1) One in 33 youths has received an aggressive solicitation to meet in person from someone online, and predators use chat rooms, discussion groups, blogs, email, and instant messaging to locate potential victims. 2) Predators befriend children by finding common interests from their online profiles, and characteristics of victims include spending a lot of time online, becoming distant from family, and receiving unrecognized packages. 3) Parents can help keep children safe by controlling internet access, using parental controls and filtering software, monitoring online activities, and teaching children about internet dangers.

1. Internet Safety For Your Child and You By: Michelle Jones

2. Did You Know… 1 in 33 youths has received an aggressive solicitation to meet somewhere? Most children who agree to meet face-to-face with an adult do so willingly, they are not tricked or coerced!

3. Did You Know… 1 in 17 youths has been threatened or harassed online? -or that- 1 in 5 youths between the ages of 10 and 17 has received unwanted sexual solicitations online?

4. It’s True! The internet makes it easy for predators to locate their next potential victims

5. How Predators Find Their Victims Chat Rooms Discussion Groups Blogs Email IM (Instant Messaging)

6. How Predators Trap Their Victim: An adult looking for children can use the interests and hobbies located on the child’s online profile to persuade the child that he or she has found someone who has similar interests and/or problems.

7. Characteristics of a Victim: Spending a lot of time online; especially at night. Becoming more distant from the family Finding pornography on child’s computer Calling long distance or unrecognized numbers

8. More Characteristics of a Victim: A child hiding what they are doing on the computer. Using a different online account. Receiving packages from people you don’t know.

9. How To Keep Your Child From Becoming A Victim: Control access to chat rooms and other types of discussion boards Control IM (Instant Messaging) Keep screen names free of any type of personal information (birthdays, age school name etc.) Place computer in a common area so it can easily be monitored

10. Other Ways To Keep Your Child From Becoming A Victim: Avoid online profiles in general Monitor use of cameras and webcams Check email, chat room conversations, instant messages, and entries on blogs and networking sites

11. Ways to Keep Your Child Safe Use your computers’ parental controls Install filtering and blocking software on your computer

12. If your child is being threatened or harassed online, you may want to contact one or more of the following: School Resource Officer Internet Service Provider Cybertipline: 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) www.cybertipline.com

13. Teach Your Child About the Harms of the Internet Make it clear to your children that you are in charge Tell your child about the potential dangerous of the internet Be on the lookout for advances in technology

14. Remember: it isn’t snooping; it’s caring

15. Sources http://www.besafeonline.org/English/safer_use_of_services_on_the_internet.htm http://www.ncsbi.gov/DocumentStreamerClient?directory=Publications&file=Internet_Safety_HighRes.pdf http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sip/index_en.htm