A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety

North East Independent School District A Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety North East Independent School District 8961 Tesoro Drive San Antonio, Texas 78217 Table of Contents Letter from the Superintendent .....................................................................................3 Internet Safety Tips ......................................................................................................4 Exploring the MySpace.com Site .................................................................................5 Glossary of Commonly Used Terms .............................................................................8 List of Other Resources ...............................................................................................9 Dear Parents and Guardians, The purpose of this letter is to address concerns about the increasing use of social networking sites by young people. Internet sites such as MySpace.com and Facebook.com are popular among middle and high school students because they provide students with a free forum to express themselves and network with other young people. These sites, however, also have the potential of being explicit, provocative and inappropriate. Many of the sites do not confirm the ages or identities of the people who create accounts. They allow young people to post personal information, communicate with strangers, and even arrange to meet the strangers in person. Recent news reports of these encounters indicate the more disastrous outcomes of these meetings. We are taking the following steps to ensure our students understand the consequences of posting information on these sites. 1. We will remind students about our Acceptable Use Policy and continue to prohibit these types of sites from school computers. 2. We will post pertinent information on our district Internet site (http://www.neisd.net/safety/ internet/) and speak with faculty and staff about the implications of these sites. 3. We will also talk with parents at upcoming parent and community meetings to make sure parents understand the risks associated with these sites, how to talk with your children about these sites, and how to help protect your children from them. The two most important things you can do as a parent are to educate yourself about the risks associated with the Internet and talk about these risks with your children. The resources that are posted on our district Internet site will help you in this endeavor as we work together to ensure the safety of our students at school, at home and in our community. If you do not have access to the Internet from your home, please visit your local library or the library at your school. If you have any questions about this matter or have suggestions for additional resources, please contact us at edtech@neisd.net or 210-804-7020. Sincerely, Richard A. Middleton 3 Internet Safety Tips From school to home, North East ISD students are surrounded by technology. Although the benefits of the Internet are endless, the Internet is a tool that can turn against students. Cyberbullying, online predators and other issues have also surfaced from Internet usage. The tips below are meant for parents and children to use as guidelines for Internet usage. For Parents Information posted on the Internet is accessible to anyone who wants it. Personal information and photographs can be used and misused by other people for dangerous and illegal purposes. Ask your child if he or she has an account. If your child has an account, review the safety tips, terms of service, privacy policy, photo policy and profile information together. You may want to formalize your discussion by creating a family Internet policy that parents and children can sign and promise to follow: http://wiredkids.org/parents/ parentingonline/agreement.html. If your child tells you that they do not have an account but you feel that your child may have an account, you will need to create a MySpace.com account for yourself in order to search MySpace.com for your child’s profile. Although MySpace.com is the most widely used, there are other social networking sites that offer similar services and potential dangers. 4 Safety Tips Continued For Children Never publicly post any personally identifiable information. This includes: real name, address, telephone numbers, organizations you are involved with, places that you frequent, links to Web sites or other profiles that might give this information away. Never post any information or pictures that you would not want to be broadcast to the entire world. Even without meaning to, you can give identifying information away by taking a picture in front of your car with your license plate, home, workplace or school showing in the photo. Never post anything that your parents, employers (current and future), or principal should not see. If you ever feel like you are in danger from someone online, tell an adult you trust and then go directly to your local law enforcement agency. Do not put up with anything abusive or that makes you uncomfortable. If you feel that you must meet someone you are only familiar with from online conversations, do not agree to meet in person without parent knowledge and participation. Treat others with respect and expect the same from them. Let the Web site know if one of their users is a problem using its contact information. 