June Is Internet Safety Month

It's Internet Safety Month!

Every month parents and children should be implementing their online safety skills, however we recognize that June is the month that we should take extra time to learn more about what's going on with your child's digital lives by going dark!

That's it!  Go Dark for Dinner is the campaign for June - it's all about unplugging and actually communicating.  Offline parenting is key to online safety.  It's key for your child making better online choices they are faced with daily; especially in times when you can't be there.

Think about Internet Safety Month as a time to disconnect and connect at the dinner table.  Chat about your digital lives and your offline lives.  Get to know each other -- in real life!

Summer 2015: GeckoLife For Your Family Memories

Most people, especially parents and teens, will be oversharing their summer experiences on social media.

We have become almost immune to people telling us what they are eating or even when they decide to go to the park.  Things we used to do without broadcasting to the world wide web.  Sure, we assume our privacy controls and filters are all in place - but are they truly working the way we believe they are?

Hopefully they are, but how many times have people been caught with their hand in the cookie jar (hypothetically speaking) or literally with their pants down?

We all need to be aware that your digital image today is usually the first impression people will have of you.  You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Learn more about GeckoLife - an opportunity to share safely and privately.

ThirdParent: Protective Parenting for the Digital World

Digital parenting is part of parenting today.

If parents are not technically connected to their teens, they will be in trouble.

ThirdParent can help you become a digital parent.

ThirdParent pride themselves on giving parents access to the essential information they need to protect a teen or preteen’s online reputation and ensure their safe and responsible internet behavior.

In the interest of online reputation management, our goal is to identify any negative information that could be found in the course of searching for an individual. They will alert you as to whether your child’s online profiles, activity and privacy settings make them overly susceptible to predators.

They scour every major search engine and every popular social network to identify:

• Sexual inappropriate behavior
• Racism
• Cyberbullying
• Slander
• Other inappropriate behavior
• Predator risk

Learn more by visit www.thirdparent.com.

Follow them: @ThirdParent on Twitter | ThirdParent on Facebook

Give the Gift of Digital Literacy: Be Cyberwise

50% OFF! Last Minute Gift for Parents, Seniors, Teachers and more

Give the gift of Digital Learning with CyberWiseCert.com. Do you or your friends want to learn how to become more adept at using Social Media and digital tools? Wish your school, parent, grandparent or colleague would become more digitally literate?

Give the gift of Digital Learning: CyberWiseCert.com

Learn more at www.cyberwise.org.  

Kids Privacy

About Kids Privacy:

Most kids have never met their digital me. They join networks and adopt gadgets with ease not realizing that all their interactions are generating data. Online, shared photos, videos and comments may also be seen by colleges, employers, parents, teachers, coaches and advertisers. Their digital me contains all this information, the good and the bad, and it exists forever.

Although kids adopt new technology with ease, they still need us to point them in the right direction. Kids need to understand how to share the right information with the right people. As a mother of 3, I realize how hard it is to keep up with all the ways our kids interact online and all the different settings and controls available. That is where, I hope, Kids Privacy can step in. This is a blog by a parent for parents.  Here, parents can find information and resources about how to teach kids to share smart and build a positive Digital Me.

Learn more - visit www.kidsprivacy.net.  Follow KidsPrivacy on Twitter.

Digital Shepherds: Insuring you and your family's safety online

Founded in 2009, Digital Shepherds is an organization whose focus is instructing and educating parents, through workshops and seminars, webinar/distance learning and direct dvd sales, on how to “techno-proof” their homes when their children are young and ultimately help cultivate trust and digital literacy in the household as the young ones mature and the digital lifestyle becomes more a part of their lives.

Join them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter for the most up-to-date information about online safety and education.

One of their important articles is:

5 Tips For A Digital Drama Free School Year

Click here for the tips.

National Cyber Security Month Awareness Month is October

We open National Cyber Safety Awareness Month (NCSAM) with a few educational and informational websites with some top resources you need to keep safe in cyberspace.  Resources that have been consistent in keeping up with the changing times online and people, books and websites that can help you help your teens and children stay safe.

