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Middle School Lesson plans on cyberbullying, personal safety and predator education.

Instead of using scare tactics and statistics that are misleading, we must paint a realistic picture and use statistics appropriately. Rather than pass legislation that puts constraints on schools, Congress needs to fund online safety education and public awareness campaigns that show the true picture. "You can't get there from here." it's not just the punch line of a driving direction joke. For educators, whose destination is the realization of educational technology's potential, that punch line sometimes seems closer to the truth than we like.

Webcams, cell phone cameras being put to troubling use, experts say. People are taking pictures, lots of them, and then uploading them as permanent displays in the Internet collection.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has made it one of his priorities to install methods of protection for the state's children when it comes to using these Web sites, hoping to "make social networking safer," according to a press release generated by his office. Efforts by Facebook and MySpace to protect privacy are described in this article.

Cops Fear Vt. 12-Year-Old May Have Gone To Meet Someone She Met Through Online Social Site

The Montana Attorney General's office follows the national lead with a web site of their own on cybersafety resources and information for parents, educators and teens.

The Michigan Cyber Safety Initiative (Michigan CSI) is an Internet safety education program with customized presentations for kindergarten through eighth-grade students and a community seminar. There are many downloadable handouts for educators and parents, including an online safety contract, social networking discussion questions (parent dialogue with child), templates, slides and sample presentations.

Do kids really know who they are communicating with online? Posting too much personal information online makes it easy for internet users, posing as friends, to gather details about personal lives that could be used in unintended ways.

Volunteer agency founded in 1997 to fight online harassment through education of the general public, education of law enforcement personnel, and empowerment of victims. The site lists cyberstalking-related laws for all 50 states. They also have a Kids/Teen division.

John Walsh, children's advocate and host of America's Most Wanted, will discuss what parents and guardians can do to help protect and educate their children about the potential dangers of online predators and offer tips for safer surfing. Live Webcast. Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:00 PM Eastern

PSA sponsored by US Attorney General's Office to teach girls to think before they post.

On the one hand, today's technology - particularly the Internet and cell phones - provides kids wonderful opportunities to learn, recreate, and communicate. On the other, it also provides the means for kids to make and compound mistakes, some of which can lead to trouble. The kinds of mistakes we're talking about are mostly errors in judgment, some large, some small, but all of them things you should think about.

The Rochester Regional Cybersafety and Ethics Initiative has conducted the largest cyber safety and ethics survey of K-12 students in the Nation, with more than 40,000 students throughout the area participating. This new study shows that the majority of cyber offenses involving children, adolescents and young adults are perpetrated, not by adults, but rather by peers of approximately the same age or grade level. For a summary of the research report, see: Key RIT Cybercrime Research Findings.

Sexual predators are using gaming consoles such as the Wii, PlayStation and Xbox to meet children online. "Child predators are migrating from traditional methods to alternate media," says Detective Lt. Thomas Kish of the Michigan State Police. "They are going to places where children are." Predators view games that allow kids to access the Internet and text message other players as a "foot in the door," he says.

Flash video and activities for educators on topics related to cybersafetym predators, pornography, privacy, piracy and cyberbullying.

3rd in the Cybercop Series. MIRROR IMAGE tells the story of teenagers Sheena and Megan, best friends who are victimized by a criminal who uses the Internet to lure young women with promises of modeling contracts and online romance. Neither of the girls realizes that hacking software has been placed on their computers during their conversations with their 'online boyfriends.' Soon Sheena and Megan begin to suspect that someone is stalking them in real life. Players work with a detective to track the predator and arrest him. Available both as a home edition and a school edition. [Windows and Mac OSX versions available]

MISSING, from Web Wise Kids, is designed to SHOW rather than TELL children about online safety. It's a fun and positive way to teach children how to avoid danger on the Internet. The interactive software adventure tells the story of Zack, a kid in Vancouver, Canada who forms an online friendship with Fantasma. This guy is so cool - he has an online magazine about beach life in California and he sends Zack great stuff, like graphic arts and software. Little does Zack know that he is a predator. After Zach agrees to go to San Diego to be with Fantasma, players work with a detective to find and rescue Zack and arrest Fantasma. Available both as a home edition and a school edition. [Windows and Mac OSX versions available]. Note: Local middle school science teachers have successfully worked this program into their science curriculum since solving the game involves researching and collecting clues.

This video from WebWise Kids tells Katie Canton's story and is excellent to use in class with students. When she was 15, Katie met a 22 year old guy in a chatroom and fell in love. Only after playing the game MISSING with her family, did she come to realize that "John" was an online predator. He is now serving 20 years in prison, after Katie worked with the police and turned in evidence against him. Katie has become an articulate spokesperson for Web Wise Kids and she speaks at school assemblies to advise other kids. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

You can download Katie Canton's story here. When she was 15, she met a 22 year old guy in a chatroom and fell in love. Only after playing the game MISSING with her family, did Katie come to realize that "John" was an online predator, who is now serving 20 years in prison. Katie has become an articulate spokesperson for Web Wise Kids and she speaks at school assemblies to advise other kids.