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IT resources and guides for you to be WWW safe and aware of related issues.  Information on this Web Page is prepared for use by Teachers, Students and Parents.

BBC How net providers stop child porn Tuesday, 7 February 2006,

NBC TV Dateline Links for broadcast items

1. 'To Catch a Predator' III,  look at the whole page for more stuff
2. Dateline- 'Predator' III additional footage 
3. What can be done to stop predators 
4. Del the decoy 

WSD web links

Internet Safety web page for the WSD prepared as a follow-up resource from the October 1, 2004 PD workshop.

Other related WSD information: 
1.  Internet Chat Rooms and Instant Messaging pamphlet, 
2.  Policy JFCBA - Student and Staff Access to On-Line Information Resources 
3. Policy IIBG - Integration of Computer and Telecommunications Technology Into Education and Administrative Practices 

IT Links -

CyberTip  Manitoba (204-945-5735) or call toll free 1-866-658-9022 

Child Find CA (1-800-387-7962)

1. Safety has sections for Parents, Children and Professionals.
2. My Rules for Online Safety 
3. Safety on the Info Highway 
4. Online Safety Challenge  test yourself

Child Find - Manitoba
343 - 800 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R3G 0N4
Tel: (204) 945-5735,  Fax: (204) 948-2461  Toll:1(800) 532-9135

1. Download- Internet Safety Guidelines(59 kb)
2. Download- 4 Root Safety Environments(180 kb)
3. Education 
4. About Kids in the Know  
5. KIK Overview

Be Web Aware Be Web Aware is a Canadian public education program on Internet safety. The objective is to ensure young Canadians benefit from the Internet, while being safe and responsible in their online activities.
Look at your specific age group:  2-4,  5-7,  8-10,  11-13,  14-17. 
Other topics include CyberBullying,  pornography,  and internet addiction. 

Dan Farmer's resources: Home Page,  cryptography, a few suggestions 

February 8 in Internet Safety Day or check the index of activities. Parents can find more information on managing the internet at home. Teachers have IT material on hand. Children ages 7 - 9 can view the Privacy Playground.

PBS - Teens Find Friends and Strangers Online As online communities such as MySpace and Xanga grow rapidly, teens face big decisions about both their social lives and their safety. (new item - February 16, 2006). As online communities such as MySpace and Xanga grow rapidly, teens face big decisions about both their social lives and their safety. Many teens who eager to meet friends will lie about their age and most do not use the privacy features. One in five younger Internet users have been  approached for sex online and 1 in 33 have been asked by a stranger to meet or real at an unsafe place.

Testing starting  November 2, 2006

SafeSurfing  - these links are available for a test period.
We do not advise becoming a member.
This USA website to comply with the "The Child Online Protection Act",    
How to stop Porn Predators    
History of a Child Safe Internet    
Safe Sites for Children    
Safe Sites for Children UK    
Ask Jeeves for Kids    
Child Safe International     100% ChildSafe search engine with no broken links or content of unpleasant nature.

Articles for Use in School Newspapers.

Globe and Mail, Internet Growth Rate Dips. In 2002, 75 per cent of households using the Internet regularly from home reported that someone went on-line at least once a day on average, compared with 73 per cent the year before.  At home and at school, safe use of the internet is a necessary issue.

Parent Alerts - Source: McAfee 

There are literally hundreds of millions of these types of emails zooming all over the Internet. People start them for fun, invent some weird virus name and then send out a warning to a few friends. It's amazing how many people believe what they read. And as these friends send out to all their friends, so the number of emails on this silly subject grows and grows. You might say "Well, it MIGHT be true, so there's no harm in passing it on is there?" The answer is YES, there is! Firstly you look foolish when you send hoaxes to other people. Secondly all those hundreds of millions of hoax emails traveling around the Internet is slowing down everyone else's emails! So when you next get the warning by email about the new virus that will eat your computer hard drive, be wise: don't "send this to all your friends". Instead, trash it!

Internet Safety and Summer Time

All school families are reminded to take care in the use of the Internet and be responsible for the activities their children do online. Summer is a relaxing time and a time when adults tend to be away from supervision of child's activities, including the internet web sites, chat rooms and email. "The best way to assure that your children are having positive online experiences is to stay in touch with what they are doing." Summer is a good time to have fun but be very careful about the kind of 'fun' in chat rooms and email.
This summer is a good time to review the Internet Safety Rules with all your family.. Look at the Sargent Park website and the Winnipeg School Division Website for more information on Internet safety.

The station did a feature on Internet Safety early in May.
Check the web links for the Minnesota ICAC  and the 3 basic rules. Also take this: Interactive Internet Safety Quizzes that is part of this special page on Internet Crime

Other interesting links are
Get Net Wise - Tools for families to use on their computer
Safekids - Safe search engines

Do you "Talk Safety with your children" who use the Internet?