1.  Connect Safely - ConnectSafely is for parents, teens, educators, advocates - everyone engaged in and interested in the impact of the social Web. The user-driven, all-media, multi-platform, fixed and mobile social Web is a big part of young people's lives, and this is the central space – linked to from social networks across the Web - for learning about safe, civil use of Web 2.0 together. Our forum is also designed to give teens and parents a voice in the public discussion about youth online safety begun back in the '90s. ConnectSafely also has all kinds of social-media safety tips for teens and parents, the latest youth-tech news, and many other resources.
2.  YourSphere and YourSphere for Parents - Yoursphere.com offers a vibrant, online, interactive, experience for kids and teens. Member’s safety and privacy come first through the application of common sense safeguards. The site devotes a hyper-focus towards supporting the positive interests, talents and aspirations of its members.
3.  Cyber Safe Family - CyberSafeFamily.com was formed to educate parents on internet safety because we believe education is the key in keeping kids safe online.  Many parents are intimidated by today’s technology and overwhelmed with these questions.
4. PG Key - PG Key was created by a design and development team that includes industry experts with years of experience in creating powerful yet easy to use software applications. In addition to the experienced technical members, the team also includes representatives from law enforcement (an FBI agent that specializes in cyber crimes), education (a Ph.D. that currently serves as a district superintendent), the medical community (an M.D. and current member of the American Board of Pediatrics) and many others … including ordinary, non-technical, but concerned parents.
5. Wired Moms - Wired Moms is a coalition of moms and mom groups with a central focus of connecting with their families through technology and to getting the most out of the new innovations that make their lives easier and more fun and keeping our kids and ourselves safe online.
6.  Fortalice Solutions, LLC - In bits and bytes, the digital world holds pieces of our lives. And the team at Fortalice are your watchmen, because protection of your information is worth fighting for.Fortalice is a computer security firm.  A team of experienced cybercrime fighters helping governments, businesses and consumers protect their cyberturf. We design, develop and deploy customized IT solutions that help fend off the bad guys. But cybersecurity isnʼt always about technology. Itʼs about arming people with the knowledge to defend themselves.Over the last twenty years, our team of experts has taught the United States Government, some of the countryʼs largest banks and thousands of consumers how to safeguard their information.
7.  ReputationDefender - ReputationDefender was created in 2006 to defend your good name on the Internet. Today, ReputationDefender has grown to be the world's first comprehensive online reputation management and privacy company. We're the most experienced and most technologically innovative company of our kind. With customers in over 35 countries, ReputationDefender is proud to serve a global customer base throughout the world's largest community - the Internet.
8.  Veritate et Virtute - Christopher Burgess - Author - Speaker - Humanitarian - Senior Security Advisor - - - My focus is on Safety, Security, Intelligence, Intellectual Property and Humanitarian issues. I put particular emphasis on the protection of both the young and the elderly of our society. I co-authored w/Richard Powers: "Secrets Stolen, Fortunes Lost: Preventing Intellectual Property Theft and Economic Espionage in the 21st Century" My published works, books & articles, audio pod-casts and video presentations can be found at www.secretsstolen.com.
9. Look Both Ways - Linda Criddle - LOOKBOTHWAYS Inc.’s mission is to make the Internet safer for all consumers. In addition to providing free web resources to consumers, LOOKBOTHWAYS Inc. specializes in understanding the Human Factor in Online Safety. The company develops internet safety technologies; provides product design, safety reviews, and other consulting services to leading technology companies; and advises regulatory bodies, and various law enforcement agencies.
10.  Google Bomb Book - The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict That Changed The Way We Use The Internet - In today's technology-dependent world, the Internet has become a legal lethal weapon against the privacy and reputations of its users. Based on Sue Scheff's landmark Internet defamation case that gave face to online harassment, cyberbulling, privacy invasion, and Google™ bombs (the practice of manipulating the ranking of web pages), and stirred Internet regulation and free-speech debates, Google™ Bomb arms readers with information, legal advice, and reputation defense (and clean up) mechanisms from one of the country's top cyber abuse attorneys, John W. Dozier, Jr.
11. iKeepSafe - The Internet Keep Safe Coalition is a broad partnership of governors and/or first spouses, attorneys general, public health and educational professionals, law enforcement, and industry leaders working together for the health and safety of youth online.  iKeepSafe® uses these unique partnerships to disseminate safety resources to families worldwide.
12. Net Cetera OnGuard Online - Net Cetera covers what you need to know, where to go for more information, and issues to raise with kids about living their lives online.  OnGuardOnline.gov encourages you to use this guide with your kids, in your school, at your PTA meeting, or anywhere else parents might gather. Feel free to order as many free copies as you'd like, put your own sticker on it, reprint sections in a newsletter or on a website, download a button or link to it, or even reprint it with your own logo. These materials are in the public domain.  To order free copies of Net Cetera, visit bulkorder.ftc.gov. To find out more about reprinting the guide, contact OnGuardOnline@ftc.gov.

