Thing 1. Be Smart: Internet Safety

You have heard all the lectures and warnings from parents and teachers about Internet safety, being careful on MySpace, Facebook, or other social networks, and not responding in chatrooms, and more. You have read/heard the stories of students kicked off teams or out of school for bad behavior they posted on their MySpace/Facebook pages. It is important to review this as you start this project because you will be venturing out into the WWW and it is always wise to keep safety in mind.

So, we hope you listened, because it is smart to be safe and careful about what you do on the Internet. Most of us will never run into a problem--no identity theft, no predators, no bad encounters--but the chances of any of that happening are much less of you follow some simple practices whenever you are online or setting up a new account:

• Use password that is hard to guess and don't share it! Don't use family birth dates, a pet's name, your family nickname, your zip code, your address---you get the idea.
  
• Make sure you really know who someone is before you accept them as a friend. Especially true for the "friend of a friend" requests.
  
• Fuzz up your online photos a bit so they won't be used/abused by others.
  
• Don't post anything you wouldn't want a teacher, parent, principal, college admissions officer, employer, or other adult to see.
• Remember, what you post online stays online--pretty much forever. You don't have much control of anything you post after you post it. It is easy to copy and re-post stuff and you won't even know where it is. Think about that when you post.
• Don't do or say anything online you wouldn't say in real life.
  
• Protect your privacy and your friends' privacy, too. Get their okay before posting something about them or putting their pictures online.
  
• Regularly check what your friends are posting/saying about you. Even if you are careful, they may not be.
• Keep in mind that nothing is really completely private on the Internet.
  
• Use whatever privacy settings for online services that make you the most comfortable. Be especially careful with P2P software that lets you share files online--be sure you check the privacy settings so you only share what you intend to share. And do your parents know that you have P2P software on a home computer?
• Keep in mind that "no one knows you are a dog on the Internet." This famous New Yorker cartoon sums up the fact that it is easy to hide or create a false persona on the Internet.

Remember that even "friends" can be a problem. Harassment on the Internet comes in many forms. It may not even seem so bad at first, but all that text messaging/IMing/Facebooking can get out of hand if someone is constantly checking on you or demanding a response. Or if it takes time away from other stuff. See pic above.

The point is not to scare you or warn you away from the Internet and social sites. It is to remind you to pay attention to what you do online and be smart about yourself and your safety. It is not an urban legend about not getting into a job or being fired for what is on a Facebook or MySpace page. Fair or not, it happens.

And remember, everyone has access to the Internet, people can create and post whatever they wish on most sites, and not everyone and everything may meet your standards of behavior and morality. This is true even on sites like Flickr, ToonDo, and other content hosting/creation sites. If a link or site or something you find on a site (story, profanity, photo, image, cartoon...) is offensive to you, don't click on it. Nothing says you have to read it just because it's there!

At school (and maybe at your house), there is a filter to block some content, but it won't/can't block everything. And, really, you wouldn't want it to block everything someone else thought might be offensive to someone. Don't rely on a filter to "protect" you from content. You need to be smart about what you choose to view/use on the Internet. This is part of protecting yourself. Be responsible, be smart, make good decisions.

In the interest of entertaining you on this topic, we looked for some good YouTube videos on Internet safety. Most of them are lame, very lame, or so alarmist as to be silly. But here are a couple. If you find any others that are better, let us know!

Activities
1. Watch these videos and comment on them in your blog.





2. Can you find any better videos? Post them in your blog.
2. Review the Acceptable Use Policy so you know what you agreed to.
3. Google your name. Find anything surprising?

Resources
Got an issue online with someone? This site might help: That's Not Cool
Report issues of bullying, stalking etc. to parents/trusted adults.

Blog Prompts
These are just to get you started. You don't have to answer any or all of these questions; they are just to help you think about something to say.

• What are your thoughts on Internet safety?
• What did you think of the videos? Informative? Useful? Silly? Dumb? Would they help anyone you know learn more or change their behavior?
  
• What do you do to be sure you are using the Internet wisely and safely?
• How do you have your Facebook and/or MySpace accounts secured?
• If you do Internet banking or other things online--apply to college, for example--have you thought about safety and security?