Sue Scheff: Safe Florida - Helping Keep You and Your Family Safe in Cyberspace

Welcome to SafeFlorida.net, a Florida website dedicated to fighting CyberCrime and supporting CyberSafety. In today's world, internet child predators, child pornographers and other cyber criminals are exploiting our children and engaging in online solicitation. My top priority is protecting Floridians from CyberCrime and my Child Predator CyberCrime Unit (CPCU) is working to carry out that mission, arresting online predators and providing services to victims of child pornography.

According to the Federal Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, one in seven children between the ages of ten and 17 have been sexually solicited online. Additionally, Florida ranks fourth in the nation in the volume of child pornography. Internet predators are a serious threat to the safety of our citizens, particularly our youth. We must do everything possible to protect our children from these predators.


Computer-facilitated crimes are not limited to child pornography or sexual solicitation. In 2007, Florida ranked fifth in the nation for identity theft with more than 19,000 victims. Today's tech-savvy criminals are using the internet and other computer resources to gain access to Floridians' most private information.

With an ever growing population of senior citizens in our state, extra caution must be taken to protect these Floridians who fall victim to many types of exploitation including internet-based fraud. We must remain vigilant in protecting our seniors and providing them with useful information so they are better able to protect themselves.

Whether we are protecting our children from internet predators, shielding individuals from identity theft or keeping our senior citizens safe from those who target them for fraud, your Attorney General's Office will remain diligent in our fight against cybercrime.

Visit www.safeflorida.net for more information.

Sue Scheff: KidSafeOnline

Is this too cute? Well, yes, cute but also a very serious subject and concern for parents today. Gayle Ostic is the owner of KidSafeOnline and has developed an informational and educational site for parents to gain new tools and knowledge for keeping their children safe in space.

Source: KidsSafeOnline

Why KidSafe Online?

Gayle has worked as a systems engineer for various hardware and software companies for a period of 25 years. Given her technical expertise, it was easy for her to understand and look at what her children have been doing over the years between Instant Messaging and the sites like Live Journal, Xanga, Myspace and now Facebook.

It was these sites that spurred her into making sure her daughters were not putting personal info and revealing pictures on them that would help attract the predators. Gayle has always made known her monitoring activities to the children and discussed many of the good and bad things they can get out of the internet.

After working in business for many years she has also taught her children that anything written on the internet and sent out is open to public view. Therefore, it is not an invasion of their privacy for a parent to oversee any activity coming from a computer in their home. It is the parents obligation to see what goes outand also what is sent into their home.

1. Be aware of these activities

2. Acquire parental controls and monitoring software.

This is great advice but where do parents go when they are not comfortable or knowledgeable enough to find,install and use these software packages? KidSafe Online was created to educate and provide just those services.

Gayle Ostic wants to empower every parent with the correct skills to protect their families!

Sue Scheff: Tips and Tools to Keep Your Family Safe Online

The importance of family internet safety education and etiquette is often overlooked by both kids and teenagers today.

While most teens are more ahead of the curve than most parents when it comes to the internet, they may not have the knowledge to help keep them safe from online dangers and its potentially negative effects. On behalf of Girl Scouts of the USA and Microsoft Windows, I have been asked to to introduce you to a new initiative called “LMK (text-speak for “Let Me Know,”) which provides parents and girls with resources catering to both generations, and whose goal is to bridge the digital gap between parents and teenagers.

On http://lmk.girlscouts.org/, the girl-targeted website, teens can find interactive quizzes, videos, and expert articles to be informed about online safety in a fun way! Girls can comment on the site content, sharing their thoughts, experiences and perspectives on topics many teens face everyday, like cyberbullying and social networking. New content is posted periodically and will cover twelve different areas related to being a teen online today. Teens can even download an interactive patch they can share on social networking sites like Facebook, just by registering for the site at no cost.

Best of all, it’s for all teenagers, not just Girl Scouts! When parents visit http://letmeknow.girlscouts.org/, they can sign up for the e-newsletter written and developed by a team of “LMK Teen Editors” who are sharing their knowledge about the ways teens use technology and help parents understand it all. Parents will have the chance to learn need-to-know skills to keep them up to speed with what their kids are doing online too. Expert advice is also offered to give guidance on tougher issues.

