FBI Comes to Spring Hill to Talk about Internet Safety

Spring Hill Elementary School is hosting “Internet Safety Night” tonight, for  parents of students from Spring Hill, Chesterbrook, Churchill, Kent Gardens, and Lemon Road Elementary Schools.

Special Agents Jennifer Heddleston and Tayna Sturgill of  the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force will tell parents how to keep their children safe while on the internet.

“We go out and do these presentations very frequently to community groups, churches, and even to school children themselves,” said Lindsay Godwin, public affairs specialist for the FBI.  The Bureau receives at least one request per week for presentations like the one scheduled tonight at Spring Hill, she said.

Five years ago, Spring Hill hosted an internet safety presentation with representatives from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The main message was that internet filtering software, such as Net Nanny, Safe Eyes, and McAfee Parental Controls, is only a temporary fix for a much broader problem. Because of the myriad of places children can reach the internet—friends homes, cell phones, Apple’s iTouch, etc—it is up to parents and guardians to teach their kids responsibility, wherever and whenever they are online, parents were told.

Tonight's presentation:  “It will be a frank conversation with parents,” Godwin said. “The agents will share what we know about online activity that can help protect kids.”  This includes an overview of the types of hazards that can be found on the internet, and how parents can start a conversation with their children about why internet safety is important.

In past presentations, FBI agents have told parents how to access recently viewed websites and how to put locks on inappropriate content. They have also distributed tips for recognizing what websites are potentially dangerous, as well as tools to decipher ubiquitous acronyms that kids are using to chat online.

More than just “GTG,” which stands for “got to go,” children are learning such acronyms as “PAL” and “PIR,” which are codes for “parents are listening” and “parents in room.”

With the prevalence of social networking, comes the higher frequency of inappropriate encounters online. According to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, “Although the Internet did not create child predators, it has significantly increased the opportunities predators have to meet victims while minimizing detection. They can communicate with children anonymously through instant messaging, social networking sites, chat rooms, message boards, and even cell phones.”

The immediate nature of Facebook newsfeeds, Twitter postings, and instant messenger requires parents, and children, to be constantly vigilant about online reputations and appearances. “Kids have to be aware of what they are posting online, and what others are posting about them,” Godwin says.

The most important task of the FBI's appearance to parents tonight, Godwin says, is to “give parents the tools, options, and understanding of what is out there.

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“Internet Safety Night", Presentation followed by Question and Answer session with FBI Special Agents

Spring Hill Elementary School, Tuesday, March 29, 2011,  7-8 pm.

For more information, teaching materials, and tip sheets about internet safety, visit the Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Net Smartz Program. The F.B.I. also has a Parent Guide to Internet Safety.