Things Keep Changing. Or do they?

I’ve been working on Internet safety issues since 1994, when I wrote the first version of “Child Safety on the Information Highway” for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  Since that time, the printed brochure has been updated and reprinted numerous times, with millions of copies given away. Subsequently, we’ve also published and twice revised a companion booklet called “Teen Safety on the Information Highway” (free printed copies can be ordered by calling 800-843-5678 and pressing 3).

I bring this up because every time I think about revising these documents, I realize that the basic “rules” or guidelines stay the same, yet the threats keep changing. The “rules” can pretty much be summarized as “don’t reveal personal information” and “never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone you meet online.” When I authored the first version we were worried about newsgroups and online bulletin boards and forums. The Internet was practically an afterthought back then – we were concerned about dedicated online services such as Prodigy, CompuServe and AOL, and online bulletin boards that people would dial into using modems. Many of these “boards” were hosted by individuals from their homes.

How things have changed. Dial-up bulletin boards are virtually extinct and, while newsgroups still exist, they’re practically an asterisk in the hierarchy of Internet services.

Over time we had to revise the booklet to reflect dangers associated with chatting and instant messaging. For a while, “chat” was the threat that we worried about the most because, once a child said something inappropriate in a chat room, there was no taking it back.  Besides, kids were never sure who was in the room.  Those “friends” might include people who have ideas that are far from kid-friendly. Indeed the issue became so acute a few years ago that  Childnet International, a UK-based Internet safety organization, launched ChatDanger.com, which has since been revised with tips about cellphones, IM, and games, but still has excellent advice on keeping kids safe in chat rooms.  Even though it’s a bit UK-centric, the advice is pretty universal.

Just when I thought we had covered the bases, I visited Japan back in 2003 and discovered yet another threat: kids and cell phones.; The Japanese, who were at the time way ahead of the U.S. in terms of cell phone deployment, were beginning to see instances of children being threatened and harassed via their mobile phones. Indeed, that has become an issue in the rest of the world, including the United States where cell phones are getting into the hands of younger and younger children.  When kids have phones or other Net-connected devices in their hands, they are connected to the mobile Internet, which not only has the same issues as the “fixed Internet,” but is even more problematic because the kids are accessing it away from home and adult supervision. What’s more, people can not only send text messages but also talk with the children and even exchange photos and video.  The issue of the mobile Internet is only going to become more pronounced as children get access to net-connected portable game consoles and “smart” phones, which make it even easier to exchange messages, photos and video.

So in 2003 I revised the brochures to reflect this new threat and breathed a sigh of relief. We had it covered. But that relief didn’t last for long. The world discovered blogging.

Blogs, which were practically unheard of before 2000, started becoming very popular among adults during 2003 and '04. The 2004 presidential campaign was a shot in the arm for “bloggers” who, for the first time were credentialed to cover both the 2004 Republican and Democratic conventions with, more or less, the same status as other journalists.  But adults weren’t the only ones blogging.  Teens and even some pre-teens started flocking to the growing number of free, mostly advertiser-supported blog or “spaces” sites that are now used by millions of young people to share everything from what they did Friday night to what they want to do with the rest of their lives.  In other sections of staysafe.org, we talk about the positive uses and risks associated with these services but one thing is for sure, blogging has changed the equation when it comes to Internet safety.

For reasons I don’t fully understand, kids who know better than to give out personal information in chat rooms feel that it’s OK to share their name and contact information along with their innermost secrets on blogs. In last month’s Give and Take section, I interviewed a very bright and Net-savvy 14- year-old girl who feels that it’s ok to put her first and last name and the name of her school and community on a public website that could be accessed by anyone.  If you read her comments, you’ll see that she feels somehow “protected” by her blogging service, even though she makes her profile public: “Like, I know that if a predator wanted to find me, then I guess so, but you don't see my profile unless you know how to find me.”

What’s more, some of the kids who are blogging are saying things that could come back to haunt them later in life – like when they apply to college or for a job or when they meet that special gal or guy.  Intellectually, I think people understand that anything you post on the Internet is there forever, but it just hasn’t sunk in on a gut level.

All of this is to suggest that those of us who do Internet safety education still have our work cut out for us. Just when I thought the message was getting out there, it’s clear to me that the threat has changed and the threshold of what people are willing to disclose in public is changing as well. And blogging isn’t the only thing changing. As we discuss elsewhere on staysafe.org, gaming consoles now let you interact with others on the Internet.  That can have a great impact on the game, making it more fun and fostering communications among gamers, but it’s one more concern for parents, anxious to keep their kids from giving out the wrong information or arranging face to face meetings during the heat of their virtual battles.

The good news is that, eventually, kids will get the message. But it will take more than this column or similar articles to reach them. It will take parents, teachers and peers reminding kids that what they say online – whether in a chat room, an online game, a blog, a website or even an email message – can and very well may be used against them.  It’s a simple lesson, but one that we have to keep on teaching and keep on adapting as technologies change. 

Well, I better finish up. I have work to do. I think it’s time for new editions of Child and Teen Safety on the Information Highway.