Cyber Predators are always preparing for children and teens around the country to once again return to school and look to the Internet for their academic and social networking needs. The beginning of a new school year guarantees a significant increase in online usage, and most important to online predators, patterned and predictable times of online usage. Two Hudson Valley psychologists have compiled Internet safety tips for busy parents. These Tips will be presented to Poughkeepsie Journal (Hudson Valley New York Newspaper) readers over three Sunday editions in Fall 2012.   

Now that children will be back to school, their time spent online significantly increases along with patterned and predictable times they access the Internet. Online predators, cyberbullies and cyberstalkers prepare themselves for what they hope will be another year of unsuspecting groups of vulnerable, discouraged and high risk taking children.

For proactive parents who plan to practice and institute Internet safety, we have compiled a quick checklist and tips to help ensure your bases are covered. We hope this checklist helps insulate your child from abuse and leads to a safe and enjoyable school year.

1. FBI's Parents Internet Safety Guide: Visit the FBI's website and thoroughly read their excellent overview called "A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety." Before moving on to the next step, make sure you have written down and have easy access to your local police department's phone numbers. To download online, enter into Google or your favorite search engine the term “FBI Parents Guide.” On the first page will be the link to read or download.

FBI Parent Guide Link: http://www.fbi.gov/statsservices/publications/parent-guide 

2. Offline Distress Dictates Online Response: A child is particularly prone to engage in high-risk behaviors online if he/she is feeling discouraged, angry or distressed. Do not move on to the next step until you are confident your child is feeling encouraged, stable or being monitored by a professional or trusted loved one. Of the many articles and studies we have researched, a child's psychological status highly correlates with their online behaviors. If there are ongoing conflicts at home, recent traumatic events or any other anxiety and/or distressing events in the home, it is very important to monitor your child's online usage.

Just as important as your child's home environment is your child's school environment. Given you cannot be with your child when they are at school, it is important to maintain regular contacts with school officials regarding your child's attitudes and behaviors on school grounds. Although academics in school are a priority, your child's demeanor with teachers and fellow students speaks to their psychological and emotional welfare. Research has directly linked a child's school and home environments to their online activities.

3. Personal Information Prevention Planning: The number one and most important issue to address with your child is the amount of personal information they share online. Getting your child to practice minimal release of their name, contact information, photographs and passwords to their social sites is highly desirable. If we were to make an approximation of the articles, we have read on Internet safety and cyber security, 99% percent of them list restriction of sharing personal information online being vital to Internet safety. It cannot be emphasized enough, but children who disclose their contact information, personal information and images freely are at a much higher risk of being targeted by a cyber predator. The goal as an Internet safety proactive parent is not to totally restrict or forbade your child from sharing personal information, but to educate them on being highly cautious and consistently aware when, why and what they disclose to others.

***Research has demonstrated that the vast majority of taunting, abuse, cybercrime and sexual assault that children endure is most likely coming from their peers and/or known adults rather than unknown adult online sexual predators.***

4. Peers, Parents and the PTA: Given that you cannot monitor your child's online activities when they are not in your presence, its paramount to access those people who are expected to be. Your child's friends, their parents and school are the three prime social targets you should be in contact with. The goal is to initiate and sustain open communication with your child's friends and their parents regarding Internet safety expectations. Just because you have restricted your child from certain online activities does not mean your child's friends are restricted or their parents have online house rules.

Using your capacity to be cordial and polite, maintain a consistent open dialogue with your child's social circles. Regarding your child's school environment, it is important to have an open conversation with school officials and/or the PTA to ensure that Internet safety and cyber security mechanisms are in place. Before the school year begins, contact school officials and investigate their Internet safety measures, educational emphasis on Internet security and procedures for cyberbullying, cyberstalking, sexting, mobile device usage during school hours and cybercrime related to adolescent life.

5. Know Your Child's Social Networking Sites: As of 2012, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Tagged and MyYearbook are among the most popular social networking sites children and teens look to for their cyber identity, digital reputation and online social relationships. Thanks to the Internet and digital technology, many children and teens look to the digital universe for their self-esteem. Unfortunately, Cyber Predators also choose these sites as their most favored websites spending most of their free time trolling for unsuspecting, naive, discouraged or high-risk children. Given the 400-500 popular global social sites, and growing, it is of the utmost importance to spend time with your child discussing good digital citizenship and cautious online communications.

6. Smartphones and Cellphones Need More Smarts: A smartphone is a wireless phone with voice, messaging, scheduling, e-mail and Internet capabilities. Research and marketing trend experts' project sales of smartphones will exceed personal computers by the end of 2012. In 2012, 500 million smartphones are projected to be sold. Despite the benefits of mobile digital technology, children and teens are becoming more dependent on their mobile phones more than ever before. Recent studies have suggested children who are depressed, anxious and/or discouraged spend more time interacting with their mobile devices and less time being typical children. It is vital that as a parent you monitor the amount of time your child spends on their mobile phone and contact your phone carrier about additional security features that they may offer. If a cellphone or smartphone is in your child's future, be sure to have the store you purchase the phone from install or set up all the necessary safety and filtering devices and software.

