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Recent incidents involving Internet crimes against children have
been prominent in the media. In some incidents, the crimes have involved
suspects and victims who met each other on social networking or blogging
sites such as MySpace, Friendster, Xanga, and Facebook. Blogs and
social networking sites where people can meet, communicate, and interact
have recently exploded in popularity. The number of visitors to MySpace
went from 4.9 million in 20051 to currently over 67 million.2 Like
most new technological developments, this brings both positive and
negative implications, especially for parents and their children.
The majority of the activity on these sites is legal and can be
positive. Young people who are curious connect with friends and seek
like-minded individuals. However, many children and teens are not
aware they are putting themselves in danger by giving out too much
personal information and communicating with people they've only met
online.
To help stop this dangerous trend, NetSmartz is releasing "Blog
Beware" to raise the awareness about the risks associated with
these sites and give parents, children, and teachers the tools they
need to keep children and teens safer online. This resource contains
safety tips for parents and children and includes a quiz that they
can take together. It is also supported by the extensive material
available on NetSmartz.org for kids, teens, parents, educators, and
law enforcement.
The NetSmartz© Workshop is an interactive, educational safety
resource from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children© (NCMEC)
and Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) for children aged 5
to 17, parents, guardians, educators, and law enforcement that uses
age-appropriate, 3-D activities to teach children how to stay safer
on the Internet. NetSmartz has developed a comprehensive educational
Internet safety program that has been proven successful in more than
3,000 Boys & Girls Clubs across the country reaching over 3.3
million young people. NetSmartz officially partners with 15 states
to implement its important Internet safety message in the community
and help prevent the online victimization of children.
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