tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81557169460235123992012-02-16T04:42:00.347-05:00This blog is intended to be an educational resource for students, parents and teachers about internet safety.BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.comBlogger1291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-2425740780480793872011-03-09T15:11:00.002-05:002011-03-09T15:22:54.694-05:00

Tomorrow, March 10, the White House will be hosting parents, students, teachers, and community leaders for a conference on bullying prevention. You can watch the conference live and join in the discussion with bullying experts through an online chat. Please follow this link to see the President's video invitation to the event. You can also go to the website stopbullying.gov for more information

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-37995910888458293402011-02-08T10:20:00.003-05:002011-02-08T10:43:20.782-05:00

Trend Micro and the International Internet Safety Coalition have announced their second annual "What's Your Story" video contest. The contest is open to students ages 13 and up. The contest also accepts submissions from teachers and their classrooms. Each video entry is expected to address one or more of the following internet safety topics:Being a Good Online CitizenUsing a Mobile Phone

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-67218106523883265472011-02-03T13:48:00.003-05:002011-02-03T14:32:13.007-05:00

We are pleased to make available i-SAFE's K-12 Internet Safety curriculum to all BPS educators. The interactive lesson plans, webcasts, and supplemental videos are being offered so all BPS educators can confidently teach their students appropriate online behavior, awareness and response regarding subjects such as cyber bullying, social networking, sexting, online predators, intellectual property

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-46550959186640170732011-01-31T09:54:00.002-05:002011-01-31T09:58:53.896-05:00

The educational technology blog, Free Technology For Teachers, posted about Eleven Resources for Teaching & Learning Web Safety. Check out some of these sites for your classroom cyber safety lessons and pass them along to your student's parents!

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-50989058136378987882010-10-25T10:39:00.004-05:002010-10-27T07:57:34.618-05:00

Two very interesting, thought provoking articles this weekend in the Boston Globe and Herald about what some school districts are considering as social networking policy for their teachers. Recently, some teachers in New York have been terminated or face disciplinary measures for inappropriate relationships with students that included contact on social networking websites.This is a great

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-55466408527660363742010-10-18T09:20:00.002-05:002010-10-18T09:45:31.114-05:00

This past Friday, ABC news magazine program 20/20 aired a story about bullying. While the title of the story was "Bullied to Death", they did mention that bullying (and cyberbullying) effect victims in non-lethal ways. One of the most staggering statistics that the segment mentions is that 160,000 children stay home from school each day out of fear from being bullied. Needless to say students

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-4142610589170810222010-10-01T12:35:00.003-05:002010-10-01T12:37:30.870-05:00

@font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; The new Safe Driving Law has taken effect and it is now illegal for anyone to read, write or send text messages while driving. State and local police are already handing out

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-29209306444139848942010-09-17T09:50:00.003-05:002010-09-17T12:04:34.304-05:00

The Boston Public School district will roll out the Everyone Needs to Know the AUP initiative in fall 2010, thanks to financial support from the Verizon Foundation. Verizon joins Microsoft, Boston Society of Information Managers and Bunker Hill Community College in supporting the five-year-old City of Boston's Cyber Safety Campaign.Last spring, with the increase in cyber safety issues facing

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-60047460672193318702010-06-21T10:59:00.005-05:002010-06-21T11:23:49.930-05:00

Back in March, the City of Boston invited all school-age children to submit creative ways of addressing the bullying problem and incorporate one of two contest themes. Students in grades K-5 are reminded to "Be Kind Online", while students in grades 6-12 are urged to "Keep it Social".With nearly 300 submissions, the citywide Anti-Bullying Contest was a wonderful success. Mayor Menino

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-76788400846332016582010-06-15T11:56:00.002-05:002010-06-15T12:25:58.404-05:00

Here is an interesting viewpoint from the Boston Globe about the new Massachusetts anti-bullying law. According to the principal featured in the story, the new anti-bullying law does not give principals any more authority in disciplining bullies than they had before the law was passed. In fact, students cannot be expelled for bullying according to this principal. The law calls for more training

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-19665389313197477642010-05-27T07:50:00.004-05:002010-06-01T14:37:21.991-05:00

The Sarah Greenwood School hosted OIIT for two afternoons of cybersafety lessons last week. Eric Esteves and Joe Kidd went out to the school to talk with students about cybersafety strategies and cyberbullying. They traveled to eight different classrooms and spoke with students in grades four, five, six, seven and eight. In grade four, the presentation focused around the BPS CyberSafety Heroes

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-14179496859407074792010-05-04T13:31:00.004-05:002010-05-04T14:46:36.053-05:00

BPS cybersafety expert, Eric Esteves, sent me a few interesting articles over the past couple of days. The first one is a new sexting bill that was signed into law by Governor Patrick a couple of weeks ago.http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20100413gov_patrick_signs_bill_to_outlaw_sexting_to_minors/The new law closes a loophole in the state's obscenity law that caused a conviction to

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-7708381650120306662010-04-29T15:08:00.002-05:002010-04-29T15:16:33.172-05:00

The Massachusetts legislature unanimously approved an anti-bullying law this afternoon. The bill will now go to Governor Deval Patrick's desk for review. The law would require all school employees to report instances of bullying and require principals to investigate them. You can read the Boston Globe article here.

