going to change my email because shes like a little flea, shes not even worth it. The things shes been saying to me though lately have actually made me cry, one time she made me cry so much i actually wanted to cut my self (i dont even cut)!. And the things shes saying, its weird but it still hurts. She calls me fat and ugly. I want it to stop and i emailed her and texted her a lot of times telling her to stop and that i just want it to stop but she keeps on doing it. i dont feel threatened. but she lives down the street from me and her parents scare me because they do stuff (drugs) and they've been arrested before. they've screamed at 9 yr olds before for messing with their "precious" daughter so im not sure what they'd do to me.
should i go to the police for what shes saying to me anyways? I dont want it to seem like im mad at her so i wanna teach her a lesson. i really want it to stop! 

 

 case 2:

im getting cyber bullied over msn and face book. on msn i just block them but then they come up to me at school and say
oh you wimp you blocked me on msn. you can't stand up for yourself.
on face book i can't block them. ( if there is away please tell me)
im getting sick of it. they are saying that i am a frizzy cow just because i have curly hair. they come on and say that i am a freak so i tell them to go away and then they start on me. i have done nothing to them so i can't see why they are doing this to me. it is getting me down

Thing you should do when you encounter cyber bullies

1.Ignore the emails, messages, or postings that use harmful language.
2.Not forward bullying messages to others.
3.Ignore emails, messages, and postings from known bullies.
4.Block the addresses of known bullies.
5.Show the messages to trusted adults including parents, teachers, or counselors

More about cyber bullying

Cyberbullies use various aspects of technology to threaten, harass, or embarrass other internet users. Victims are often teens or preteens who live in the same area or attend the same school district as the cyberbully.
On a fairly frequent basis, cyberbullies send e-mails, instant messages, or text messages to the intended victim's mobile phone or computer. Cyberbullying can also include leaving hurtful messages on a victim's blog. From threats of physical harm to willfully disclosing personal data and photos to many other internet users, the harmful behavior perpetrated by cyberbullies tends to defame and embarrass victims. The cyberbullies of today tend to be the victims of yesterday, and bullies and victims trade roles on a fairly regular basis.Cyberbullying can occur directly or indirectly. In the case of direct bullying, one bully communicates with just one victim. The messages they trade back and forth are only between the two of them. In the case of indirect bullying, others are involved with the process. Often adults are involved, and few of the bullies know the victim. Whether they manage to get the victim's IM account or blog banned or they encourage others to post horrible information about the victim, the danger is very real because so many individuals are ganging up on the victim. With more bullies comes more power and more damage.

On the internet...

What was once confined to the school yard has expanded into cyberspace, and these days, cyberbullies are causing more than just hurt feelings. Studies suggest that more than 42% of kids have been bullied while online. With serious results in many cyberbullying cases, including suicide, it is a concept that definitely deserves the attention of computer users on a worldwide basis.