Communities are made up of people who share something in common.

This common bond can be a good thing, such as parents supporting their children’s athletic teams,

Or a bad/sad thing such as a grief group for parents who have lost a child.

Homes and the neighborhoods offer another kind of community bond.

The bond can be related to location, such as Americans living overseas,

Or related to a life stage, such as being over 55 years of age.

The most familiar communities to us are where we live and where we worship.

These communities should be safe places where we are comfortable and secure.

How does a community keep its citizens safe How does a community keep its citizens safe? By making and enforcing rules and laws and by having someone available to take care of the community citizens if danger strikes.

There is another kind of community you may belong to There is another kind of community you may belong to. It’s called a cyber-community. A cyber-community is made up of everyone who signs onto the Internet.

Is the Cyber-Community safe and secure?

NO!

In the Cyber-community you can never be sure what’s lurking right around the corner…

We’re going to look at some things you need to know to keep you cyber-safe.

Appropriate sites. Just as there are safe places for you to go in the real world, there are safe places on the Internet. Whitehouse.com is VERY different from whitehouse.gov! You can usually trust sites that end in “.edu” which is educational or “.gov” which is government.

Beware of tricky addresses Beware of tricky addresses! You may look for things very innocently, but wind up somewhere you wish you weren’t!

What should you do if you find yourself somewhere you wish you weren’t?

Get off the page! Hit the back button or go somewhere else.

Close the browser. You can always open up a new browser and start again.

What about pop-ups. What if it tells me I’ve won a lot of money What about pop-ups? What if it tells me I’ve won a lot of money? Or a fantastic trip?

Get real! If it was that easy to win a car, we’d all be driving new cars!

DON’T click on those pop-ups! They want information from you!

Appropriate e-mail. There are all different kinds of emails Appropriate e-mail. There are all different kinds of emails. Some are from friends and people you know.

Some are from companies who send you updates on their products Some are from companies who send you updates on their products. I knit and crochet, so I have Lion Brand yarn send me their newsletters. In it I get articles about new yarns and patterns I can use to make things. But I made the choice to subscribe to the newsletter.

Some are from listservs Some are from listservs. A listserv is an organization that will send you information about a particular topic. I am on a listserv for librarians. I get information on things interesting to librarians. Doesn’t sound real exciting, does it? But you’d be surprised! Again, I had to ask to join the listserv.

Some of the messages are things I am interested in and I read them Some of the messages are things I am interested in and I read them. Some don’t sound interesting, so I delete them.

Some is SPAM. Spam is junk mail Some is SPAM. Spam is junk mail. It is just like the junk mail you receive at your house. It clogs up your mailbox and is very annoying!

Phishing is done by bad people who want to trick you into giving them information. They may send you an email that looks like it’s friendly, but it isn’t! It is from “fishing” but spelled differently. They put out bait and hope they can hook you into telling them about yourself. They want to find out about you, what you like, your personal information, and if you respond to one of their emails, they have your email address!

What should you do if you find anything on the Internet that disturbs or scares you? Tell an adult!

Needs some kind of graphic Needs some kind of graphic. Either reproduce notes or stage pictures using the same student for successive pictures. Real story: Over Spring Break one of the District teachers got an email from one of her students. The student said that she had received an IM from someone in a chat room on a kid-friendly site. The IM was threatening and the girl was home alone. Unfortunately, the teacher wasn’t home at the time and didn’t get her email until the evening.

When the girl couldn’t reach her teacher by email, she called her parents. She followed the rule – tell a trusted adult!

The girl’s father was a computer programmer, so he knew what to do The girl’s father was a computer programmer, so he knew what to do. He knew that she had not given her real name or address on the website, so the person could not find out where she lived. The father looked at the profile of the person making the threats. It said that she was a 29 year old female from Washington, D. C. When the teacher did get the email, she immediately called the girl and had a discussion with her and her parents about what had happened. They came up with some ideas to make the girl more cyber-safe. This site had Avatars. The girl had chosen a beautiful young girl for her avatar, and had listed her age. After this, she changed her avatar to a less attractive one and removed any reference to her age.

The girl’s access on the site was not limited to “friends The girl’s access on the site was not limited to “friends.” After this, she changed it to allow access only to people that she invited.

After all these security blocks were in place, the teacher tried to get access to the girl’s page. She couldn’t. Security worked!

Her father made a copy of the threats and put them in a separate file to save just in case the girl ever heard from this person again, so they could prove that she was being harassed or bullied. The girl has had no more contact from the person who was threatening her.

This true story had a happy ending. Make sure yours does, too!