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-16413199856312957222010-04-22T13:18:00.005-05:002010-04-22T13:34:18.116-05:00

Ever wonder how you can report abusive behavior on Facebook? Are you a parent or a teacher who wants to learn some best practices of keeping your kids safe on the the popular social networking site? Well, go straight to the source and check out the recently overhauled Facebook safety center. Facebook wants to send the message to its users that they take the subject of online safety very

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-77307837575203878612010-04-15T08:20:00.003-05:002010-04-22T13:33:53.751-05:00

Common Sense Media is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to "improve the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology." Their website includes age recommendations and reviews of televisions shows, movies, books, video games, websites and music. They also offer a parental

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-76378019214413654902010-04-05T08:55:00.004-05:002010-04-22T13:34:03.124-05:00

Over the weekend, ABC World News Report aired a story on how the city of Boston is trying to combat cyberbullying. The report featured a pair of students from Charlestown High School who were recent victims of cyberbullying. They were both interviewed about recent cyberbullying incidents involving Facebook pages. They called the new Boston anti-bullying hotline to report the incidents and get

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-37908790956793957532010-03-30T12:12:00.007-05:002010-03-30T12:35:07.064-05:00

Students from TechBoston Academy have won the 2009-2010 MARC Public Service Announcement Contest for grades 6-12 for their video about cyberbullying titled, "Anti-Social". The Massachusetts Agression Reduction Center will hold their annual youth summit on April 30. The summit is a free event open to all students in grades 6 to 12 and their teachers from any schools in Massachusetts. Students

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-19571883077293042602010-03-24T10:27:00.004-05:002010-03-24T13:44:17.198-05:00

Last week, the Massachusetts House of Representatives unanimously approved an anti-bullying bill in an effort to "secure our students from bullying, both during the school day and after school hours." The Senate previously approved the measure. According to an article in the Boston Globe, Governor Patrick has indicated that he will sign the bill after it has been reconciled in committee

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-32783158628376820652010-03-12T09:18:00.005-05:002010-03-12T09:34:45.630-05:00

The city of Boston has announced an anti-cyberbullying contest that is open to all residents of Boston who are enrolled in grades K-12. The contest calls for "artistic submissions promoting healthy online behavior". Works of art can include posters, videos, songs, poetry and more. Students in Boston public schools, charter schools, and private schools are all welcome to apply. The contest is

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-54958810350094250372010-03-05T16:52:00.002-05:002010-03-05T16:52:53.174-05:00

Two weeks ago, PBS Frontline aired its special "digtial_nation - life on the virtual frontier". This new look into how digital media has transformed our lives is from the same producer that brought us the ground-breaking Frontline special, Growing Up Online, back in 2008. The 90 minute documentary takes a closer look at both the positive and negative effects that are the result of our now

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-3202312709162455772010-02-25T12:10:00.004-05:002010-02-25T12:36:25.356-05:00

As part of the Mayor's ongoing campaign against bullying in the city of Boston, he and BPS superintendent of schools, Dr. Carol Johnson, hosted a meeting about cyberbullying with past and present Boston Public School's cybersafety mentors. The cybersafety mentors are BPS high school students who have been hired during past summers to create materials and perform presentations to educate others

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-48325290481307746772010-02-16T15:52:00.008-05:002010-02-25T12:36:25.357-05:00

Mayor Thomas Menino made an appearance at the McCormack Middle School Health and Wellness Day last Friday to speak to eighth grade students about bullying. The McCormack school Health and Wellness day featured community organizations making presentations to students on a variety of health related subjects. The Mayor used the event to announce a campaign against all types of bullying. The Mayor

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-29541793643356940632010-02-05T13:08:00.003-05:002010-02-05T14:34:45.947-05:00

This is a great example of schools using technology for the good of humanity, please contribute if you can!Schools from all over Boston have come together to help the Haiti Relief Efforts. Many schools have been devising ways to raise money for the earthquake ravaged nation. Some schools have raised money by having bake sales, while other schools have raised money by having special non uniform

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-41499340751378106442010-01-27T10:55:00.002-05:002010-01-27T11:03:26.282-05:00

As you may have already read, a student in South Hadley took her own life last week. The student was allegedly cyberbullied by other students in her school via text messaging and Facebook. This event again brings up the conversation of new anti-bullying legislature which has not yet been passed. Cyberbullying continues to be a growing issue for parents, students and school systems. If you

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-32103831994265348812010-01-20T08:48:00.003-05:002010-01-20T09:00:50.738-05:00

Wes Fryer, author of the educational technology blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity, posted a link to a very clever YouTube video about cyberbullying. The video, called RE: Cry of the Dolphins, is less than a minute but gets it's point across about how some people post hurtful comments to blog and video posts. Part of teaching our students how to be good digital citizens also includes

