Group items tagged

SHARETHIS.addEntry({ "title": "Changes at MySpace Signal a Move Away From Social Networking", "url": "http://www.thewrap.com/article/2736", "published": "1240950792" }, { "button": true })ShareThis yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = "Changes at MySpace Signal a Move Away From Social Networking"; yahooBuzzArticleSummary = "Sign of the times: One senior executive for comedy at MySpace has 1,403 friends on Facebook."; yahooBuzzArticleCategory = "entertainment"; yahooBuzzArticleType = "text"; thewrapcom49:http://www.thewrap.com/article/27363 votesBuzz up! Slideshow Depeche Mode's Traffic-Stopping Concert Depeche Mode celebrated the release of its 12th studio album, "Sounds of the Universe," with a free concert on Hollywood Boulevard Thursday evening -- which literally stopped traffic. The performance, which also appeared on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" later in the evening, drew a reported crowd of over 10,000. (Photographs by Jonathan Alcorn) Keywords Facebook news corp MySpace Chris Van Natta

My (Liz B. Davis ) Summary of Key Points (All are quotes directly from the article): Online "Predators" and Their Victims. Myths, Realities, and Implications for Prevention and Treatment. by: Janis Wolak, David Finkelhor, and Kimberly J. Mitchell - University of New Hampshire and Michele L. Ybarra - Internet Solutions for Kids, Inc.

The publicity about online"predators" who prey on naive children using trickery and violence is largely inaccurate.

adult offenders who meet, develop relationships with, and openly seduce underage teenagers

he new law takes effect January 1st and provides that the Internet safety curriculums in schools will begin with the 2009-2010 school year. The bill allows the age-appropriate unit of instruction to be incorporated into the current courses of study regularly taught in the districts’ schools.

Illinois’ partnership with the Netsmartz national Internet safety program was a Governor’s initiative that was launched in 2006.

Earlier this week, Governor Blagojevich signed into law the state’s new Cyberbullying law. It clarifies the definition of harassing someone by using electronic communication such as the Internet and text messaging and enables the prosecution of someone who anonymously bullies in this capacity.

A school must have a written bullying policy that includes consequences for violations, identify school personnel to notify with complaints and the policy must be posted in every classroom and be reviewed by students, according to a press release issued by Williams' office.

And while school violence had declined 4 percent during the past several years, bullying in schools has risen 5 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

The new legislation applies to any threats or intimidation in a school setting, including on school grounds, on a school bus or at any school-sponsored event. Also, the measure covers threats sent via e-mail or over the Internet, called cyber bullying. According to the state Department of Education, every school day 160,000 students miss school because they are afraid of being bullied.

A survey conducted by MSN United Kingdom found that 74% of teens as compared to 80% in this study did not go to anyone for advice when they were cyberbullied (www.msn.co.uk/cyberbullying, 2006). One reason some teenagers are reluctant to tell parents or adults is the fear of retaliation.

Many times parents don't get involved because they are afraid of invading their teen's privacy. Others may feel that as long as they have filtering software their teen is protected from negative material.

Parents need to be educated about cyberbullying- what it looks like, what the effects are and how to handle it. Rosalind Wiseman, educator and author of the best seller "Queen Bees & Wannabes", suggest parents consider the following: Use technology as an opportunity to reinforce your family values. Attach rules and consequences if inappropriate behavior occurs. Move the computer out of your child's bedroom and into the family room. Teach your child not to share passwords. Install monitoring and filtering software. Monitor your child's screen name(s) and Web sites for inappropriate content. If cyberbullying occurs, save and print out any evidence and decide whom you should contact for assistance.

Of those that reported that they had been cyberbullied, over 50 percent reported the cyberbullying lasted on average 2-4 days, while approximately 30 percent lasted a week or longer. Over 41 percent of the time cyberbullying took place with instant messaging, chat rooms and blogs (MySpace, Xanga, Facebook, Bebo, etc). In addition, 35 percent reported that e-mail was used to cyberbullied them.

ngry, depressed and hurt were the top three emotions experienced

he most reported reasons those that admitted to cyberbullying (14/59) gave were out of revenge (57 percent) and anger (43 percent) while 21 percent admit to cyberbullying because they did not like the other person. When asked how the cyberbullying take place, the results are similar to the ones reported by victims of cyberbullying: 43 percent by instant messaging or chat rooms and 36 percent by e-mails or blogs