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Most college-bound males, regardless of race/ethnicity, have a positive opinion of computing and computer science as a career or a possible major. College-bound females are significantly less interested than boys are in computing; girls associate computing with typing, math, and boredom. College-bound African American and Hispanic teens, regardless of gender, are more likely than their white peers to be interested in computing, although for girls the overall interest is extremely low. Teens interested in studying computer science associate computing with words like "video games," "design," "electronics," "solving problems," and "interesting." The strongest positive driver towards computer science or an openness to a career in computing is "having the power to create and discover new things.

Slightly less than half of Latinos surveyed have home computers, compared to rates of 79 percent and above among black, Asian and white Californians, the survey found. While computer usage by blacks and whites in California has increased, there's been a decline in computer usage by Latinos and Asians, though Asian use remains much higher than that of Latinos. The drop appears to be correlated with income, with a sharp divide in computer usage between those making less than $40,000 and those making more.

Only 48 percent of Latinos have home computers compared with 86 percent of whites, 84 percent of Asians and 79 percent of blacks Californians, the institute reported.

But Asians and Latinos have seen declines in use of computers. Latinos' computer use has declined from 64 percent to 58 percent since 2000, while Internet use remained unchanged. Asians' use of computers was much higher, but also declined from 91 percent to 81 percent; Internet use went from 84 percent to 80 percent. Only 48 percent of Latinos have home computers compared with 86 percent of whites, 84 percent of Asians and 79 percent of blacks Californians, the institute reported.

May school officials lawfully “search” the confiscated cell phone to look at stored text messages, photographs, videos, and logs of incoming and outgoing calls? Clearly, the circumstances of the search must satisfy the T.L.O. standard. Not as clear, however, is whether such a search violates federal or Michigan laws regarding stored electronic communications.

[A] search of a student by a teacher or other school officials will be ‘justified at its inception’ when there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school. Such a search will be permissible in its scope when the measures adopted are reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction.”

In Klump v Nazareth Area Sch Dist, 425 F Supp 2d 622 (ED Pa, 2006), a federal district court denied the school’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a student whose cell phone was searched.

For the home user, however, password safety requires more than on-the-fly thinking. Pacheco suggests a system built around a main word for all instances. The distinction is that the name of the site is added somewhere. For example, if the main word is "eggplant," the password might be "eggyyplant" Yahoo, "eggplantgg" for Google or "wleggplant" for Windows Live. He suggests listing the variations in an Excel spreadsheet.

Hackers rely on a lot of methods. Some, Rogers said, employ "shoulder surfing." That means what it sounds like -- looking over someone's shoulder as that person is typing in a password

The type of hardware being used can be a clue, said Rogers, a senior technical staffer in the CERT Program, a Web security research center in Carnegie-Mellon University's software engineering institute. It's easy to find a default password, typically in the user's manual on a manufacturer's Web site. If the user hasn't changed the default, that's an easy break-in.

As a group, libraries have embraced the digital age," said Lee Rainie, founding director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which has surveyed public attitudes toward libraries. "They've added collections, added software and hardware, upgraded the skills of their staff. A lot of institutions have had to change in the Internet age, but libraries still have a very robust and large constituency." A December 2007 Pew survey found that more than half of Americans — 53% — visited a library in the past year. That's expected to grow as more people look for free resources and entertainment in a slowing economy.

At the one-room Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Interim Library in the District of Columbia, books still line the shelves. But on one recent day, almost every adult at the library sat in front of a computer, surfing the Web, checking e-mail or visiting a social networking site.

The analysis found that libraries are thriving in the Internet age: •Attendance increased roughly 10% between 2002 and 2006 to about 1.3 billion. Regionally, Southern states lag the rest of the country in visits per capita. •Circulation, which measures how often library visitors check out print or electronic materials, increased about 9%, from 1.66 billion to 1.81 billion during the five-year period.

Cyberbullying Cyberbullying or online bullying is repeated, unwanted or cruel behavior against someone through computers, cell phones, gaming consoles, or other Internet-based means. The Internet is always “on,” opening the door for 24-hour harassment. Cyberbullies can be anonymous. They never have to confront their victims, they don’t have to be physically stronger and cyberbullies may be virtually invisible to parents and adults.

Look for warning signs your child may be the victim of cyberbullying – depression, lack of interest in school and friends, drop in grades and subtle comments that something may be wrong. If your child is the victim of cyberbullying, take action. By filtering email, instant messages and text messages, you can cut off many of the ways the cyberbullies contact your child. By having your child avoid the sites and groups where the attacks occur, he/she can ignore the bully. If harassment continues, change your child’s email address, user names and Internet account. If these steps do not stop the cyberbullying, contact the parents of the child who is behind the bullying, contact the school, and if the situation is not resolved, involve the police. It’s important to compile copies of harassing emails and postings to have evidence for authorities or the school, so they can take action. Look for signs that your child may be the cyberbully themselves – if they sign onto the Internet under someone else’s name, if they use someone else’s password without their permission, if they posted rude or mean things about someone else online, if they use bad language online, or if they changed their profile or away message designed to embarrass or frighten someone. Talk to your kids about cyberbullying and why it’s wrong and hurtful.