While students are out of school for the holiday break, Florida’s attorney general is waging a Twitter campaign to keep kids safe in cyberspace. The campaign urges parents to get a good look into their children’s electronic devices.
Kids have more time to spend online when school is out. Attorney General Pam Bondi says predators know this and are looking for potential victims. She says predators use online games with message boards and Internet chat rooms to pose as teenagers and ask for face-to-face meetings.
Bondi is offering parents cyber safety tips like these via Twitter:
· Know every social media account and password, and check them regularly.
· Review the messages and pictures being shared by children.
· Remember predators will pose as teenagers online to build relationships with children and set up face-to-face meetings.
· Make sure GPS coordinates of pictures and other location information is not being shared.
· Set parameters for online activities, including time and location for Internet use.
· Know the lingo used by teenagers in chat rooms, emails correspondence and text messages.
Bondi says children’s privacy is not worth their safety. Parents can use browser features and software programs to block certain content, and kids should be told to never friend a stranger online.
