HSES PTA General Meeting

April 17, 2007, 7:30 pm

HSES Cafeteria

A general membership meeting was held regarding Internet Safety. The presentation was given by Maryland State police’s Sgt. Pat McCrory of The Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

How children get in trouble:

• Cyberbullying – online harassment/stalking, willful and repeated harm inflicted through the internet (e.g., threatening email, IM, text messages, defamatory websites, chat rooms). It’s against the law to use the internet to make threats to: do harm to anyone, damage anyone’s property, or damage anyone’s school. The key to finding the person is the IP address of the originating computer.
• Computer intrusions/hacking - accessing anyone’s computer without their permission, use someone else’s internet account without their permission, or use someone else’s internet password without their permission.
• Copyright infringement (downloading music)
• Chat rooms & instant messaging – choose non-identifiable and nongender specific screen name, don’t give out any person information, never accept files or downloads, know how to save copies of your IM conversations.
• Online communities (such as myspace.com) – colleges and admissions are denying applications based on information posted on a myspace account or internet postings that they believe your character comes into question. You must be 14 years old to have a myspace account.

Resources:

· www.netsmartz.org: GREAT site; age-based training and information for internet safety.

· www.missing.kids.com

· local and state police

· local police dept/ precinct

· Sgt. McCrory’s direct access: 410-290-1620 ext. 384; pmccrory@mdsp.org

The main message was that parents need to monitor their kids’ use of the computer at home. General rules include limiting the time they are online, keeping the computer in common place, not a bedroom, looking at the history in the internet browser.