INTERNET SAFETY

            Every day the news media informs us of another tragic event whereby a young child or teenager has been victimized by a child predator via the internet.  There is no question that the proliferation of information and communication through cyber space has been a very positive invention for educational use.  However, with the many advantages of the internet, it has also produced alarming abuses of the World Wide Web.

            The following are risks online that children face on the Internet:

1.  Sites that allow the accessing of inappropriate information, including pornography, hate, intolerance, bigotry, gore, violence, hoaxes, and misinformation and hype.
2. Sites that provide access to dangerous products and hazardous information, such as bomb-building recipes, the selling of guns, alcohol, poisons, tobacco products, drugs, and online gambling.
3. Sites that allow the posting of personal information.  If not monitored, this can lead to the child being stalked or harassed by others who may pose to be a friend or who may be rude, insulting and threatening.
4. Sites that solicit personal information to enter contests online and could lead to solicitors using unfair marketing techniques.
5. Sites that run the risk of disclosing important financial information to others, such as credit card numbers, pin numbers and passwords.
6. Dishonest “CYBER PREDATORS” may pose as adolescents in chat rooms or on networking sites.  Their goal is to lure an unknowing child into a FACE-TO-FACE MEETING WHERE SEXUAL ABUSE, ASSAULT, AND OR EVEN MURDER COULD OCCUR.

*Information is from the Pa. Attorney General’s Office

For specific Internet Safety concerns: 717-787-3391 or www.AttorneyGeneral.gov

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have made every reasonable attempt to insure that our web pages are educationally sound and do not contain links to any questionable material or anything that can be deemed in violation of the Pen Argyl Area School District Acceptable Use Policy.