Sexting teens need education, not jail, New York lawmakers say - BlogPost - The Washington Post

Sexting teens need education, not jail, New York lawmakers say - BlogPost - The Washington PostObviously, Parry Aftab agrees. A year ago, during an appearance on the View with registered sex offender-classified Philip, from the MTV When Privates Go Public fame, Whoopi expressed her opinion about kids being charged under registered sex offender laws for being "teens." She and Parry hit it off and will be working on a public service campaign to try and educate teens about consequences and lawmakers and criminal justice professionals about different approaches to sexting cases and using prosecutorial discretion in the meantime. Whoopi says, "Charging teens with the same crimes as the real sex offenders who are raping and sexually exploiting our children cheapens the crime." No one could have said it better.

Ask Parry - Is sexting a real problem or over-hyped?

Parry: I received a call from my child's school. They said a student had been involved in sexting and wanted to talk to the parents. My son is 12. Is this for real?
Shocked parent

Dear Shocked: Sexting is when young people take, share and keep sexual or nude/sexually provocative images and videos with others. No one really knows how often it happens, but school administrators reach out to us daily looking fo help. Sexual precocious behavor or teens and older preteens isn't new, but their ability to share it with the world is. Conservative kids, wild kids, sexually-active and sexually-inexperienced alike are finding it easy to take and share a sexual or nude image or video with others. Often they do it on a whim, on a dare or to get the attention of someone they like, or the entire football team. Most frequently is is take for or at the request of someone they like or are dating. And sometimes they are pressured into taking a sext to avoid having to do more. Learn more about sexting, the law and what is really going on at WiredSafety.org's sexting and sextortion pages.

YouTube - Sextortion Case - young victim blackmailed to provide sexual videochats

YouTube - Sextortion Case - young victim blackmailed to provide sexual videochatsthe first sextortion Parry ever worked, from years ago.

Ask Parry: How worried do I need to be about the Sony PlayStation data breach?

"Worried" is too strong a word. I prefer "concerned." The Sony data breach is the largest ofrecord, to my knowledge. More than 100 million users had their data compromised. The levelof concern depends on what data they had about you. Email addresses? Not too worried. Most spammers have those. As long as you don't fall for any scams directed at you by email that also include your name, account number, etc. that the hackers may also have obtained, you sould be okay.
If you lost your security questions, again, not a huge problem if you use different ones on each site or change the other sites' security questions right away.
If you are among the unluckier group, your financial data may have been compromied. YOur credit card or other financial account info may now be in the hackers' hands.
We created a section fo the WiredSafety site to address questions about the Sony breach. Contact the reporting agencies, learn from our site and the FTV.gov ID theft pages, watch your accounts, notify your credit card companies and change you account info on other sites.
But more than anything else, do not panic.

Michelle Obama Sparks Facebook Age-Limit Debate

Social Web sites thrill kids, terrify parents

Social Web sites thrill kids, terrify parents

Manila Standard Today -- My dangerous space -- feb07_2006

Manila Standard Today -- My dangerous space -- feb07_2006

Myspace.com and other social networks and teens...what parents need to know.

I have been involved in Internet safety for ten years. I started as an Internet security and privacy lawyer and ended up heavily involved in child protection.
Recently, parents, schools, teens and preteens and law enforcement have been very concerned about the growing use and often abuse of social networking websites, such as MySpace.com, Facebook.com, Xanga.com and others.

Before we begin, know that this too will pass. So take a breath and don't panic. The worst thing you can do, as a parent, is show fear. And the worse thing you can do as a preteen or teen is cause your parents to show fear. :-)

And, remember...I have been doing this for a long time and have learned that the greatest single risk our kids face in connection with the Internet is being denied access. They need it for school, future careers and their lives. We have solutions for everything else, if we look at the issues calmly, work together with our kids and members of the Internet industry.

As I get better at this podcasting thing :-), I will have special sections just for teens, for parents, for schools and for law enforcement. For now, you have to all access it at this one place. So play nice!

I have attempted to lighten the tone a bit. Parents are already freaking and the schools aren't far behind. Freaked adults can't approach a problem in a productive way. So, my first tip for parents (and schools) is "Don't panic!"

We have a program called "Take5!" for our kids, preteens and teens. It is designed to teach them not to lash out online when something upsets them. We tell them to step away for the computer and no one will get hurt. (Using the Law & Order voice). Having your hand on the mouse is too tempting when you are emotional. Parents need to Take5! here. If they over-react and come on too strong, their teens will just find a way to hide what they are doing. That's bad for everyone. Parents need to be the one place their children can come and trust. The last thing we want to do is cause our children to turn to an Internet "stranger" posing as their friend for advice and comfort.

Next, after you are calm enough (it's hard being calm with all the TV shows on this subject and the other parents panicking around you) you have two choices. You can see if you can find your child's profile on your own and see what they have written that is viewable to the public, or you can ask them to show you. I opt for the second choice. But be prepared for lies and pointing fingers at their friends.

If they won't show you, or you can't find their profiles, you can talk to the school administrators. They often already have a handle on this and may know where your child's profile is located and what they are saying online. If not, you may be able to work with them or other parents to find it. The good thing is that the kids link to each others' profiles, so you only need to find one to find them all.

If none of this works...you can resort to keylogging software, like the software sold by Spectorsoft.com. It will capture your child's passwords, as well as everything they say and do online. It will log their profile address wherever they have one. It is overkill for most situations. But in this world where thirteen year olds are refusing to listen to their parents, it may be your only option.

Once you get them to either show you their profile or find it yourself, you should be looking for certai things, no matter which site your child is using.

Drop back for the next episode on this and I'll teach you what to look for.

be safe!
Parry