KEEP KIDS SAFE IN CYBERSPACE
PARENTS, BE AWARE:
Messages talk about violence and lots of personal information. This was a Friday, February 3, 2006 article in The Beacon News which we share with you by permission from Nelda Trish, Editorial Department The Beacon News.
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A concerned parent’s e-mail to a South Elgin school liaison officer last week led to a Kane County grand jury subpoena Tuesday for the operators of www.myspace.com to find the author of an entry there.The parent e-mailed Kenyon Woods Middle School liaison officer Frank Amato about a Web log entry where the author described going to “the big dance” and ruining it with the help of his “little friend,” a reference to the violent 1983 movie Scarface.
Police were able to locate the Web entry’s author and talk to his parents and the 14-year-old who wrote it.
The boy told police he wrote the entry “cause nobody cared.”
The student attends a St. Charles School District middle school.
“Steps were taken to obtain the facts about the situation and ascertain the student’s needs,” said Tom Hernandez, the School District’s communication director.
“We take these kinds of issues very seriously. We are committed to providing safe, secure learning and working environments for our students and staff,” Hernandez said.
No charges have been filed against the teen, and officials indicated the child is now getting counseling.
Popular Web Site
The incident is a reminder to parents to be aware of the popular Internet community and what their children may be posting on it.In addition to some questionable content in Web logs written by students, the MySpace site has become notorious for children and teenagers revealing personal information and photos.
“I didn’t know about MySpace,” until the parent forwarded on a link to the site, Amato said.
He’s planning on learning more about what children are posting there, and possibly sending a letter to parents in the community warning them to check what their children may be posting on the Web.
A search of the site brought up 2,812 18 year-old users within five miles of South Elgin.
Age restrictions ignored
Many of those biographies indicated the users were much younger than their stated age.According to the site’s own polices, no children under the age of 14 may post on the site. However, it adds, they cannot stop children from lying about their age.
Any posts by children under 14 will be deleted, the Web site states, if its operators are made aware of the problem.
A perusal of some of the postings, however, reveals several 14-year-old and younger students at area schools who give their names and dates of birth while talking about their school clubs, sports teams and even their class schedules.
St. Charles is one of the school districts that have blocked access to the MySpace site from school computers.
Hernandez twice this year has advised parents to check what their children have posted on it and similar sites, the last time in an e-mail to parents Jan. 5.
“We have gotten a couple more e-mails from parents concerned about their children visiting certain popular Web sites that some may consider questionable or even dangerous,” he said.
Too Much Information
The School District “shares parents’ concerns about access to Web sites that may be considered inappropriate for our students. The district has a process by which it reviews the appropriateness of providing access to certain sites, and has already blocked access to several,” Hernandez wrote.“Parents are also encouraged to be aware of what Internet sites their children may be visiting and who they might be talking to online.”
Parents need to be award of what their children are doing on line, said St. Charles police public information officer Paul McCurtain.
He suggests parents don’t allow kids to have their own computers in the bedroom, but instead in a central location where parents can monitor their use.
Some of the Web log sites contain “way too much personal information” that could make a child easily identifiable to a predator.
“There are people out there who are predators and who look for victims on the Internet.” McCurtain said.