Thinking and talking with internet 'smarts' is required
The Winnipeg School Division and Sargent Park School continue to advise families to use the Internet with a personal safety plan. Each family needs this as an "insurance policy" for peace of mind for parents and children.
For starters in setting the policy, check out Child Find Manitoba's special page
to compare your safety plan with these super Cyber Tips

1. Keep all personal information (name, age, phone number, school, and sports teams' names) off the Internet and messaging.
2. Keep all personal photos and house photos off the Internet and messaging.
3. Turn off the computer and immediately tell parents/guardians if you receive any information that makes you feel uncomfortable.
4. Meeting someone in person that you talk with or chat with on the Internet must be arranged in a public area and only with the parent's permission and their mandatory accompaniment for this meeting. Let the other person know your parents will be with you!
5. The person that you are talking to online may not be the real person who he/she say he/she is. Much of the information a child tells to an internet reply to a stranger or an MSM friend who is really a stranger or chat room buddy can be used to entice a meeting. Children and their parents need to talk often about what is happening when the internet is used smartly and agree on how to solve situations and issues.

Winnipeg parents are aware of recent media reports that indicate how gullible children and youth can be and how unsafe a meeting place can be. Predators, pedophiles and abductors know how to create the false sense of security in the child through Internet pals and buddies. Parents have a responsibility for their children's safety at home - including their safety while using the internet. Parents can not assume that things are okay just because things are quiet or their child knows more about computers than they do. Remember that chat room messaging and emails can tempt child to express themselves in words and ideas that parents would not approve of - are you reviewing these contents? The kind of language a child uses needs to have parents approval and review.
Child Find, in their Parent Quiz, states "The most important thing you can do to keep your child safe is (answer) talk to them early and regularly about their personal safety".

If you would like a copy of The Winnipeg School Division "Chat Room: Guidelines for Parents", please contact the office or Mr. Lambert. Also, we recommend The Winnipeg School Division's Power Point presentation  or this Power Point presentation.  

Look at the key findings and see the danger: - 
- only 6% of those who met an internet stranger were accompanied by an adult  
- 1 in 2 youth have email accounts their parents know nothing about. 
Now is time for families to talk child safety, internet safety and think smartly when children use the internet daily!  
Be WWW safe every time you use the Internet. 

Internet Safety

Winnipeg news media have covered recent activities of child pornography. School families can locate some good web sites from Safe Kids in order to better protect kids: Child Internet Safety .  Topics covered include: The Benefits of the Information Highway, Putting the Issue in Perspective, What Are the Risks, How Parents Can Reduce the Risks, Guidelines for Parents and Kids Rules. 

8 rules while you are being safe using the internet (from Safekids)
Kids' Rules for Online Safety

1. I will not give out personal information such as my address, telephone number, parents' work address/telephone number, or the name and location of my school without my parents' permission
2. I will tell my parents right away if I come across any information that makes me feel uncomfortable.
3. I will never agree to get together with someone I "meet" online without first checking with my parents. If my parents agree to the meeting, I will be sure that it is in a public place and bring my mother or father along.
4. I will never send a person my picture or anything else without first checking with my parents.
5. I will not respond to any messages that are mean or in any way make me feel uncomfortable. It is not my fault if I get a message like that. If I do I will tell my parents right away so that they can contact the service provider.
6. I will talk with my parents so that we can set up rules for going online. We will decide upon the time of day that I can be online, the length of time I can be online, and appropriate areas for me to visit. I will not access other areas or break these rules without their permission.
7. I will not give out my Internet password to anyone (even my best friends) other than my parents.
8. I will be a good online citizen and not do anything that hurts other people or is against the law.

Tips For Safe Online Chatting - McAfee article

At home, position the computer in your main living space and make sure the monitor faces OUTWARD into the room so there is no secrecy. This is the single MOST valuable thing you can do for your child's health and safety online.

1. Work as a team to set your boundaries. Discuss with your child exactly what is OK and what is not OK regarding what kind of Web sites are appropriate for them to visit, which chat rooms to visit and what kinds of things to talk about there. Set logical consequences for when your child disregards your rules (like grounded from the Internet for 1 week), but do NOT threaten to ban the Internet forever.
2. Stress to your child that they need to tell you if they get any weird or upsetting messages while chatting, and that you will not be angry with them nor will you ban the Internet as a result. Make it clear to the child that you understand that the child cannot control what other people say to him or her and that they are not to blame if this happens.
3. Set strict time limits for Internet chat use and enforce them. Internet addiction is a real thing!
4. Make it clear to your child that people in chat rooms are ALWAYS strangers, no matter how often they chat to them, and no matter how well they think they know them, and that while they may be good or bad people, they are still strangers. Your child should therefore not always believe everything people say in chat rooms.
5. Make sure your child understands that they are never to tell a person online their real name, their school, their phone number or where they live.
6. Do not permit your child to be left alone in cyberspace for long periods of time - this is when they are most vulnerable. Make sure that their chat time occurs when YOU are around in the house so that you can check in on them regularly.
7. Be sure to stress to your child that they are to behave politely and respectfully at all times while chatting online with strangers or sending email to friends.
8. Don't panic! No one can harm your child through the Internet as long as your child follows your rules.
9. Take an active interest in your child's activity online. Do NOT use the Internet as a babysitter! Learn to surf the Web and chat online yourself so you understand what it is that your child is doing. If you don't know how to chat online, ask your child to teach you!

© 2002 Colin Gabriel Hatcher.
Source: http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?path=/virusInfo/vil/parents/safeChatting.asp

Question: How can you be WWW safer now?  Which IT resources were most helpful?