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-19847428188063305682010-01-14T14:09:00.002-05:002010-01-20T09:00:56.600-05:00

Common Craft is a company that makes very useful, informative videos using paper cut-outs that cover different subjects "in Plain English". They have recently released a new video entitled "Protecting Reputations Online". The two and a half minute video does a very nice job explaining what can happen when you post material online and how it may stay online even after you delete it. This would

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-48805057620871542262010-01-05T14:34:00.004-05:002010-01-06T06:48:46.814-05:00

Usually, when we talk about cell phone safety the conversation is about sexting, cyberbullying or the dangers of texting while driving (Don't do that!). However, CNET published a good article today about a different type of Smart Phone safety. It is a look at the most frequently asked questions about the biggest security threats for mobile phones including:Theft/lossMalware delivered through

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-50087690010830957552009-12-29T14:09:00.004-05:002009-12-29T15:21:02.097-05:00

Earlier in the month, Facebook changed its privacy settings and gave users more control over how they keep their information on the widely popular social networking site private. It is important for students (and adults) to understand what type of information they are making available about themselves online in social networks. It can be very easy to inadvertently share information, photos and

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-11178689516124058042009-12-17T14:22:00.005-05:002009-12-17T14:57:11.470-05:00

The Federal Trade Commission's cyber safety website, OnGuard Online, has just released a free internet safety booklet aimed to inform parents and teachers on how to talk to kids about cyber safety. The booklet, entitled, Net Cetera, covers a variety of internet safety topics including, cyberbullying, sexting, phishing, digital citizenship, file sharing, social networking and protecting your

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-42253058172389574352009-12-08T08:00:00.004-05:002009-12-17T14:58:16.070-05:00

MTV and the Associated Press recently released the results of a digital abuse survey they administered online to 1,247 participants. The report sheds some light on the digital behaviors of males and females ages 14-24. Some of the key findings of the survey are that 50% of the respondents report that they have experienced some sort of digitally abusive behavior including spreading lies,

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-8467552551464718342009-12-01T07:10:00.000-05:002009-12-17T14:57:19.003-05:00

There was a fascinating article on CNN.com the other day that asked the question, "Can Technology Keep up With the Law?" This is a very thought provoking article about real life cases of libel, slander and freedom of speech. The article explores some of the reasons why the law is usually about five years behind developing technologies and talks about how we have started to enter a "world

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-22562451666455679522009-11-23T15:01:00.003-05:002009-12-17T14:57:31.428-05:00

With the holiday season upon us, a lot of cybersecurity blogs and websites are publishing strategies for people to utilize in order to stay safe online. As more people are using the internet to shop during the months of November and December, there are a lot of scams out there designed to steal your personal financial information. Here are some helpful articles with tips that you can use to keep

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-4856883235852841452009-11-17T07:57:00.003-05:002009-11-18T10:11:48.463-05:00

Eric Esteves, of OIIT TechBoston, passed along this recent Boston Globe article about a number of bills scheduled for hearings this week that would crack down on bullying among schoolchildren. The article describes some real life examples of bullying and cyberbullying experiences from Massachusetts teenagers. With the rise in high profile bullying cases, most notably the suicide of an 11 year

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-64351975559041709952009-11-13T09:18:00.004-05:002009-11-13T10:39:10.355-05:00

The UK government recently released a study of 10,000 teenagers that states 47% have experienced some sort of bullying. The most common form of bullying that they faced was name calling and cyberbullying. The age in which bullying is the most prevalent, according to the study, is 14. The National Crime Prevention Council here in the United States has published similar statistics. Their

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-3654968501967944272009-11-06T08:10:00.004-05:002009-11-07T20:32:58.398-05:00

This is a good article to print out and use in your classroom to generate discussions with your students about online behavior. I first saw a link to this article while reading Net Family News, a great place to go for internet safety news and resources.The Washington Post ran a very interesting article this week in which two Indiana high school students were disciplined for posting photos of

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-56073770885728411192009-10-29T12:29:00.005-05:002009-11-02T14:41:33.889-05:00

On Wednesday, October 28, Eric Esteves and Joe Kidd presented a session about the BPS Cyber Safety Campaign at the Massachusetts Computer Using Educators Conference. The Conference took place at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro and drew teachers, principals and tech directors from districts all across the state. During the session Eric and Joe shared information with other educators on what the

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-34419896785531200822009-10-16T14:49:00.011-05:002009-10-23T14:17:38.299-05:00

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama released a video about Cyber Security Awareness Month. In the video, the president stresses the importance of keeping our computer networks safe. President Obama also states that he has created a new white house cyber security office which will be led by a cyber security coordinator he will appoint in the future.During cybersecurity month, some

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-59647774853634795062009-10-07T09:06:00.006-05:002009-10-07T09:33:09.036-05:00