This list is in no particular order.  All have valuable information.

Do you have more, please add them to comments!  Include websites too!  Paying it forward to keep everyone safe in this new digital world!

Read more and add comments here.

Yoursphere - Get Inspired: Where Kids Create, Connect, Share...

Most importantly - safety and privacy comes first!

Meet Yoursphere
 
Yoursphere.com offers a vibrant, online, interactive, experience for kids and teens. Member’s safety and privacy come first through the application of common sense safeguards. The site devotes a hyper-focus towards supporting the positive interests, talents and aspirations of its members.

The site is free and is exclusively for children and young people through age 18. Yoursphere offers members a unique online community experience that is rewards-based, content appropriate, age-relevant, and socially conscious.

Yoursphere leads the global social media industry in online safety through our unparalleled common sense approach. We verify identities, require parental consent, perform a predator check, and use both technology and human oversight to monitor site activity. Because of these standards, Yoursphere is the sole youth-only online community approved by the Privacy Vaults Online Safe Harbor of the Federal Trade Commission.
Parents are empowered and educated with tools and information to help create a safety-first experience for their children online through Mary Kay’s Internet and Social Networking Safety Blog: Yoursphere for Parents.

Sue Scheff: Courageous Parents, Confident Kids - Letting Go So You Both Can Grow

Courageous Parents - Letting Go So You Both Can Grow

Announcing the Courageous Parents, Confident Kids book cover and a first peek at the content by chapters.


This book is a tremendous collaborative effort brought about by the vision and determination of Amy Tiemann, Ph.D. and author of several books and articles – her latest book was Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family.


The new book will be released in paperback on April 18th, but we are giving the book away as a free digital download to people who sign up for a free copy on MojoMom.com before April 18th. The digital download will be packaged as a PDF file so it can be read on any computer, or printed out. This is an incredible opportunity to gain valuable information and insight free of charge.

Here is a preview of Courageous Parents, Confident Kids — Letting Go So You Both Can Grow

Introduction by the Editor, Amy Tiemann, Ph.D., author Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family.

Part 1: The Courage to Invest in Your Own Development

The Transformative Power of Self-care by Renee Peterson Trudeau, life coach and author of The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal.

Tools for Career Reinvention by Kella Hatcher and Maryanne Perrin, founders of Balancing Professionals.

Part 2: Developing Your Own Courageous Parenting Style

The Courage to Let Our Kids Solve Their Own Problems by Maya Frost, international lifestyle design expert and author of The New Global Student.

The Power of Personal Significance for Kids of All Ages by Amy McCready, parent educator and founder of Positive Parenting Solutions.

I’m Worried I Worry Too Much, But How Do I Stop? by Jamie Woolf, leadership expert and author of Mom-In Chief.

Part 3: Real-world Safety Skills for All

Kidpower: Skills for Safety, Skills for Independence by Irene van der Zande, co-founder and Executive Director of Kidpower, Teenpower, Fullpower International.

How to Say Yes to Your Kids’ Online Activities by Linda Criddle, internet safety and technology expert and creator of iLookBothWays.com

Part 4: Finding Your Voice and Raising It for the Community

Becoming a Political Parent: PunditMom on Mothers Raising Their Voices Online by Joanne Bamberger, journalist and PunditMom blogger.

Building a Family-friendly America: Challenge and Progress Through the Eyes of MomsRising.org by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, co-founder and Executive Director of MomsRising.org

It Takes a Motherhood by Cooper Munroe and Emily McKhann, co-creators of the award-winning online community, TheMotherhood.com

The goal of Courageous Parents, Confident Kids is to share core concepts and skills you can build on as you raise a family, participate in your community, and continue your own development. I hope you enjoy the book.

Blog post by Linda Criddle

Sue Scheff: Teen Cyberbullying Investigated (New book just released)

Teen Cyberbullying Investigated
By Judge Tom Jacobs

How do teens know when they might be “one click away from the clink”? In Teen Cyberbullying Investigated, Judge Tom Jacobs presents a powerful collection of landmark court cases involving teens and charges of cyberbullying, which includes: sending insulting or threatening emails, text, or instant messages directly to someone; spreading hateful comments about someone through emails, blogs, or chat rooms; stealing passwords and sending out threatening messages using a false identity; and building a Web site to target specific people.

