Back to school brush up on privacy invasion and cyberbullying tactics to avoid

5 Takeaways to Protect Yourselves

Note: this was a review from Skidompha Library for a past presentation. Check out the bullet points for excellent takeaway advice for parents and teachers.

Kay is a national player on the forefront of research about internet safety, and her presentation was a chilling reminder that ALL of us are vulnerable to online predators, not just teenagers.  We encourage you to go to the Cyberslammed website and read a little about the risks, so you know how to help your kids--and you--stay safe online.  She maintains a blog on the website that keeps track of the latest cases and risks in online safety.  Kay's book Cyberslammed is also available at both the GSB and Skidompha Libraries for check out.

Kay's presentation outlined six ways predators take advantage or bully their victims: digital pile-ons, rating websites, impostor profiles, haters clubs, sexting, and videojacking.  She defined each one and gave tips for how to avoid becoming a victim.  These are also detailed in her book and website.

We learned MANY things we did not know, and found a couple of ideas particularly chilling:

• Photos and videos posted innocently can go viral even when the person posting them has been discreet, simply by one person in the "friend" circle dragging and dropping them onto a website, for instance a rating website like "Hot or Not."
• Once an embarrassing viral photo or video is out there online, it is legally almost impossible to reel those images back in.  The are OUT THERE from now on for future educators, employers, or friends to see.  Every Google search on a name will call up these images, especially since facial recognition software means your image can be easily tied to your identity.  
• There are "Internet Trolls" online looking for ways to stir up trouble.  They are experts at finding conflict, for instance, inviting relatively "private" cruel conversations and bullying situations into public chat rooms where other people can pile on to the victim.
• Photos do not have to be explicit or provocative to go viral!  Even silly photos can be taken out of context and used to embarrass people online.
• For minors, sending an explicit picture--even of yourself!--over the Internet or cell phone text is considered trafficking in pornography.  If the person in the photo is underage this is considered child porn.  Kay showed terrifying photos of young kids in orange jumpsuits: locked up for texting nude selfies.
  

Please educate yourselves, so you can help your children make good choices!