• MySpace and social networking sites
• Identity theft, and
• Internet bullying.

The team manned a table in the main arena to provide information and advice to the hundreds of people visiting this event. The Internet Safety team is available to provide tailored presentations to any group in the local area. They have been supporting internet safety for OCSD since 2000.

 Article and photos submitted by Dave Watson
Internet Safety Team, HTSRU

The word is getting out there and the schools are starting to respond to our program. The best advertising is “word of mouth.” A number of topics were covered during the evening’s presentation, including the latest phenomena linked with “Social Networking”. Parents were shown a number of techniques that can be used to secure their home networks and track their children’s activities while on-line. Additional topics addressed were Cyber Bullying, Identity Theft, and Child Predators. Age appropriate parent/student contracts were made available for the parents to go over with their children to make sure they understand what is deemed “acceptable behavior” on their home computers. We are often asked for a “Silver Bullet” program they can install on their computers that will fix all their problems and track their child’s activities. There is no such program; it doesn’t exist. Good parenting and being “Net Smart” is the best line of defense in the cyber world.

Liability issues were discussed regarding children downloading and distributing copyrighted material such as movies and music CD’s. Parents can be held liable for their children’s indiscretions in these areas. Simple suggestions were made to parents to such as photocopy the contents of their wallet or billfold and store it in a safe place. This way if the wallet is lost or stolen, they will have a starting point and be able to contact the credit card companies with their card numbers immediately. We covered a lot of information in two hours and believe we have an important message to share.

Many of these tips can be found on the Internet Safety brochure on the OCSD web site, along with contact information to make arrangements for presentations to your group by Reserve Sergeant Jim Ellis and his team. If you would like to have the team present to your group, please contact Reserve Sergeant Ellis by e-mail at jaellis@ocsd.org or by phone at (310) 335-4269.

Submitted by, Reserve Sergeant, James A. Ellis, HTSRU, Community Services.

HTSRU has presented their Internet Safety Program to numerous groups throughout Orange County and surrounding areas for nearly ten years. Rapid technology evolution has brought more and more people to the Internet community. As with every community, some people don’t play well with others. A multitude of crimes and other complaints has sprung up in the Internet arena, and the HTSRU program helps parents understand the risks and provides tips on handling them successfully.

Many of these tips can be found on the Internet Safety brochure on the OCSD web site, along with contact information to make arrangements for presentations to your group by Reserve Sergeant Jim Ellis and his team.

If you would like to have the team present to your group, please contact Reserve Sergeant Ellis by e-mail at jaellis@ocsd.org or by phone at (310) 335-4269.

The team introduced common problems encountered by many families including identity theft, bullying, hacking, piracy, and the worst fear of many parents – sexual predators. Many activities that seem harmless to the uninitiated parent can indeed be a harbinger of risky behavior by kids. Likewise, the curious, sociable, modern youngster may exhibit innocent behaviors that seem pretty scary to some parents. The Internet Safety team recommended that the parents investigate the Internet Safety information sites identified by the team and encouraged them to get accounts on the social web sites such as MySpace.com and spend some time navigating through them. This will give the parents an understanding of the complex activities so many modern kids routinely engage in and put them in a much better position to help their kids avoid problems. For more information, see http://www.ocsd.org and click the Internet Safety Program link under Public Information. The brochure there will give the interested parent good starting points for learning more about these activities.

If you would like to have the team present to your group, contact Res. Sgt. Ellis by e-mail at jaellis@ocsd.org or by phone at (310) 335-4269.