Each chapter features the seminal case and resulting decision, asks readers whether they agree with the decision, and urges them to think about how the decision affects their lives. Chapters also include related cases, important facts and statistics, and suggestions for further reading. With an ever-increasing number of serious cases of cyberbullying and school violence, this book is needed more urgently than ever.


Order on Amazon today.

Sue Scheff: Enough IS Enough - Making the Internet Safeer for Children and Families

Enough Is Enough (EIE), a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, emerged in 1994 as the national leader on the front lines to make the Internet safer for children and families. Since then, EIE has pioneered and led the effort to confront online pornography, child pornography, child stalking and sexual predation with innovative initiatives and effective communications.

Mission Statement

The Enough Is Enough (EIE) mission is to Make the Internet Safer for Children and Families. We are dedicated to continue raising public awareness about the dangers of Internet pornography and sexual predators, and advance solutions that promote equality, fairness and respect for human dignity with shared responsibility between the public, technology, and the law. We stand for freedom of speech as defined by the Constitution of the United States; for a culture where all people are respected and valued; for a childhood with a protected period of innocence; for healthy sexuality; and for a society free from sexual exploitation.

The Problem

The Internet has become a powerful educational and communications tool, placing vast, new worlds of knowledge and information, literally within our fingertips. Unfortunately, this vehicle has also been hijacked by the sex industry and sexual predators. The two primary Internet dangers today are children's free and easy access to all types of pornography, and sexual predators' easy and anonymous access to children.

The Solution

EIE has a three-pronged, preventative approach to create and sustain a safe, entertaining, and informative Internet environment, free from sexual predators and the intrusion of unwanted sexual material:

1.Raise public awareness of the threat of illegal pornography and sexual predation on the Internet in order to empower and equip parents and other child caregivers to implement safety measures.
2.Encourage the technology industry to implement viable technological solutions and family-friendly corporate policy to reduce this threat.
3.Promote legal solutions by calling for aggressive enforcement of existing laws and enactment of new laws to stop the sexual exploitation and victimization of children using the Internet.
EIE has recently expanded its mission to include a new, faith-based initiative, "Recovering Hearts". In addition to prevention awareness, the initiative's focus is to educate and equip the church to minister recovery and healing to lives already sexually broken by pornography, sexual addiction, and victimization.

Visit their website at http://www.enough.org/ and join them on Facebook and Twitter.

Sue Scheff: Look Both Ways - Protect your Family on the Internet

Look Both Ways

By Linda Criddle

Learn the 14 ways in which you can help make the Internet a safer place for you and your family. You teach your children to look both ways before crossing the street. You tell them not to talk to strangers. But do you really know how to teach them to safely use the Internet?

In this book, Linda Criddle, a leading child safety expert, offers a practical education about what is safe, what is not, and how taking a few precautions can help your children avoid putting themselves at risk.

Discover what the risks are today and common ways in which people inadvertently expose themselves and accidentally reveal information. Learn how to be alert, avoid instant messaging and e-mail dangers, blog and play games safely, and avoid harassment and bullying.

Order on Amazon today and follow Linda Criddle on Twitter @LindaCriddle

Sue Scheff: Internet Safety for Parents

WHAT IS YOUDILIGENCE?

It is not easy to be a parent these days. Most children from the age of 10 and up communicate on-line via social networking sites. Currently, the most popular sites are Facebook and MySpace.
It is difficult to keep up with who your child is interacting with on these sites. However, now there is an easier way. YouDiligence automatically tracks your child's social networking sites for inappropriate content and sends an email alert in real-time when it finds something.

Learn more at http://www.youdiligence.com/Login.htm

Sue Scheff: Connect Safely - For Parents of Kids and Teens

Don't miss this website! It is a full of fantastic tips, advice and an education every parent needs if they have kids online or have a cell phone.

Visit ConnectSafely.org

ConnectSafely is for parents, teens, educators, advocates - everyone engaged in and interested in the impact of the social Web. The user-driven, all-media, multi-platform, fixed and mobile social Web is a big part of young people's lives, and this is the central space – linked to from social networks across the Web - for learning about safe, civil use of Web 2.0 together. Our forum is also designed to give teens and parents a voice in the public discussion about youth online safety begun back in the '90s. ConnectSafely also has all kinds of social-media safety tips for teens and parents, the latest youth-tech news, and many other resources.