5 Exploring the MySpace.com Site MySpace.com is a social networking Web site that offers an interactive network of Web logs, user profiles, groups, photos and an internal e-mail system. It is the most popular Englishlanguage social networking Web site, with a high traffic of users and more than 75 million registered accounts. It has become an increasingly influential part of contemporary teenage culture as a way to meet other teens and socialize. Since it is the most popular social networking site, North East ISD has created a list of instructions for parents to explore it. Social networking sites have similar services, so parents can use some of the instructions in other sites, such as Xanga.com, Friendster.com, LiveJournal.com, Facebook.com and MyYearbook.com. CREATING AN ACCOUNT 1. Creating a MySpace.com account is relatively simple. Click on the Sign Up button on the MySpace.com home page. For the purpose of this account, you do not need to use your real e-mail address, name, country, zip, gender or date of birth. Type in the Email Address, First Name and Last Name that you would like to use for this account. Create a password that is easy for you to remember but not so easy that other people can figure it out. Type the password in the Password and Confirm Password fields. 2. Choose a Country and enter a Postal Code. Select a Gender and enter a Date Of Birth. Uncheck the Allow others to see when it’s my birthday box if you do not want people to be able to know how old you are. 3. Click on the Terms of Service link and print it out for your records. Do the same for the Privacy Policy. Read the terms of service and privacy policy, and check the box if you agree with the terms of service and privacy policy. 4. Type the letters that you see in the colorful verification area in the Verification field. Check to make sure that all the information that you have typed is correct and then click the Sign Up button. 5. The next page you should see gives you the opportunity to upload your picture. Click on the photo policy link and print it out for your records. Click the Skip for now link because a photo is not required to be able to search for profiles. 6. The next page you should see gives you the opportunity to invite other people to create a profile and join your network. Click the Skip for now link because invitations are not required to be able to search for profiles. 6 Exploring MySpace.com Continued SEARCHING FOR AN ACCOUNT 7. The next page you should see is your MySpace.com profile. You can now search for other profiles by clicking on the Search link near the top of the page. Please remember that MySpace.com (and other social networking sites like it) have very minimal confirmation procedures for e-mail addresses, names, birthdates and zip codes. 8. If you know the e-mail address or addresses that your child has access to, select Email from the buttons in the Find a Friend box, type one of the e-mail addresses in the search field, and click the Find button. 9. If your child used one of these addresses to create an account, their profile will show up on the results page. You can click on the View Profile link to see what your child (or someone who has created a profile using your child’s information) has posted. You may want to print the home page or write down your child’s Uniform Resource Locator (URL) number located near the top of the screen in the address bar. You will need this number if you need to cancel the account. A URL is the address on the Internet for a Web page. 10. If you do not know of any e-mail addresses that your child may have access to, you can search by name. First, type in the name or nickname your child may have used when registering for an account. Next, click the Find button. If the results page shows several profiles matching that name, you can narrow the results down by searching closer to a zip code that your child may have entered in their profile. 11. If you do not get any results from the e-mail and name search, you can try to search by your child’s school. Type in your child’s school name in the Classmate Finder box, choose the Country and State, and click the Find button. If the school is recognized by MySpace.com, it will appear on the next page. Click on the School link, and you will be presented with a way to refine your search. 12. Uncheck the Only show users who have photos box and then select some of the characteristics of your child (gender, age range, academic status, clubs) to see if anything matching your child’s (or their friends) profile comes up. Please remember that your child may have included some misinformation when they created their profile. If your search is unsuccessful, you may want to broaden your search parameters. 7 Exploring MySpace.com Continued DELETING AN ACCOUNT 13. If you find a profile for your child and would like the profile changed or deleted, you have several options. First, talk with your child about the profile and get them to change the content or delete it. If your child refuses to change or delete the profile, and you have access to their e-mail account, you can delete the account. We do not recommend deleting an account without first talking with your child about the account. 