1. A PARENT’S GUIDE TO INTERNET SAFETY
MAINE PRINCIPAL’S ASSOCIATION
STUDENT TECHNOLOGY ABUSE

2. *MY SPACE.COM *FACEBOOK.COM *ZENGA.COM *LIVEJOURNAL.COM
Students are using the sites above to interact with kids all over the world
The information they place on these sites are used daily by pedophiles
Students who type in the name of their school and their first name can put themselves in serious jeopardy; a person with evil intentions might find them in, literally, under a day.

3. WHAT CAN SCHOOLS DO?
Assistant principals all over the state are given privileges to view these sites at schools, so they can do searches of who and what students from their schools are posting.

4. WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO?
Help
Assistant principals are creating profiles, pretending to be a student at his/her school
He/she receives hits immediately from students from the school
He/she goes directly to the student to explain they could have been a “bad” guy
Many kids have disappeared and been found dead; authorities are tracing it to a meeting that was set up on MySpace.com

5. TEACH THE CONTROLS
There are safety features that can be enabled on MySpace, that kids are not using
However, they need to be diligent to still not put in identifying info., because the “bad” guys have found a “back door” to get into the profiles.
Actually visiting to a student’s site that contains too much information, during an assembly, and illustrating how, within seconds, someone can have a photo of this child’s home available…. is very powerful.

6. CYBER BULLYING Kids are using school e-mail and even personal
accounts to send threats to other kids, to teachers, and to create a bomb threat (weapon threats in Southern ME)
One student sold another student’s truck on e-Bay
Kids are taking photos, with camera phones, of an immoral nature and posting them online….they think it’s in secret but….

7. EDUCATORS HAVE HELP
No matter if a threat was written at home or not, we can take action
Isolate the computer
Contact our IT personnel, or student’s ISP
Inform local law authorities
Call MCCTF, Detective Scott Bradeen (Maine Computer Crimes Task Force) Any threats of shooting or bombing, call Det. Bradeen
Call Federal Agencies – FBI has a Maine office that works mainly with hate crimes, civil rights issues in schools

8. MORE ADVICE…. Students logging in is critical
We need our tech people to save router log files. This will save enormous man hours in case of a cyber bomb threat etc.
We should add remote desktop assistant on classroom computers
Even if a “hate crime” on computer did not originate at the school, we need to offer mediation and/or counseling.
Having a banner that must be read before logging onto any computer stating, “YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS TO PRIVACY” is effective.

9. See no evil? Not an excuse for schools anymore
EVEN IF WE FIND SOMETHING ON A BLOG OR MYSPACE THAT WAS NOT CREATED IN SCHOOL, WE CAN STILL READ THE RIOT ACT AND INVOLVE PARENTS
ONE STUDENT PUT A PHOTO OF SELF IN A DRUNKUN STATE…..SCHOOL DID ABOVE…student not allowed in sports
USE IDEA “DISTRACTS FROM DAILY EDUCATIONAL PROCESS”

10. RESOURCES AVAILABLE www.haltabusektd.org/resources/online.htm
Bullying.org
Bullybusters.org
Jayne Hitchcock, president of Halt Abuse
Harassment issues require a warning that it is illegal & is better if message given by a law enforcement officer
Personal computers, floppy disks, and plug in drives from home should be banned; way too much can be brought in; puts school in a high risk
Plus, personal computer search will require probable cause; school computers do not

11. WHAT ELSE DO WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT REGARDING OUR POLICIES?
FILE SHARING PROGRAMS – INDIVIDUAL TEACHERS CAN BE CIVILLY LIABLE IF A DOWNLOADED COPYRIGHT MUSIC OF SOFTWARE IS TRACED TO HIS/HER COMPUTER
ITUNES, DVD’S, VIDEOS, IF NOT DIRECTLY RELATED TO EDUCATIONAL USE; NOT ALLOWED
IPODS, IF NOT BEING MONITORED SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED
Cell phones with video capability are a very serious threat. If we have any issue with improper use of cell phone, such as a picture showing up on a myspace blog, we can call cell phone provider and get help in the abuse of the phone. (i.e. harassment)
SRO’s (student resource officer) should be considered at high school level…..they are not armed; they can discern if and when Attorney Gen. is required, or help create sanctions at schools.

12. IT WILL TAKE ALL OF US: HOME, SCHOOL, & LAW ENFORCEMENT TO STAY ON TOP OF THESE ISSUES
A Parent’s Guide to Internet is a great brochure
Internet Safety Tips
List of those to call in order of seriousness:
local police
local FBI
Training CD’s available at