Sue Scheff: Parenting the Wired Generation

Future-Proof your Child - Parenting the Wired Generation

By: Nikki Bush and Graeme Codrington

'Stop the world, I want to get off!' is the regular refrain of many of today's time-pressured parents. 'Give me an experience and I'll promise you a relationship,' is the mantra of their children. The world has changed. The future has changed. Childhood is changing. Raising children has never been more challenging – or potentially rewarding. It is increasingly obvious that the world into which our young children will enter as adults, somewhere between 2020 and 2030, will be nothing like the world their parents grew up in, or even the world we currently inhabit.

We need a better understanding of the world of the future in order to prepare our children and to 'future-proof' them. Future-proof your Child is a very different kind of parenting book. While it contains many useful practical hints and tips, it also focuses on the context for parenting and child development today. It convinces 21st-century parents of the need to change their approach to parenting future generations.

This title will help you to create a framework for your parenting experience as you embark on the highly personal adventure of raising children who will thrive in the future. It is relevant, accessible, practical and inspirational. It will take you back in time and forward into the future to help you make the best choices for your children now! Future-proof your Child highlights the critical importance of making choices, having conversations, and consciously connecting with tomorrow’s children today.

Learn more - click here. Order on Amazon today!

Sue Scheff: Making the Internet Safer for Families and Children

Enough is Enough (visit for more information)

Tips on Talking to Your Child Openly and Honestly about Cyberbullying

What can parents do?

Tell your children they do not have to accept any online activity that is meant to intimidate, threaten, tease or harm them or anyone else. Giving bullies attention is exactly what they want, so ignore them as much as possible.

•Your children should never open, read or respond to messages from a cyberbully.
•Do not erase or delete messages from cyberbullies. Your children do not have to read the messages they receive from bullies, but they (or you) do need to keep messages as evidence. To report cyberbullying, it is really important to save as much info as you can. The more you save, the easier it will be to track down the people that are bothering your child. (Save the email, email address, date and time received, copies of all relevant emails, screenshots, etc.).
•Use software to block bullies if they encounter them through chat or IM and use privacy settings on social networking pages.

Encourage your children to talk to you if anybody says or does something online that makes them feel uncomfortable or threatened. Stay calm and keep open lines of communication with your children. Make sure you or your children tell their school if the bullying is school related or involves another student. If you or your children are threatened with harm, contact your local police.

Watch out for warnings signs, such as reluctance to use the computer, a change in your child's behavior and mood, or reluctance to go to school.

Tell your children to guard their contact information. Children should assume that people will use the information on their profile to cause them harm. Tell your children that they should not put anything online that they wouldn't want their worst enemy to find out about. Remind your children that the people they befriend online have open access to all of their posted content and information and they can forward or use any of that information against them.

Remind your children that those who bully want to make their victims feel as if there is something wrong with them, but victims should know that there is nothing wrong with them; it is the bullies who have the real problem.

Sue Scheff: Totally WIRED What Your Teens and Tweens Are Really Doing Online

TOTALLY WIRED: What your teens and tweens are really doing online.

By Anastasia Goodstein

"Many of us remember watching the space-age cartoon The Jet-sons and collectively dreaming about what the future would look like..." Read more: http://www.amazon.com/Totally-Wired-Tweens-Really-Online/dp/B001F0RA0M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244375787&sr=8-1#reader

Sue Scheff: WiredMoms.com Helping Keep Kids Safe Online

Wired Moms is an online community of people that are dedicated to keeping our kids, and all kids, safe online. This site is your virtual back fence - a place where you can come and meet with other moms to share stories and learn different ways to navigate through the latest technologies that our kids seem to know intuitively. Register today, stay involved, meet new people and have fun at the same time. We look forward to hearing from you!

Visit http://wiredmoms.com/ for more information.

Sue Scheff: Social Networking for Younger Kids

Is your child, under the age of 13 and wanting to be part of Facebook or MySpace?

Check out a Social Networking site for younger kids to chat safely and parents to be involved.

Visit KiddzChat http://www.kiddzchat.com/default.aspx and explore the cool features your kids will enjoy and you will feel at ease.

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!