If you have some students that think there are no consequences to sharing copyrighted music through peer to peer networks, have them read this article. Over the summer, a Boston University graduate student by the name of Joel Tenenbaum was ordered to pay a total of $675,000 in damages for illegally downloading 30 songs and sharing them online. Now, this is only the second lawsuit of this nature

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-91642147060206613092009-09-29T08:19:00.003-05:002009-09-29T09:24:18.063-05:00

You have probably seen it on your computer at one time or another. You are surfing the internet and then a window pops up and says something to the effect that your computer has been infected with a virus and to click here for a free scan. The windows look legitimate, and it looks like you are using a real antivirus program to scan your system, but it is not. It is a piece of software called "

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-31607392992189614792009-09-25T10:23:00.005-05:002009-09-25T14:53:07.067-05:00

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children recently released a policy statement about sexting. The consequences of sexting is dependent on what state you live in as well as the circumstances surrounding the case. This policy statement does a nice job of providing information regarding sexting, including examples, resources, and factors that should be considered in each sexting

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-38510061532576200302009-09-18T14:04:00.004-05:002009-09-19T14:42:59.572-05:00

Understanding copyright law and how it applies in the digital age can be very confusing for both teachers and students. Teaching students to correctly cite their sources, avoid plagiarism along with distinguishing between valid and invalid information online is difficult. Northern Kentucky University recently launched a website called Creative Thinking which includes lessons, videos and student

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-36204591195495144282009-09-11T06:14:00.006-05:002009-11-09T10:12:01.013-05:00

The Boston Public Schools’ (BPS) Cyber Safety Campaign is a unique program aimed at educating young people in Boston communities about safe Internet behaviors. Designed by BPS kids for kids, the Cyber Safety Campaign materials and activities were created to educate youth and their families everywhere about how to best protect their online activities and experiences.Launched four years ago by the

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-17786517715551515162009-06-19T14:26:00.002-05:002009-06-19T14:50:04.723-05:00

The Seattle Public Schools has spent the last two years or so developing a middle school curriculum. Mike Donlin, one of the authors of the curriculum, recently contacted us to let us know about the free curriculum that is posted online. Here is what he had to say:I want to pass along the link to the cyberbullying curriculum which we here in Seattle are rolling out to help ensure online safety

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-11389332959246352182009-06-06T06:14:00.006-05:002009-06-07T09:52:47.911-05:00

Three students from two different Boston Public Schools have been named as winners in the Commonwealth's 2009 Kids Safe Online Cyber Security Awareness poster contest. The statewide contest challenged students to create hand drawn posters depicting internet safety strategies such as being careful not to download viruses, not giving out personal information on the internet, not cyberbullying,

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-58768771973642685922009-06-01T12:11:00.003-05:002009-06-01T12:19:24.580-05:00

Usually when we teach about internet safety, we don't talk so much about physical injury when using technology, but a recent New York Times article reported that some physicians are worried about repetitive stress injuries in teenagers that send a lot of text messages. Teenagers send and receive an average of 80 text messages per day according to the Nielsen Company. The article also explores

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-71463792523030809102009-05-18T13:39:00.003-05:002009-05-18T13:51:51.554-05:00

A couple of interesting Facebook stories have been published in the news recently having to do with security of information. The first story has to do with cybersecurity and phishing attacks. Facebook has been plagued with these attacks over the past few weeks in which hackers are trying to acquire the login password information of Facebook users. The way that it works is that the hackers will

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-58545872582288203832009-05-06T14:00:00.004-05:002009-05-08T11:26:56.521-05:00

It seems that whenever there is a high impact news story that captivates the world, there are always criminals in the background waiting to prey on people's fears. So, with all the attention being given to the H1N1 Virus (Swine Flu), you also need to be wary of spam email and phishing attacks. There have been numerous reports of scammers sending out emails with titles about the Swine Flu.

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-28132259913311180842009-04-27T14:50:00.002-05:002009-04-27T14:58:57.062-05:00

Three Students in Billerica, who were involved in a recent sexting case, will not face child pornography charges, according to an article in the Boston Herald. Instead of being criminally charged in the incident, the one 13 year old student and two 14 year old students will be required to attend cybersafety classes and will have the use of their cell phones restricted over the next 6 months.

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-18316154716642905932009-04-15T07:40:00.004-05:002009-04-15T08:00:32.191-05:00

This Morning, Good Morning America aired a town hall style meeting with teens and parents about Sexting. The piece features Perry Aftab of Wired Safety giving parents a few tips on how to check and see if your child has posted anything inappropriate online. It also features a teenage girl and her mother who share how she sent a nude photograph of herself to her boyfriend, who then forwarded the

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-8980235511176551382009-04-08T19:32:00.002-05:002009-04-15T08:00:32.191-05:00

Another day, another story about teenage sexting. Leroy Wong, A colleague of mine sent a link to this story from CNN. It is another case in which a teen is convicted of a crime after he sent out a nude photo of his ex-girlfriend via cell phone to friends. As is the case in many of these incidents, his girlfriend willingly sent him the photo of herself. Angry, after an argument, the teen