If you could, please take a moment to visit these sites, learn more about the initiative, and the wonderful resources found on both http://lmk.girlscouts.org/ , and http://letmeknow.girlscouts.org/ and hopefully this will help you help your teens!

Sue Scheff: Sign The Petition - Support Nikki Catsouras

When a family loses a child, I can’t even imagine the pain they endure. How they wake up the next day, how they feel, what they feel and how they go on with life. When a family loses a child in a tragic accident it seems it could only compound all the feelings of loss.

On October 31, 2006 the Catsouras family experienced the nightmare every parent fears - losing a teen in a tragic automobile accident.

The accident was the beginning of an emotional roller coaster. If you haven’t heard about this story, it is time to take a moment and help make a difference. Nikki Catsouras, after having a horrific car accident was dead on impact, the scene was described as shocking as Nikki’s head was nearly decapitated.

Can you even imagine as a parent, learning of this? Can you imagine living through this? As a parent advocate and a parent of two young adults now, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what this family has gone through.

What follows next is nothing short of evil, in my opinion. Shortly after Nikki was buried, her parents and sisters still in mourning, the Internet creeped into their lives in the most heinous way. Photo’s of Nikki’s crime scene were posted online! Yes, their daughter’s body, or what was left of it, was going viral! Where is justice? Who in God’s name would do this?

Please take a moment to read “A Tribute to Nikki Catsouras” and sign the petition to help create reasonable protection for personal privacy on the Internet.

Sue Scheff: Internet Safety

In today's society, the Internet has made its way into almost every American home. It is a well-known fact that the web is a valuable asset for research and learning. Unfortunately, it can also be a very dangerous place for teens. With social networking sites like Myspace and Friendster, chat rooms, instant messaging, and online role-playing video games, our children are at access to almost anyone. Sue Scheff, along with Parent's Universal Resource Experts™, is tackling the dangers of the web.

Keeping tabs on our teens' online habits doesn't just keep them safe from online predators. More and more parents are becoming wary of the excessive hours their teens spend surfing the web, withdrawing from family, friends and activities they used to enjoy. Internet Addiction is a devastating problem facing far too many teens and their families. While medical professionals have done limited research on the topic, more and more are recognizing this destructive behavior and even more, the potential mental effects it can have.

Though the web is a great place for learning and can be safe for keeping in touch, it is important that families understand the potential risks and dangers to find a healthy balance between real and virtual life.

Sue Scheff: "Google Bomb!" My New Book is Almost Here!

“GOOGLE BOMB” Take Cover! by John Dozier and Sue Scheff

Do you know what Google is saying about you?

Oh yes, it is almost here, my second book! This time around, I am honored to have co-author and Internet Specialist Attorney, John Dozier .

As my story of my landmark case of $11.3M jury verdict for damages unravels - many questions answers, John Dozier will bring us the legal landscape of today’s Cyber World - how to protect your online image and maintain a profile you are proud of! Have you thought about Internet Gossip vs Internet Fact? How do you know the difference? Don’t get caught in the web - read Google Bomb!

To compound our dynamic and explosive upcoming best seller - Michael Fertik, CEO and Founder of ReputationDefender will be writing the foreword! ReputationDefender is one of the pioneers in managing online reputations and helping keep your kids privacy safe online.
This timely book will offer you tools and remedies as well as a very compelling story that will keep you turning those pages! Remember, a 20 year reputation today can be destroyed within 20 minutes of vicious keystrokes.

Monkeys Don’t Fly? Do they? Ahhhh, just wait and you will see - the Internet has become its’ own animal. The Internet can be an educational tool - but - it can also be a lethal weapon!

Published by Health Communications Inc. (HCI) - Google Bomb will be released in Fall 2009.

Sue Scheff: MomLogic.com Parenting Plus More

Parenting today offers more challenges than ever - Momlogic.com addresses many of the latest concerns that parents are facing today.

The latest issue is "sexting" - and the tragic story of Jessie Logan. This young teen, 18 years old, commited suicide after private photo's were forwarded through cell phones and she became a victim of sexting.

Read more about this critical topic on Momlogic.com http://www.momlogic.com/2009/03/could_we_go_to_jail_for_kids_f.php