Source: The Ottawa Sun
Edition: November 14, 2004
PDF Version: Download
There was no popcorn or licorice but hundreds of Gatineau kids and their parents hit the movie theatres yesterday morning to take in a triple bill on cyber-safety.
Quite possibly the first such initiative in Canada, the joint project by the RCMP, Gatineau police, MRC des Collines and the Quebec provincial police culminated with a multimedia presentation on the big screen about Internet safety.
Dubbed Internet 101, the half-day seminar featured three sessions where kids aged 10-14 were given a free lesson in what not to do while surfing the World Wide Web.
In a separate Famous Players Starcite theatre across the hall, parents were given the lowdown on chat room lingo, signs and symptoms their child may be involved with a cyber predator and tools to stay safe.
It was also an opportunity for organizers to officially launch www.internet101.ca -- their new cyber-safety website.
"We wanted to be proactive in doing an event like this to sensitize children and their parents," said Gatineau police Lieut. Robert Saumure, an Internet 101 organizer.
Saumure said the project began a year and a half ago following a number of complaints to police at all levels regarding youth and Internet crime.
Just this past week, he said, Gatineau police were called about a 14 year old girl who ran away from home after chatting on the Internet with a man from Texas.
"She's still missing," he said.
Sgt. Robert Bisson of the RCMP's technical crime unit said parents need to open up the lines of communication and become more technology savvy if they're going to be able to protect their kids.
"We're trying to teach parents they've got to get out there. They have to catch up," he said after showing a group of parents how to check their computer's history, temporary Internet files and cookie caches for clues as to what their child has been doing online.
But if you find anything suspicious, he warned, don't erase it because that's the kind of information police need to bust cyber sleuths.
Most startling for some parents was a video montage of statistics interspersed with pictures of scantily clad teen girls and boys in provocative positions.
"All the kids in these pictures are kids from the Outaouais," Bisson said, noting the pictures were taken off a Quebec website that allows people to post their pictures online according to where they live.
While their faces were blanked out during the presentation, Bisson said he wouldn't be surprised if, over the course of the day, at least one parent recognized one of the photos as his or her child.
Saumure said representatives from the Quebec City police department, the Ottawa police and the Ontario Provincial Police were introduced to the project last week and have expressed an interest in doing something similar in their communities.
Internet safety tips for kids and parents:
- Use a nickname. Never give your real name to a stranger on the Internet.
- Never give out any personal information such as your age, address, phone number, school or passwords.
- Don't send your photo to others on the Internet and notify a teacher or parent if someone tries to send you their photo.
- Always be courteous. Don't spread rumours or tell lies online. Tell an adult if someone sends you offensive material.
- Don't buy or accept gifts, join a club or enter a contest without first discussing it with your parents.
- Never agree to meet someone you've met online and tell an adult if you're ever faced with such a proposition. Remember the person might not be who they say they are.
- Parents should get to know the chat room language. Open the lines of communication with your child by getting your child to explain it to you.
- Be concerned if your child gives up their nights and weekends to be on the computer.
- Be concerned if your child quickly closes the screen when you pass by.
- Be concerned if your child becomes introverted and doesn't want to spend time with friends and family.
- Be concerned if your child starts getting phone calls from people you don't know.
- Put the computer in a communal area, not in a child's bedroom.
- Use anti-virus programs and filters to help weed out offensive material.
Source: www.internet101.ca
tobi.cohen@ott.sunpub.com
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