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-84682477230748685972009-03-30T09:33:00.002-05:002009-03-30T09:46:56.799-05:00

60 Minutes ran a story last night about computer viruses and the notorious Conficker worm that has been spreading to networks across the world.Watch CBS Videos Online

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-6332338500428158852009-03-27T12:39:00.002-05:002009-03-27T12:52:54.168-05:00

Two weeks ago, the BPS Cybersafety Team was asked to present to the Greater Eggleston High School students as a part of their Health and Wellness Day at the school. The school lined up organizations to present on various issues of health and asked us to talk with their students about cyberbullying. So the team put together an hour long presentation for high school students about the different

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-55143113321937703922009-03-18T11:26:00.002-05:002009-03-27T12:53:00.655-05:00

Okay, here is a true life story. The other day a friend of mine answers the phone. I hear him say to the caller, "No, I didn't make that purchase, nope, that one wasn't mine either." He talks for a few more minutes and then hangs up the phone. I asked him who called and he told me that his credit card company called because they noticed some irregular purchases on his account. Apparently,

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-8802069731793597202009-03-13T19:42:00.003-05:002009-04-15T08:00:32.192-05:00

ABC World New Tonight just aired a television report on Sexting. As we wrote in this blog last month, the media has really started to shed a light on this teenage cell phone practice. Educate your children, there are many consequences to Sexting. One consequence is the chance that the picture you send will be sent to other people in your school, or posted online for the world to see. Another

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-73530126739767844152009-03-10T07:36:00.002-05:002009-05-18T13:51:51.554-05:00

There are many posts that I have been meaning to write about Social Networking for a little while now. Since I haven't been able to keep up with them, here are the articles that I wanted to share with a small synopsis about each. Study of Risky Behavior of Teens on MySpaceThe first article is about a study done by two doctors about risky behaviors exhibited by teenagers in MySpace. According to

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-68542985320387197472009-03-06T20:49:00.002-05:002009-03-06T21:12:57.348-05:00

Representatives from the Boston Public Schools Office of Instructional and Information Technology were invited to present to students at the Martin Luther King Middle School today. OIIT was asked to educate about six classrooms of students about internet safety as a part of the King School Health Day. BPS Cyber Safety Campaign coordinator, Felicia Vargas, as well as Eric Esteves and Haruna Tada

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-27801245017082783362009-03-03T10:45:00.003-05:002009-03-06T21:12:57.349-05:00

I just received this email from Elaine McCabe over at the Joyce Kilmer Upper School:I am very happy to announce that two of our fifth grade Upper School Kilmer students are semi-finalists in the 2009 State of Massachusetts Kids Safe Online Cyber Security Poster contest. In order for one of our Kilmer students to win, friends and family must vote electronically for the poster. The numbers you

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-52523378597775378182009-02-18T20:05:00.002-05:002009-04-15T08:00:32.192-05:00

As always, we adults are behind on the latest trends. The following trend is not new to students, it is just beginning to gain attention through the media. The trend is called “sexting” and it is when a person takes an inappropriate picture of themselves and texts someone with it. A lot of the articles I have read about this involve young teenage girls sending nude photos of themselves to

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-35209976795630191922009-02-11T09:49:00.002-05:002009-02-11T10:15:49.001-05:00

The Julie Amero story has gained much national attention over the last few years. Julie was the substitute teacher from Connecticut who was convicted of child endangerment after pop-up windows containing pornographic material were visible on the computer in the classroom in which she was substituting for the day. Eventually, the conviction was overturned after it was proven that the culprit was

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-63119375676011809672009-02-03T08:46:00.005-05:002009-02-11T10:15:58.894-05:00

By now, you may have heard about the internet safety report by a task force commissioned by 49 State Attorney Generals that has called online predator threats to children as overblown. If you haven't here is a quick synopsis:As part of an agreement last year with MySpace, FaceBook and other social networking companies, an internet safety task force was created in conjunction with 49 Attorney

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-28485335813907853712009-01-23T16:05:00.003-05:002009-02-11T10:16:05.590-05:00

Felicia Vargas, manager of TechBoston and head of the BPS cybersafety campaign was invited out to Pittsfield to see a presentation by the Berkshire District Attorney's office about the Student Internet Safety Mentoring Program they have created in conjunction with the Massachusetts State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. She was very excited about what they are doing with

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-85314349020368152532009-01-05T16:07:00.001-05:002009-01-05T16:14:04.853-05:00

eSchool News released its top ten most significant ed-tech stories of 2008 and 60% of them have something to do with internet safety. Six out of the top ten stories that eSchool News listed were about cases involving cyberbullying, online computer security, malware and illegal file swapping. It is amazing considering the amount of educational technological advances in the past year. The

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-81496444780722993872008-12-20T23:46:00.004-05:002008-12-20T23:58:46.528-05:00

