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As a group, libraries have embraced the digital age," said Lee Rainie, founding director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which has surveyed public attitudes toward libraries. "They've added collections, added software and hardware, upgraded the skills of their staff. A lot of institutions have had to change in the Internet age, but libraries still have a very robust and large constituency." A December 2007 Pew survey found that more than half of Americans — 53% — visited a library in the past year. That's expected to grow as more people look for free resources and entertainment in a slowing economy.

At the one-room Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Interim Library in the District of Columbia, books still line the shelves. But on one recent day, almost every adult at the library sat in front of a computer, surfing the Web, checking e-mail or visiting a social networking site.

The analysis found that libraries are thriving in the Internet age: •Attendance increased roughly 10% between 2002 and 2006 to about 1.3 billion. Regionally, Southern states lag the rest of the country in visits per capita. •Circulation, which measures how often library visitors check out print or electronic materials, increased about 9%, from 1.66 billion to 1.81 billion during the five-year period.

Remember that nothing is temporary online. The virtual world is full of opportunities to interact and share with people around the world. It's also a place where nothing is temporary and there are no "take-backs." A lot of what you do and say online can be retrieved online even if you delete it — and it's a breeze for others to copy, save, and forward your information.

Mark your profiles as private. Anyone who accesses your profile on a social networking site can copy or screen-capture information and photos that you may not want the world to see. Don't rely on the site's default settings. Read each site's instructions or guidelines to make sure you're doing everything you can to keep your material private.

Safeguard your passwords and change them frequently. If someone logs on to a site and pretends to be you, they can trash your identity. Pick passwords that no one will guess (don't use your favorite band or your dog's birthday; try thinking of two utterly random nouns and mixing in a random number), and change them often. Never share them with anyone other than your parents or a trusted adult. Not even your best friend, boyfriend, or girlfriend should know your private passwords!

"When we were kids, our parents always told us not to talk to strangers. That was drilled into our heads," he said. "But now, we have to factor in what happens on the Internet."

Security settings and parental involvement are especially important in the virtual world, Morris urged. "Check your child's e- mail account on a regular basis. You're the parent; you can do that."

While social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace and Xanga can be hot-spots for sexual predators, "not everything about these sites is bad," Morris said, noting some of the most up-to-date information after the NIU shootings was found on Facebook. "Good things do occur, but we need to make sure we're monitoring them," he said. Morris urged the group to keep home computers in plain sight, to outline their expectations and review communications regularly with their children. "We want to build that level of communication with their kids," he said. "If they're talking to someone they shouldn't, we want them to be able to come to us. A child should be able to listen to a parent more than a predator."

The closest U.S. privacy law comes to a legal doctrine akin to copyright is the appropriation tort, which prevents the use of someone else’s name or likeness for financial benefit. Unfortunately, the law has developed in a way that is often ineffective against the type of privacy threats now cropping up. Copyright primarily functions as a form of property right, protecting works of self-expression, such as a song or painting. To cope with increased threats to privacy, the scope of the appropriation tort should be expanded.

Carrill is part of the Platte County Sheriff’s Office. He also leads the Western Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force. One of his primary missions is to track down and arrest online predators who trade in child pornography.And all these cameras only make his job more challenging. About 40 percent of the nation’s minors have access to Webcams, Carrill explained, devices for uploading live video to the Internet. About 65 percent of all children have access to cell phone cameras.

erhaps the biggest issue is that fact that kids don’t understand that when a picture is posted online, it’s nearly impossible to remove.“Once that image is taken, it’s out there forever,” Shehan said. “The No. 1 issue that we’ve seen with Webcams is teenagers self-producing pornography.”

All we can tell them is, ‘I’m sorry,’” Carrill said. “The minute the camera clicks, you no longer own that image. It has the potential to harm that person years from now.”A Webcam placed in a child’s bedroom is another bad combination, according to Shehan and Carrill. Sexual predators search for kids who use Webcams in the privacy of their own rooms, then lure or blackmail the child into providing pictures of themselves.“We see cases time after time of children who take pictures, send them to a predator and get a pornographic collage back that the predator uses to blackmail the child into providing more images,” Shehan said.

1. Identify and blockFirst, ask your child not to respond or retaliate, no matter how tempting it may be to fight back. If you can identify who's cyberbullying your child, block any further communications.

2. Set boundariesYou, not your kids, should also contact the bully (or bullies) and demand the offending behavior stop

3. File a complaint Most cyberbullying behavior -- harassment, threats, invasion of privacy, stalking -- are violations of a web site or Internet service provider's "terms of service."

What You Can Do If you are concerned about your children accessing adult material from their wireless phones/devices, consider the following: Monitor how your children are using their wireless phones or other wireless devices. For example, are they using them mainly for talking, or are they using them for messaging, taking photos and downloading applications? Check with your carrier to see what types of material it offers and what types can be accessed from your children’s handsets. Check with your carrier to see if there are ways to prevent access to and downloading of content that may contain inappropriate material and that is available on a per-use or per-application basis (e.g., games, wall paper images, songs). Monitor your bill. Any content purchases made from a wireless phone should appear on your monthly bill, so check your bill to see if any purchases have been made from your children’s phones/devices. The FCC requires that the descriptions of charges on wireless carrier bills be full, clear, non-deceptive, and in plain language. Check with your carrier to see what handsets are available for your children that are not capable of accessing advanced applications that may contain adult material. Check with your carrier to see whether subscriptions to wireless data or wireless Internet packages also offer access to adult material on your children’s phone.

Become powerful advocates for change. Regardless of who inhabits the White House next year, educational technology must play a more prominent role in our national education policy, Davis said--and educators should do everything they can to ensure that it does.

Share your knowledge and your passion. Help others take steps to ensure their growth as teachers, Davis said--so they can help students grow as learners. 3. Showcase your work, and students' work, in innovative ways. Invite parents and community leaders into your schools, Davis said--or take students' projects to them with the help of podcasts and other technologies.

Dream big. Have high expectations for your students, Davis said, because the possibilities that educational technology offers are "endless." 5. Use all of the resources available to you as you try to effect change. These include ISTE's many online resources, such as the group's National Educational Technology Standards and its research-based reports.