A history of childhood abuse and use of a provocative online identity increase the risk that girls will be victimized by someone they meet on the Internet, according to a study appearing in the June issue of Pediatrics.

The explosion in social networking may be even greater than imagined. The time that people in the U.S. spend on social network sites is up 83 percent from a year ago, according to a report from market researcher Nielsen Online.

THERE is a gap between what parents think their children are doing online and what their kids are actually doing in real life. For instance, adults think kids are online for 10 hours a week. In reality, children are spending an average of 18 hours online weekly. The results were part of the Norton Online Living Family Survey, commissioned globally by Internet security firm Symantec, as well as in Singapore, between April and May.

Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) launched TOSBAck.org, "the terms-of-service tracker." It tracks TOS agreements for 44 different services, including Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Twitter, and eBay.

If nothing else, the Iranian election has shown how important social-networking technologies have become in participatory politics. This trend was particularly evident in Iran because nearly half of the country's 46.2 million voters were under the age of 30. These voters have come of age as citizens in an era of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and instant messaging.

Twenty eight percent of teenage girls have been victims of cyber-bullying, says GirlGuiding UK, a result of the research the group has put together advice on how young girls can deal with cyber-bullies. eight percent of teenage girls have been victims of cyber-bullying, says GirlGuiding UK. As a result of the research the group has put together advice on how young girls can deal with cyber-bullies.

Do school officials have the authority to impose discipline in response to harmful off-campus online speech? Should they? This is a major challenge facing school administrators today. Many state legislatures are now adding statutory provisions requiring schools to incorporate cyberbullying into bullying prevention policies. But this has presented some concerns. For example, in Oregon and Washington, language incorporated into cyberbullying legislation appears to restrict administrators from responding to any off-campus bullying regardless of the harmful impact on campus. Administrators from these two states are advised to check with their legal council. Administrators in other states should understand that the American Civil Liberties Union is trying to use language in the cyberbullying statutes to override federal case law and restrict administrators from doing anything in response to off-campus harmful speech.

A court case upholds administrators' rights to discipline a student who used derogatory language on a blog, but questions arise. In Doninger v. Niehoff, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in May that a Connecticut school district that disciplined a student for vulgar and derogatory remarks made off-campus did not violate her free speech rights.

Like many states, Texas now has state legislation driving cybersafety education in schools. In accordance with HB 3171, Section 38.023, the Texas Education Agency has developed and made available to school districts a list of resources concerning Internet Safety. In the navigation bar are links to 3 types of pages which are for students, educators and parents. Within each of the pages are links that categorize different aspects of Internet safety and digital citizenship to educate and inform.

New Hampshire's effort to educate the public on the dangers of the Internet--and helping parents Connect with Their Kids! about Internet safety.

The Boston Public Schools Internet Safety Website contains resources and strategies for parents, teachers and students to use in order to help promote online safety. There are some great classroom posters here for download.

Florida's Cybersafety Initiative consists of SafeSurf Web sites for Kids, Teens and Adults and a cybersafety school assembly program that specifically targets middle and high school students to educate them about cyberpredators and personal internet safety.

Illustrating how important this threat has become, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) and Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R-Mo.) proposed a federal law that would criminalize acts of so-called cyberbullying. In this blog, two national security advisors propose to take it further so that on-line masquerading is also defined and considered. They would also like to see H.R. 2163 increase the penalities when a cyberbully uses a false identity or steals another person's identity when bullying a victim.

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.

17-minute parent presentation on cybersafety developed by IKeepSafe and Comcast with Bob McDonnell, Attorney General, Commonwealth of Virginia. The video is available free for all Comcast Digital Cable customers via Comcast's signature On Demand service. It explores the risks associated with the Internet, and teaches parents and guardians how to become involved and take action to protect their children from these risks. It can also be downloaded online.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed a bill Monday outlawing cyberbullying, just miles from where a 13-year-old girl committed suicide nearly two years ago after being harassed on the Internet.\n\nThe bill updates state laws against harassment by removing the requirement that the communication be written or over the telephone. Supporters say the bill now covers harassment from computers, text messages and other electronic devices.

The California Department of Education (CDE) and the Office of the Attorney General (AG) co-administer the School/Law Enforcement Partnership program. The Partnership has funded the Kern County Office of Education for a five-year period to administer the statewide School Safety and Violence Prevention Training Grant. The grant provides for safe schools planning, bullying prevention, and crisis response training. This training program does not currently include prevention of bullying that occurs via electronic communication devices. Need for the bill : A poll commissioned in 2006 by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, showed that one in three teens and one in six preteens have been victims of cyber bullying and that more than 2 million of those victims told no one about the attacks.

The Pennyslvania Center for Safe Schools has released a new Internet safety video: Protecting Kids Online. This 22-minute Internet safety resource speaks to parents and caregivers on topics from understanding the serious repercussion of cyber-bullying to learning how to safeguard our children from online predators.

Kentucky's Office of the Attorney General's home page for cybersafety and cyberbullying awareness and information.

A new state law in Kentucky now requires the state Board of Education to develop disciplinary guidelines for bullying. Under the bullying law, the legal definition of harassment would be changed to include student behavior that causes physical harm, intimidation or humiliation for fellow students. The AB 91 law also says bullying can be done and cause harm to a student through the Internet, phone or by mail. It also elevates bullying to a criminal offense - a class B misdemeanor.