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the RIAA is shifting its strategy against people who illegally upload and download copyright protected music online. Instead of threatening individuals with lawsuits and demands of cash settlements, the RIAA will partner up with internet service providers to try and stop people from sharing copyrighted music. Instead of sending letters to ISPs

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-11637471173667939212008-12-16T12:39:00.006-05:002008-12-16T13:00:53.514-05:00

If you use Internet Explorer for your web browsing, you may want to switch to Firefox for a little while. According to published reports, there is a serious security flaw that has been exploited in Internet Explorer. The security flaw can make a user's computer vulnerable to being hijacked. This can happen when the user is tricked into clicking on to a website that contains some malicious code

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-18791575573851026712008-12-09T12:55:00.006-05:002009-11-09T09:56:25.960-05:00

Teachers are always looking for more resources to teach cybersafety in their classroom. We haven't posted a new CyberSafety Resource spotlight in a while, so here are a few new ones and some oldies but goodies!StaySafeOnline.orgStaySafeOnline.org is a resource we have mentioned before, but has gone through a redesign since we last posted it. This site has a number of links to other cybersafety

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-59030843961062595222008-12-04T09:29:00.002-05:002008-12-04T09:53:48.592-05:00

Conviction in Megan Meier CaseThere has been a conviction in the closely watched cyberbullying trial of Lori Drew. You can read about the Lori Drew case in an earlier post in this blog. The synopsis of the story is that a young girl named Meghan Meier committed suicide after being duped on MySpace by a former friend and her mother. Megan had a falling out with her friend, so her former friend

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-25080576053924886702008-11-24T13:52:00.007-05:002008-12-04T09:53:37.290-05:00

Guess what adults...Social Networking isn't that bad after all...who knew?Some people hear the names of sites like MySpace, FaceBook, YouTube and Second Life and immediately their minds conjure up images of cyberbullies, online predators, and online scammers just waiting to steal the identities of unsuspecting internet users. This blog also publicizes those dangers on a regular basis. Every

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-90975066764303114272008-11-12T16:35:00.002-05:002009-05-18T13:51:51.554-05:00

Students need to be aware of what they and their friends are putting about themselves online. As more and more teens (and tweens!) post pictures, videos and information about themselves on social networking sites, they need to understand that what they post could have serious consequences whether they like it or not. Let's take a former New England Patriots cheerleader as one example. Fox news

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-58781238343286182302008-11-10T09:13:00.007-05:002009-02-05T16:48:53.863-05:00

Common Craft is a company that creates videos that help to educate the public about different types of technology. They try to make the videos as straightforward as possible with little high tech jargon so that they are easy to understand. They do a fantastic job of explaining things like blogs, wikis, social networking and other web 2.0 technologies with a set of videos called "In Plain

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-49366693926306114192008-11-06T16:46:00.002-05:002008-11-06T16:49:47.799-05:00

Schools systems around the country may be required to educate their students about internet safety in order to receive e-Rate funds according to the recently passed Broadband Data Improvement Act. According to an article in e-School News, The law includes language from an earlier proposed bill called the Protecting Children in the 21st Century. The language that the new law included from the

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-6794016479094801232008-10-27T08:09:00.002-05:002008-10-27T08:29:02.326-05:00

The Superintendent's Bi-Weekly bulletin had a warning for people that are receiving emails that claim to be from the City of Boston Credit Union. These emails are NOT from the City of Boston Credit Union. These emails are an example of phishing, which are emails sent to try and get the user to provide their personal information such as account numbers, passwords and social security numbers.

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-58525570542906769532008-10-22T12:05:00.006-05:002008-10-22T12:34:02.677-05:00

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Information Technology is holding an internet safety poster contest for 4th and 5th grade students. The deadline for the contest is December 19, 2008 and here is what the judges are looking for:Posters depicting Internet safety (being careful not to download viruses, not giving out personal information on the Internet, no cyberbullying, opening

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-72713308905946590932008-10-10T15:09:00.004-05:002008-10-22T12:34:47.793-05:00

Edweek.org sponsored a live chat focused on cyberbullying today. The chat featured Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin who are Internet-safety experts who are co-authors of the new book Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying. They also created www.cyberbullying.us, an information clearinghouse on cyberbullying.One educator asked how can a teacher know that a

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-30640725202586078422008-09-27T20:43:00.002-05:002008-10-10T15:17:29.204-05:00

The BPS Cyber Superheroes long awaited release of the "Be Safe" song is available for download! You can listen to it here on the blog and download it from the Boston Public Schools Cybersafety website.A special thanks to Eric Esteves and the TechBoston interns that worked hard to create this song and make it available to the BPS community and the world.

