In the midst of the technology era, social media and online websites have become more dangerous to students. Sheriff Deputy Kevin Link recently addressed these issues at Fredonia High School.
Link discussed issues of online predators and online bullying. Online bullying is a tough area because it can not always be prosecuted. It can only be prosecuted if the bullying is threatening toward a person. If a person says they hate you online, it is not threatening and there is no legal ramifications. If however whatever they said, could cause you to lose a job, there could be legal ramifications for defamation of character.
Link also talked on the subject of online gaming. Those who play online on Xbox and threaten another player, can be charged with harassment.
"Guys are getting mad at each other for not covering them (in the game)," Link said.
Link also said that law enforcement is becoming more and more involved in online bullying and the punishments are becoming steeper. If a child bullies another using a parent's computer and gets caught, the parent is going to get into legal trouble unless the child confesses to doing so. If a person sends a threatening text from another person's phone, the owner of that phone is responsible for the phone.
"Another thing I tell kids is I don't want to hear this excuse 'Well I was at a party and I left my phone and somebody must have sent that person a text message.' It's your phone, you're going to get arrested," Link said.
There are mainly two types of people online that young adults can encounter - pedophiles and groomers. Since pedophiles are most common, Link explained groomers in detail. Groomers are people who will act like a best friend to those they meet online to try to gain vital personal information.
"They just groom them for information," Link said.
Link provided information on how groomers can get personal information through chatting in a chat room online. Link showed a video that walked through the steps how a person in a chat room without divulging much information could be lead to his or her home by groomers and the information present online. Groomers could locate a person in a chat room and look up their personal profile. From that profile they may be able to find personal information. If that does not give away information, groomers can use a locate feature and follow a user wherever they travel through cyber space. Some groomers can even trace email activity for a user based upon their screen name.
"Within 20 minutes they find out everything about this girl where she went to school, where she lived, who her mom was, telephone numbers, high school everything within 20 minutes," Link said.
Link and other officers tried to follow the steps outlined in the video to recreate a scenario where they could trace a user back to their home.
"What we did was ... a bunch of us police officers got together on two computers using how they did that on another computer. It took us about 2 hours and 20 minutes and we located a girl from online to her high school photo in Massachusetts because the high school at the time you could look at their year-book," Link said.
Link touched on the ownership of the Internet and how there is no one particular owner. The Internet is a connection of networks which are all interconnected. Due to lack of ownership, individuals such as groomers can run rampant throughout the Internet causing trouble.
Link gave personal accounts of Internet cases he has worked on in Chautauqua County.
"It's here, folks. That's what's on the Internet every day," Link said.
He also spoke of cases from Hanover, Silver Creek and Westfield where youth were getting suspicious gifts and their parents were skeptical. Link said he was called in and knew right away that the youth were accepting gifts from individuals they had met online. He also talked about a Cornell University employee from Fredonia who said he was going to the Finger Lakes for work. However, the man drove to Michigan to meet up with a 13-year-old boy who actually was the FBI.
Fredonia High School social studies teacher Patrick Newell touched on the importance of monitoring students' virtual identity. Many students now have two identities - a personal and a virtual identity. Newell spoke of parents need to monitor students both identities online. Newell also spoke on how many students are not careful posting sometimes inappropriate pictures of themselves online.
"If you wouldn't show it to your grandmother, it shouldn't be on the Internet," Newell said.
Newell's wife works at SUNY Fredonia. He told stories of how colleges and employers will now use social media sites, especially Facebook, to spy on potential students and employees. Colleges can even prosecute underage drinking on campus if there are Facebook photos to prove the incident occurred, Newell said.
Another hidden danger of Facebook is anonymity. Anyone on Facebook can pretend to be someone they are not and ask to be your friend. Link said he was guilty of making fake profiles and friending individuals he did not know as part of work.
While students may clean up their Facebook profiles, their friends may not have the same mentality and clean up their profiles.
"What do you think a student is going to do if they send in a resume? They're going to take all the bad pictures off. Problem is, they listed their best friend as a reference. You don't think we're going to look at your friend's Facebook page? Oh, yes we are," Link said.
Link said the most important part of the Internet is to monitor students' use of it. He suggests that children under the age of 8 should not be allowed to instant message, chat or use blogs. They should only be allowed to email approved senders such as family members. From ages 8 to 10 students should only be allowed to instant message or chat approved senders, if a parent decides their child is ready for chatting online. From 10 to 12, there could be more privacy as long as the parents trust the child but still no blogs. Ages 13 through 15, students could chat and instant message but parents should check to see if children know the sender in real life. Over the age of 16, if the child has earned the trust, it should be given to them online.
Link also stressed that children should not be giving their passwords to anyone except their parents for monitoring purposes. Parents should learn as much as they can regarding the computer and technology. If parents do not know anything about online or computers, ask children to demonstrate. Setting reasonable expectations and goals for online usage and placing the computer in a well trafficked area will also help monitor online activity.
Link also mentioned warning signs of those who could be bullying victims. Students who spend an increased time online, exits emails or instant messages quickly and increased use of slang words may be signs of online bullying.
If someone is being bullied, Link suggests changing a password or blocking the individual. Parents can also contact the bully and their parents to stop the bullies.
"You can get online on Verizon and block the numbers within two seconds. Change your password ... 99 percent of the time it works and they don't get bothered anymore," Link said.
For more information on internet safety including a link to Link's powerpoint presentation, visit New York State's Internet Crimes Against Children website at www.operationsafechild.org.
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