Internet Safety

Students: Being safe on the internet is a smart way to stay prepared for a bright future.

All too often, it is easy to become a victim of a sneaky internet crime. If you pay attention and educate yourself, you will be equipped for life.Internet safety is very important. As the internet has exploded and evolved, internet crime has grown equally if not faster. It is important to protect yourself at all times when using the internet! But how can you do that?

1. Beware of "Pop-ups": The Federal Trade Commission notes that theives can pretend to be financial institutions or companies and sepnd spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information. A great game that models scenarios and gives solutions can be found here: http://www.onguardonline.gov/games/id-theft-faceoff.aspx.

2. Only Digitally "friend" those real-life "friends". Anyone can "google" images and pretend to be anyone in the world. To protect yourself, be yourself, set all of your Facebook and/or Twitter information to "friends-only", and only friend people that you know. While being on Youtube could make you famous, it could also cause you to be a victim of a stalker if you reveal too much information such as where you live, or your full name.

3. Create secure passwords! There are many tips for creating a secure password. Some are:

a. Use a mix of upper and lowercase letters.

b. Use at least one number.

c. Use at least one symbol: $#!*^&%

Still curious about how to be safe online? View this fun cartoon featuring everyone's favorite lazy feline, Garfield!
http://learninglab.org/life_skills/online_safety/

In my district, we have a very strict internet use policy. The reason behind this is that the school's data and internet connection are all hosted by one server. As a result, students are blocked from virtually every website. As an educator, if I want my students to use a website like www.readwritethink.org, I need to ask for the Technology Director to unblock it, with a rationale as to why and how it will be used. I understand why it is like that, but it is hard for the students to understand it.