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One study even looked at whether playing "World of Warcraft," the world's biggest multiplayer online game, can improve scientific thinking. The conclusion? Certain types of video games can have benefits beyond the virtual thrills of blowing up demons or shooting aliens.

In one study, 122 fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade students were asked to think out loud for 20 minutes while playing a game they had never seen before. Researchers studied the statements the children made to see if playing the game improved cognitive and perceptual skills. While older children seemed more interested in just playing the game, younger children showed more of an interest in setting up a series of short-term goals needed to help them learn the game.

"The younger kids are focusing more on their planning and problem solving while they are actually playing the game, while adolescents are focusing less on their planning and strategizing and more on the here and now," said researcher and Fordham University psychologist Fran Blumberg. "They're thinking less strategically than the younger kids."

The annual Mobile Life report, commissioned by the Carphone Warehouse and the London School of Economics, says that 11 per cent of children aged 11 to 18 have had sexually explicit conversations online, with 28 per cent admitting they have accessed adult websites.

Many often pretend to be doing homework when in fact they surfing the internet, with 49 per cent saying that they lie to their parents about what they are doing online.

The reports, compiled from a survey of 6,000 people, also analysed the difference between American and British teenagers, with children in the UK emerging as much more sophisticated. For instance, 53 per cent of British youngsters have communicated by webcam, something that just 18 per cent of their American cousins have done.

Natives are good multi-taskers, who are savvy with social networks and other Internet technology and work well in non-hierarchical teams, Palfrey said. Those qualities can appear as both pros and cons for employers. While digital natives’ different expectations can lead to arguments with older bosses in hierarchical organizations, Palfrey suggested figuring out what those young workers are good at and then harnessing their good qualities.

Yet with so many different types of cyberbullying, ranging from online impersonation to e-mail hacking and distributing embarrassing materials about a person, it can be difficult for kids, let alone those trying to help them, to know how to respond and stop the 21st century bully in his or her tracks. "Awareness about the issue is high, but awareness about what to do when it happens is mixed," says Michele Ybarra, president and research director for Internet Solutions for Kids (ISK) and an adjunct faculty member at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Research suggests that those on the receiving end of traditional bullying may be more likely to cyberbully as a form of retaliation. Kids involved in the more severe instances of cyberbullying also tend to have more psychosocial problems, exhibiting aggression, getting in trouble at school and having poor relationships with their parents, says Nancy Willard, an expert on cyberbullying and author of Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats. And while traditional bullying appears to peak in middle school and drop off as kids reach high school, cyberbullying tends to slightly increase among kids in high school, a trend researchers can't yet explain.

One of the tricky things about helping cyberbullying targets is that they aren't always willing to talk about the problem. Teens often cite a fear of having their Internet privileges revoked as a reason for keeping quiet, Agatston says. Kids who receive threatening messages in school may not divulge what's happened for fear of getting in trouble, since many schools ban use of cellphones during the day. To get around that problem, Willard recommends having a frank discussion with your children about cyberbullying before it happens.

Musical works. Performance rights organizations (ASCAP, BMI and SESAC) handle copyright licenses for the performance of musical works, including their performance in a podcast. Separate licenses are necessary from each performance rights organization because each company represents different publishers of composers' musical works. Sound recordings. Copyright licenses for the playing (or "performance") of sound recordings historically have been handled directly with the owners of the works, usually record companies. (Over-the-air broadcasters are not required to obtain copyright licenses for playing sound recordings. They must, however, hold licenses for playing the underlying musical works.)

Reproduction. By contrast to webcasting, a podcast may include a reproduction of a sound recording. Podcasting is an interactive activity. It results in the transmission of a sound recording which is fixed and is accessible on demand by the user. The reproduction requires clearances or licenses - for the sound recording, and for the musical work. Although the performance rights societies offer licenses to cover the musical works in a podcast, no uniform or industry-wide licensing scheme has developed yet to cover the sound recording.

This leaves the podcaster with three choices: to attempt to obtain licenses from the record companies; to limit podcasts to sound recordings not subject to copyright protection (generally, U.S. recordings pressed before February 15, 1972 [careful: a CD reissue of a pre-1972 recording is a new, protected, sound recording]); or to eliminate sound recordings altogether from podcasts.

But the Internet is different. In most cases it has no such gatekeepers: anyone and everyone can appear to be an "expert." So to get the most out of the Internet, students need to learn two things: first, how to find good information online; and second, how to evaluate the information they find.

Using the template The Five Ws of Cyberspace as a guide, young people can examine the authorship, purpose, perspective and presentation of Web sites, in order to determine their credibility.

Deconstructing Web Pages provides a step-by-step application of the five Ws to an actual Web site - with some interesting results.

The FRCP now treats electronic documents no differently from paper-based documents," explains John LoPorto, executive vice president of sales and marketing for electronic archiving and security provider Privacy Networks. So should corporations, organizations, or schools ever have to participate in a court case involving federal violations such as copyright infringement, sexual harassment, unsafe work environments, or fraud, their e-mails will be considered as possible evidence. "Hence the need to save e-mail," says LoPorto.

I’m not aware of any federal Internet safety commissions that met during the Bush administration. From what I can tell, that administration paid very little attention to Internet safety other than to add to the exaggerations and fear-mongering about so-called Internet predators. So is there any point in taking yet another look at Internet safety? Yes, if only because things have changed dramatically over the past few months. To begin with, we have a new administration led by a president who actually understands the Internet as well as the constitutional issues that arise whenever government tries to control online speech, access or even safety.

When the new working group convened Thursday, our first speaker was Susan Crawford, who works at the White House as special assistant to the president for science, technology and innovation policy. A law professor and founder of OneWebDay, Crawford brings a refreshing understanding of the government’s need to balance safety and security with civil liberties, privacy and even the First Amendment rights of minors. Her opening remarks helped set the tone for the group by admonishing us to “avoid overheated rhetoric about risks to kids online,” pointing out that “risks kids face online may not be significantly different than the risks they face offline.”