Daniels said, "One hundred and eighty
days of the year the kids are in school. So addressing this issue will
require a partnership with families and the community. We can't do it
alone." A typical case of "sexting" involves, for example, a fifteen
year old girl texting a nude photo of herself to, for example, her
seventeen year old boyfriend. The boy then sends this to 50 of his
friends not thinking of the consequences. This is "dissemination of
pornography" and there can be serious legal issues involved in this
situation. Another serious issue is the humiliation the young girl
experiences. Yung encouraged parents to call their local police if they
had any questions regarding the law surrounding this issue in their
city, especially involving child porn.

"Cyberbullying" is the
sending of mean or threatening messages sent to others. "We have a lot
of incidences of nastiness that happen out of school, but these
situations spill over into school because kids come to school with
their feelings hurt. We have lots of cases of this now," said Daniels.
A short film was shown displaying a useful message on cyber-bullying
"If you wouldn't say it in person, don't say it online."

Internet
use is hugely popular now. 94 percent of teenagers use the internet, 89
percent use it at least once a week and 61 per cent use it daily. 58
percent of teenagers use a social networking site with a personal
profile (like Facebook or MySpace), 70 percent of girls between 15-17
had profiles and 34 percent of those with profiles did not use their
"privacy option," which restricts who can view the information,
according to statistics presented.

Yung said it's hugely
important for all web users to know that once information is sent over
the web, very little of it is completely confidential. This can create
major problems as well, personal humiliations and dangers of children's
exposure to sexual predators. "The more information you put out there,
the more risks you are taking," he said. But there are a lot of basic
skills adults can use to help keep their children safe.

Daniels
advised parents to ask to see a child's "buddy list" and try to
determine if the child is speaking to someone they don't know. She
insisted that parents must know who their children are communicating
with. She also advised to turn on the "logging" tool on all instant
messengers (IM's or texters) so user's identifying info is recorded.

"I
don't advocate 'blocking' necessarily. It's kind of like if you forbid
it outright, they'll try to get around it, one way or another," Daniels
said. She advised using blocking only as a last resort if other
precautions aren't working. Daniels and Yong said the parent's job is
to communicate with the child, lead by example, have high expectations
for appropriate computer use, ask to see their buddy list and limit use
to reasonable amounts. Also ask for all their basic network
information. "A child could show a parent one Facebook account, but
have a second account they're hiding," she said.

Facebook/MySpace
profile accounts have additional risks for users. Yong said employers
and colleges regularly check these accounts. "Once you post something,
you don't really know where it goes, even if you delete it, it can
still be viewed by others. That's why security on all accounts is so
important."

The most serious danger is sexual predators. Daniels
and Yung said predators use Facebook sites, chat rooms and email
accounts regularly. A local politician who was tried for crimes against
children was shown at his trial in the powerpoint presentation. "The
typical predator doesn't talk about sex for a long time, they may spend
six months building a friendship. They'll be very friendly for a long
time before they initiate any contact. The kids think they're making
friends. The predators look for certain interests, for example the kid
might say he likes basketball. The predator says, 'You like basketball?
I love basketball too' or 'You're have problems with your Dad? I
understand, I had a lot of problems with my Dad too,' etc. Then after
six months they ask the child if they'd like to meet," she said.

Yung
suggested to never post anything sexually provocative. He showed a
short film about a humiliating experience of a young girl, an
experience that happens commonly all over the country. The girl puts up
a photo of herself on the school activities board, for whatever reason.
Later a boy takes it down, photos it and posts it on the web where
anyone can see it. She is initially very flattered when an older boy
says hi and knows her name. She doesn't know yet why he really knows
her name. But a trip to the movies becomes a humiliating experience as
a ticket taker and a janitor also know her name and say perverse things
to her. She returns to the bulletin board crying, rips down the photo.
She looks up and the embarrassing image is still there. As Yung said,
once something's posted on the web, it can't really be controlled." The
film ends with the slogan "Think Before You Post."

"Googling"one's
own name and one's kid's name is a good tool to use to see what is
being recorded out there, Yung said. Someone who lives in Somerville
with a common name should Google, for example, "John Smith Somerville."
An adult asked how they could understand texting or how to do a certain
computer task, Yung said, just "Google" your question word for word,
and something will pop up that will be helpful.

Daniels praised
Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone, "Gerry has such a good
reputation for prosecuting. But people don't realize what a big heart
he has for prevention and intervention. He's all about health and
safety for our youth." Her email address is Margie.Daniels@state.ma.us
and her phone is 781-897-6808.