7. Weekly Digital Dinner: The term may sound absurd, but making it a habit to discuss the family's digital habits at least once weekly during dinner is both proactive and helpful. With today's dual parent working families and single parent households, dinnertime is one of the few weekly events that are consistent, predictable and social. By all family members discussing their Internet activities, children will feel more comfortable to disclose information relevant to Internet safety and their online activities. During these weekly discussions, always make sure to discuss the importance of being highly cautious of sharing personal information online.

It is also highly recommended to discuss positive, beneficial aspects and stories about online usage to make the weekly discussions fair and balanced. Prior to every weekly digital dinner discussion, its highly recommended to announce to all involved that any information shared regarding online activities will not cause punishment, retribution or embarrassment. This weekly announcement may be redundant, but it reaffirms to your children that they will not be punished for their mistakes or irresponsible behaviors.

8. House Rules Include Online Rules: Just as children have curfews, responsibilities and chores, they also should have online rules and regulations. Based on our findings, there are no universal online rules that can be applied to children of all ages. The three that these writers feel are relevant to children of all ages and at all times though are: cautious disclosure of sharing personal information online, never meeting someone they've met online without supervision and never share their passwords to anyone other than their parents. Other than this triad, parents should establish house online rules based on their child's age, developmental maturity, knowledge and persistence of Internet safety.

In addition to the trifecta of obvious rules mentioned, research has led these writers to conclude that nighttime online usage and time patterns should be considered when negotiating or designing online rules. Research on Cyber Predators have concluded that they prefer to troll for their victims during evening hours and at time intervals when the child or children they are targeting typically log on to the Internet. The iPredator learns online log on habits and set their online schedule to match the child they are targeting.

9. Emphasize the Child's Developmental Achilles Heel: Part of being an effective parent is being a creative parent. All children, starting anywhere from 7-10 years of age, develop an accentuated self-awareness. Once this self-awareness begins, the child begins to worry how their peers perceive them. As they continue physical and psychological maturation, this strong focus on self-image, popularity and peer acceptance becomes their primary driving forces until they have finished college. Knowing your child will probably be experiencing these highly dramatic and emotions, you can use them advantageously regarding their online activities.

Instead of telling your child "NO," educate them on how images and information we share online can last for years. Just as rumors of friends spread, online rumors and embarrassing images can go "viral." Directly connecting your child's developmental fears to their online behaviors of disclosing information is an effective and natural Internet safety technique. When done in a considerate, respectful way, this method for teaching your child to be cautious of sharing personal information can be highly effective.

10. Complete Parental Control? No Such Thing: With the trends of today's online community and technological advancements, insulating your child from Cyber Predators and keeping them safe online has been ever more challenging. Ranging from home computers to mobile digital technology, children have access and exposure to multiple forms of online activities and devices. Even if you use content blockers, filters, trackers or parental control software, children have ways to get around these if their heart and minds are set on engaging in high-risk online activities.

Before purchasing security software or hardware, contact a trusted source. In every community, someone, your friends or a colleague knows a digital technology expert. Given that the market is flooded with hundreds of products, services and methods, contact your local expert source and rely on their recommendations. Secondly, contact your phone and Internet service provider for what they recommend to protect your child.

We have provided you with a comprehensive and effective Internet safety tips checklist to help reduce the chances your child becomes a target of online predators, cyberbullies and/or cyberstalkers. Internet, digital technology and mobile devices will continue to influence all children, as their peers, advertising and cultural trends place pressure upon them to have the latest smartphones and access to the most popular social networking sites.

If it has not happened already, we believe your child will very likely approach you on numerous occasions pleading for the newest digital technology and/or wanting to join the growing number of social sites that will be in fashion in the future. The key to being a proactive parent is making the effort to learn about Cyber Predators and Internet safety. The most important Internet safety advice to protect your child can be summed up in one statement: An iPredator will always move on to other victims when a parent takes the time to be involved, preventative and protective.

“If only all parents were so wise.” Michael Kulla Ph.D. (2012)

Article Authors: Michael Kulla Ph.D. and Michael Nuccitelli Psy.D., C.F.C.

iPredator Inc.: iPredator Inc. was founded in September 2011 to provide education, investigation and consultation to consumers and organizations on cyber bullying, cyber harassment, cyber stalking, online sexual predation, cybercrime, cyber terrorism, internet safety, digital reputation and the new field they are pioneering called ICT Forensic Psychology. Created by a New York State licensed psychologist and certified forensic consultant, Dr. Michael Nuccitelli, iPredator Inc.’s goal is to reduce victimization, theft and disparagement from online assailants. In addition to assisting citizens, iPredator Inc.'s mission is to initiate a nationally sustained educational & awareness campaign with the help of the largest forensic professional organization globally, the American College of Forensics Examiners International. In June 2012, Dr. Nuccitelli & iPredator Inc. launched their Internet Safety Education & Investigation website, www.iPredatorInc.com.

Dr. Nuccitelli’s 2012-2013 “Internet Safety Packet for Parents” Free Download Link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/104824166/Back-to-School-Internet-Safety-...