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Larry Magid and Anne Collier offer practical tips for educators and parents on how to prevent teen sexting (the sharing of nude photos by cell phone).

It's a brave new world. Unfortunately--continuing the literary allusion--Big Brother is watching. As technology makes more information more accessible, it also threatens to expose information that is not intended to be shared. Privacy is a concept that is caught in the middle of the struggle.

Are we TOO connected? Social networking services from Twitter and Foursquare to Yelp and Buzz encourage users to log in and share their location. Please Rob Me is a website by Forthehack that lists updates on Twitter and Foursquare from people who are telling they world that they are not home. Scary stuff and definitely something both kids (and adults) need to consider.

This forum, entitled "The Power of Youth Voice," brought together experts in digital media and learning to share their research and experiences using digital media in and outside of the classroom. Speakers included: Renee Hobbs, Founder, Media Education Lab,

Digital technology has had a tremendous impact on our lives. Although the Internet and cell phones have been in wide use for only a couple of decades, most of us can hardly remember a time before they existed or imagine how we would function without them. How have the accessibility of these technologies, and the ease with which we are now able to share information, changed the way we communicate? And how can young people in particular better deal with the issues that might arise from being able to communicate so quickly and easily with so many people? This activity will help students recognize and address these issues. Note: Registration for this site may be required, but it's simple and easy.

You're on the Web all the time: updating profiles, blogging, texting, downloading, gaming and shopping. You've heard, read or seen things about cyberbullying, sexting, scams, spam and posting stuff you shouldn't. And maybe you've learned a thing or two about how to be online and be safe and responsible while you're there. Share your story with Trend Micro. Your video could be worth $10,000!

Four ideas for using Twitter with Students.

Understand and control how you share information on Facebook.

From Childnet International, this site aims to give students advice and information on computer security issues in a practical and simple way. It was created by an 18 year old and addresses topics like spyware, adware, trojans and viruses, spam and phishing, identity theft, pop-ups and file-sharing. It would be best suited for high school students.

Less than 24 hours after its release, pirated digital copies of Dan Brown's blockbuster novel were found on file-sharing sites such as Rapidshare and BitTorrent. Within days, it had been downloaded for free more than 100,000 times.

This lesson takes advantage of students' interest in music and audio sharing as part of a persuasive debate unit. Students investigate the controversial topic of downloading music from the Internet.

In this lesson, students share observations about the nuances of spoken and written language. They then create comic strips that comment on problems that arise in electronic-based communications, and prepare a bill of rights outlining the rights and responsibilities of the online community.

Cyberbullying is sending inappropriate or mean messages and pictures to others and/or sharing personal, private information about others through technological channels. With texting and the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, it is a big problem facing preteens and teenagers. There are things teachers can do to better understand cyberbullying and help students dealing with it.

"In partnership with Topics Education, Microsoft is sponsoring an education initiative that supports teachers' needs for addressing digital citizenship and helping students understand how to handle and share digital content and respect for an authors/students intentions for sharing creative work. Topics Education developed a comprehensive turnkey, end-to-end curriculum that provides educators with teaching resources, an experiential student curriculum and tools to teach students about creative rights so that it is meaningful and relevant to their lives and achieving their potential."

In answering the famous Twitter question "What's happening?" we can tune in to the world around us; from grocery shopping to attending a business function, we can now share both our personal thoughts and literal happenings. Now, with the rise of "location-based social networks" the "What's happening?" suddenly becomes the question "Where are you?" giving transparency a whole new meaning. Currently leading the pack is Foursquare.com.

One of eight interactive case studies for kids (GR 4-8) from Cable In the Classroom: Power to Learn.
Establishing basic guidelines for Internet use is the first step in ensuring students' online safety. Learn what information should and shouldn't be shared online and appropriate interaction with online "friends." This unit explores the concepts of privacy in social networking destinations, the importance of being honest but not revealing too much information. The graphics are Nickelodeon style. A template allows students to create class rules. For the entire series, check out: http://powertolearn.com/internet_smarts/interactive_case_studies/index.shtml

Here are 8 tips to monitor and protect one's online reputation from the U.S. Government Information Security Blog: Search your name. Type your first and last name within quotation marks into several popular search engines to see where you are mentioned and in what context. Narrow your search and use keywords that apply only to you, such as your city, employer and industry association. Expand your search. Use similar techniques to search for your telephone numbers, home address, e-mail addresses, and personal website domain names. You should also search for your social security and credit card numbers to make sure they don't appear anywhere online. Read blogs. If any of your friends or coworkers have blogs or personal web pages on social networking sites, check them out to see if they are writing about or posting pictures of you. Sign up for alerts. Use the Google alert feature that automatically notifies you of any new mention of your name or other personal information. Limit your personal information. Tweet/chat/discuss regarding business and the emerging trends in your industry, but limit posting information on your personal life, which could be a subject of major scrutiny by recruiters and hiring managers. Also, be sure you know how organizations will use your information before you give it to them. Use privacy settings. Most social networking and photo-sharing sites allow you to determine who can access and respond to your content. If you're using a site that doesn't offer privacy settings, find another site. Choose your photos and language thoughtfully. You need to ensure that information posted online is written professionally without use of swear words and catchy phrases. Also, be very selective in posting photographs, and use your judgment to ensure that these photographs are how you want the world to see you. Take action If you find information about yourself online that is embarrassing or untrue, cont

A quarter of UK internet users aged eight to 12 had profiles on Facebook, Bebo or MySpace last year, research has found, although the lowest minimum age set on any of the sites is 13. Ofcom's annual Children's Media Literacy Audit for 2009 also had bad news for the music industry, finding that 44% of children between 12 and 15 thought downloading shared copies of films and music for free should not be illegal.

Budd:e Secondary explores advanced e-security topics, including: creating content, file-sharing, pop-ups, privacy, sharing, scams, spam, spyware, malware, phishing, online transactions and computer viruses. Includes videos and teacher resources.