ATTORNEY GENERAL ENCOURAGES CYBERSAFETY OVER THE HOLIDAYS
TALLAHASSEE, FL — Attorney General Bill McCollum today issued an advisory
encouraging parents to be mindful of their children’s online activities
over the holiday break. With schools out for the holidays, children have
more leisure time to spend on the internet and could be more vulnerable to
internet child predators. The Attorney General cautioned parents to
install parental controls, check their computer’s search history and talk
to their children about internet safety.
“The best gift you can give your children this holiday season is their
safety,” said Attorney General McCollum. “Learn how to protect your
children on the internet and teach them how to avoid the predators
online.”
Attorney General McCollum has brought the issue of CyberSafety to the
forefront during his administration by educating students and parents
about how to stay safe online. Since 2007, the Attorney General’s office
has reached over half a million students in over 1,100 schools throughout
the state with the CyberSafety program, including 280 schools and 100,000
students in just the past five months.
The Attorney General offered parents the following internet safety tips to
help protect their children from internet child predators:
– Keep home computers in a common area;
– Be aware of other computers children can access, such as a friend’s or a
library’s;
– Activate the logging features on home computers;
– Know the common features of home computers and software;
– Keep a list of the primary screen names for the home computers and
children’s screen names and passwords;
– Monitor children’s profiles on social networking sites; and
– Require children to have non-descriptive and non-suggestive screen
names.
More information about the Attorney General’s CyberSafety efforts,
including additional tips on how to protect children online, is available
at: http://www.safeflorida.net.