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-24852982522994524142008-09-15T12:35:00.007-05:002009-11-09T09:55:07.544-05:00

In the summer of 2007 Tech Boston hired high school students from Boston Public Schools to work on products that would help educate children on internet safety. One of the products they created was a movie featuring the real life BPS Cyber Superheroes. This past summer, a new group of BPS high school students took on the same challenge and created an amazing rap song starring the real life BPS

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-36612813229739309142008-09-13T05:49:00.004-05:002009-11-09T09:54:25.951-05:00

Fourteen Boston Public School (BPS) teens, working as Cyber Safety Mentors, connected with the Boston Public Library’s (BPL) Neighborhood Services Department to promote Internet safety during the Summer 2008. TechBoston, a division of the BPS Office of Instructional and Information Technology, coordinated the summer project that was underwritten by Microsoft, the Boston Society of Information

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-56724221352842099432008-09-10T07:50:00.003-05:002008-09-10T08:26:11.910-05:00

Have you registered to vote for the 2008 presidential election yet? It will be an historic election that may draw out over a million new voters, and scammers are hoping to cash in. The Better Business Bureau has issued a warning that ID thieves are using the election as a means to steal personal information from people registering to vote. The thieves are using email, phone calls and even face

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-37569043374923220042008-09-03T07:53:00.008-05:002008-09-03T08:39:06.858-05:00

Just in time for the start of a new school year, the Boston Public School's cybersafety website has been redesigned with a fresher look, easier navigation and updated content.   Teachers, parents and students can access the site for information, downloads and links to internet safety resources.  One of the latest downloads just added to the website is the internet safety comic book created by

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-35664680379469188042008-06-28T08:49:00.005-05:002009-05-18T13:51:51.555-05:00

Two Norwell teenagers were charged with identity fraud after posting a fake Facebook profile, impersonating a female student from Norwell High School. According to an article from the Patriot Ledger, the two recent Norwell High graduates posted offensive and harassing information on the fraudulent profile. The profile was only online for one day, Facebook officials removed it when they were

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-12827075633975253342008-06-18T16:52:00.006-05:002009-11-09T09:51:41.430-05:00

We are live at the Fifield School for their cybersafety night. The Fifield invited parents and students to view "Jake's Cyber Adventure", the BPS produced cybersafety movie. The movie was written and performed by Boston Public School students last summer to help educated students about safe cybersafety practices. The movie follows the BPS Cybersafety Heroes as they help their friend Jake

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-49520181408035948862008-06-12T08:08:00.006-05:002008-06-12T10:25:04.092-05:00

Chris Kelly, the managing attorney for the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office Cybercrime Division spoke to a group of high school students at the McKinley South End Academy last Friday. Chana Green, a counselor at the school, contacted OIIT earlier in the school year to try and set up an internet safety talk for her students. "I felt my students really needed someone with knowledge to

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-44358611800274220602008-06-10T22:19:00.002-05:002008-06-10T22:24:40.173-05:00

I just received this message from iSAFE the other day:June 1, 2008 June is Internet Safety Month, a month devoted to increasing awareness about safe and responsible online behavior. For i-SAFE, every month, every week, every day is dedicated to educating and empowering students of all grade levels to be safe online. The i-SAFE Safe School Education Initiative

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-33921987285321534462008-06-05T07:01:00.005-05:002008-06-05T08:26:24.090-05:00

The internet safety resources just keep on coming. According to a recent press release, Comcast is offering the PBS Frontline documentary, Growing Up Online free On Demand. This documentary is an excellent look into the online lives of teenagers and worth watching. Comcast.net has included new resources on its internet security website including a "for kids" page that contains games and

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-32706665806682845232008-05-30T08:19:00.002-05:002008-05-30T08:32:47.051-05:00

The New Hampshire state legislature announced an agreement on a bill that will better protect children from online predators according to New Hampshire governor, John Lynch. The bill was created to strengthen existing New Hampshire law by including enhanced punishment for repeat offenders, as well as closing previous legal loopholes in the existing Child Protection Act, passed in 2006.

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-81778501377871988762008-05-23T11:28:00.003-05:002008-05-23T11:54:32.766-05:00

Just about any teenage student who uses a computer knows how to use Peer to Peer software to share and download songs, movies, tv shows and software. They probably also know that it is illegal to distribute copyrighted material over the internet, whether or not they think it is wrong. This is also true of adults. Many adults know that it is illegal to share copyrighted material online, however

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-51690231159143446082008-05-15T14:40:00.002-05:002009-05-18T13:51:51.555-05:00

According to a report published by the associated press today, the mother of a girl involved in a cyberbullying suicide story has been indicted by federal prosecutors. The tragic story of Megan Meier made national headlines late last year, in which the mother of one of Megan's former friends allegedly created a fake MySpace profile that pretended to be a boy who liked Megan. You can read the

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-87739993849927227002008-05-12T07:10:00.003-05:002009-05-18T13:51:51.555-05:00

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced last week that social networking site, Facebook.com has agreed to make changes that are aimed to "enhance the safety of minors using the site." This is a similar agreement that MySpace.com made earlier in the year with the attorney generals from 49 states across the country. Some of the changes that Facebook has pledged to implement are:

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-77392559721526111342008-05-08T08:31:00.003-05:002008-05-08T08:47:06.734-05:00