14. First login as the user with the Email Address and Password. If you do not know your child’s password, you can retrieve it by clicking the Forgot Password? link on the login box of MySpace.com. The password will be sent to the e-mail address used to login. 15. Once you’ve logged in, click Account Settings. Next, click Cancel Account link near the top of the account settings page. You should now see the Cancel Confirmation Page. Click the red Cancel My Account button. You will be asked to enter a reason for canceling MySpace.com. You may skip this if you wish. Click the Cancel My Account button. A cancel e-mail will be sent to the e-mail address of the user. In the e-mail there will be a link to confirm the cancellation of the account. 16. Please allow up to 24 hours for delivery of the e-mail. If it does not arrive, check your junk mail folder. It may have been incorrectly routed to protect you from receiving junk mail. For any questions, contact MySpace.com customer support at deleteaccount@myspace.com. 17. If you do not have access to the e-mail account, there is a third way to cancel the account. First, click the Contact MySpace link at the bottom of the page. Next, click on the Underage User link on the bottom left side of the screen. Next, click on the Contact Us link. Type your name, e-mail, and the reason why you want the account deleted. This request should include the child’s URL number (located in the address bar) in the form www.myspace.com/17738440. 18. If the child’s URL is not indicated in the cancellation request, the parent is emailed with a request for the information and that the parent works with the child in removing the account through normal cancellation procedures. If the URL is included in the e-mail, the site will review the account for any definite indications that the account owner is underage. If definite proof is found, the child’s profile will be removed and an e-mail will be sent to the e-mail address on the account explaining why the account was deleted. 19. If there is no indication of the child being under 14, site personnel will request a contact phone number in order to confirm the parental status of the requestor. Upon successful verification, the minor’s account will be removed while on the phone with the parent. 8 Glossary of Commonly Used Terms A profile is the identity a user creates on a social networking site, like MySpace.com, Friendster.com, LiveJournal.com and Facebook.com. A blog (short for Web log) is a personal Internet journal that is frequently updated and intended for the general public. An online predator is someone who uses the anonymous nature of the Internet to find victims and eventually take advantage of them in the real world. IMing is short for Instant Messaging. This is a private chat session with another individual. Chat Rooms are used for “real time” communication with someone using a computer. Various symbols, codes and acronyms (see Emoticons and common abbreviations) are used to communicate. Bash Boards are online bulletin boards used anonymously to write anything about someone that you want, true or not. Flaming is an insulting, angry or otherwise negative remark to or about someone in a public forum on the Internet. Harassment occurs when one user continually or deliberately offends another user with actions, such as posting comments intended to hurt, offend or conflict with another user’s beliefs. Cyberbullying is the use of electronic means by a minor to torment, threaten, harass, humiliate, embarrass or otherwise target another minor. Cyberstalking is the use of electronic means to repeatedly engage in the harassment or threatening of another. 9 Glossary Continued Emoticons are facial expressions created by using different keystrokes: : ( sad : ) happy ; ) wink * kiss ( ) hug (:& angry 8-O astonished 8-P yuck! : [ bored :,( crying `:-) raised eyebrow |( sleepy |-O yawn |-| asleep Here are some of the more common abbreviations used in electronic messages LOL – lots of love F2F – face to face ASL – age, sex, location MMA – meet me at BTW – by the way BRB – be right back KIT – keep in touch L8R – later LMK – let me know NBD – no big deal NMH – not much here NOYB – none of your business PLZ – please THX – thanks ?4U – question for you POS – parent over shoulder Parents can find an online dictionary to help them navigate online terminology and acronyms at www.webopedia.com. 10 List of Other Resources The following links may also be helpful in defining terms, emoticons and abbreviations: http://whatis.techtarget.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon http://www.acronymfinder.com/ Before you talk to your child, you may want to review the following sites: http://www.wiredsafety.org/internet101/myspaceguide.html http://www.wiredsafety.org/internet101/blogs.html http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/misc/safetytips.html http://www.safekids.com/ http://att.sbc.com/gen/general?pid=1390&phase=check http://www.wsd1.org/internetsafety/ http://www.netsmartz.org/ http://www.techcorps.org/resources/internetsafety/index.html After you talk to your child, you may want to formalize your discussion by creating a family Internet policy that parents and children can sign and promise to follow: http://wiredkids.org/parents/parentingonline/agreement.html Tutoring materials can also be found at the North East ISD Web site at the below address: http://www.neisd.net/safety/internet/ 11