Protecting Kids Online is an internet safety awareness program out of the state of Pennsylvania that is made up of law enforcement officials who present the program to parents, educators and students. They have released this 22 minute long video online that is free for anyone to watch. This is a nice resource to show parents to educate them about internet safety. The video focuses on two

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-53236351763272034672008-05-07T12:59:00.003-05:002008-05-07T13:06:38.382-05:00

There was a lot of attention a few weeks ago on a story from Florida in which some students planned to post a video online of themselves beating up another girl. Unfortunately, this is not a new issue, but is an increasing one. In fact, I recently typed in the search term “girl fight” into Google Video and it returned 5,863 videos! Now, I certainly can’t verify whether all of those results are

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-48284866616140463312008-05-03T05:26:00.003-05:002008-05-07T13:00:41.072-05:00

With the economic stimulus checks being sent out from the IRS, there is an opportunity for phishers and other scam artists that try and steal your personal information. There are several reports that identity thieves are sending are making phone calls posing as the IRS and asking for personal information. Phishing emails are also being sent out, telling people that if they "click here" they

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-57117923211714050792008-04-30T10:25:00.004-05:002009-05-18T13:51:51.555-05:00

Do you have a social networking page on Facebook, MySpace or another social network? Do you think that educators should use social networking? I read very interesting article from the Washington Post about a number of D.C. area educators and their social network pages. The reporter observed a number of photographs and comments that could be deemed inappropriate. Read the article to get the

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-51882963390915727432008-04-24T20:52:00.005-05:002008-04-24T21:31:51.009-05:00

The National Cyber Security Alliance released a study earlier this month that states 88% of the participants surveyed do not know what a “botnet” is and that 71% had never heard of the term “botnet” before. Why is this important? Well, according to some security experts, botnets may be the biggest security threat online right now. A botnet refers to a a large network of computers that have

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-14618589613425376582008-04-11T08:58:00.004-05:002008-04-17T12:04:54.702-05:00

There are a few resources that I would like to share today that give cybersafety tips and advice for families and other caregivers of children. The first is a video from an organization called Common Sense Media and is entitled, "A Common Sense Approach to Internet Safety". It is a seven minute long video that gives tips on keeping your children safe online while still trying to give them a

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-91581664625445811452008-04-08T09:29:00.005-05:002008-04-08T10:36:48.918-05:00

The state of Virginia announced that they have passed legislation that requires internet safety education for all grade levels in their public schools. More detailed information about the law can be read in this article published by The News Virginian. While other states have passed internet safety legislation, Virginia is the first to require internet safety education for all grades. This

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-62070333936366211822008-04-06T09:48:00.006-05:002008-04-06T10:19:41.481-05:00

OnGuard Online is a website provided by the federal government that provides practical tips to prevent internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information. One of the helpful resources the website offers is a video and tutorials section. Here is an example of one of the videos that are on the website that help to explain what phishing is. Another really neat

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-27106732822574469372008-04-02T13:48:00.003-05:002008-04-02T13:51:13.978-05:00

Elaine McCabe, technology teacher at the Joyce Kilmer School, sent in pictures of some of the cybersafety activities her students are working on. She started her cybersafety unit for grades 1 to 3 with a short survey. From this survey she learned that 19 out of her 20 first grade students use the internet at home without any adult supervision. She said, “I then thought it would be a good idea

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-30013075268445657352008-03-31T12:31:00.003-05:002008-03-31T12:50:46.228-05:00

Identity theft is a crime that continues to grow and grow and no matter what precautions you take, you personal data can fall into the hands of cyber criminals as evidenced by the recent incident with Hannaford Supermarkets. The growing media attention on identity theft and the negative impact it can have on a person’s credit has highlighted companies that claim to protect consumers from

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-29169890482950983072008-03-27T10:27:00.003-05:002008-03-27T10:39:23.520-05:00

Antivirus and internet security software company, McAfee, has created a 10 step internet safety plan designed to help protect families online. It is a nice guide filled with step by step information on how parents can keep their children safe online. While most of the information is common sense for some, it is nicely organized and easy to follow. The steps include computer placement in the

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-11195805712221679262008-03-20T12:23:00.005-05:002008-04-06T10:19:41.482-05:00

MySecurecyberspace.com is a great internet safety resource for teachers, parents, and children. Created as a free educational resource by Carnegie Mellon University, the site has many features for those who are looking for cybersafety resources. MySecure Cyberspace has a section devoted to sharing security advice based on the online activity your are performing such as blogging, online shopping

BPS Internet Safety Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06151869015579519488noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8155716946023512399.post-19891114478135140452008-03-18T08:04:00.008-05:002008-03-19T10:49:21.310-05:00

Add Hannaford supermarkets to the latest list of retailers victimized by hackers who have stolen credit card and debit card information of its customers. According to an article in the Boston Globe, Hannaford came forward yesterday to confirm that possibly 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers have been exposed and that this data intrusion is linked to 1,800 fraud cases already to date.

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