Stay Up-To-Date With Online Dangers, Officials Advise

TAMPA - The 11-year-old girl told Tampa police Detective Skyp McCaughey that the man in Maryland she talked to on her cell phone was so nice, he couldn't be a pervert.

In fact, he was a sex offender who struck up such a rapport with the girl through her cell phone that she gave him the password to the home computer and spoke to him every night at midnight, McCaughey said.

McCaughey shared the anecdote about the child, who was not molested, today before an audience of about 20 representatives from law-enforcement, social-service and other agencies. Their goal is to develop an action plan to better educate adults and youngsters about online dangers, said Thomas Papin, director of Hillsborough County Children's Services.

Parents mindful of their children's Internet use at home need to keep up with emerging technologies, these experts said. For instance, Google Maps Street View provides street-level photographs of neighborhoods but also has captured children at play, which could entice predators, said Stacie Rumenap, executive director of Stop Child Predators, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit.

They offered these tips. Other resources are available at www.NetSmartz411.org, from The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children:

Limit the features on your child's cell phone, such as unlimited long distance, instant messaging, chat rooms and Internet access. Cell-phone providers also can help you restrict which numbers your child calls. "Some parents don't know the phone features they're putting in their kids' hands," said Lt. Mike Bauté of the Florida Attorney General's CyberCrime Unit.

Caution children against responding to text messages from numbers they don't recognize. Predators will send random messages to see who responds, Bauté said.

Don't post the cell phone number in a public place, such as on YouTube or a MySpace page, Bauté said.

Warn teens against sending raunchy photos as jokes or as love notes. When a relationship disintegrates, those pictures can be sent maliciously elsewhere, McCaughey said.

Look at the photos and messages on your child's phone regularly. "My daughter's friends know not to put their cell phones down in my house, because I'll flip it open and start doing through it: 'Would your mama be happy if she saw this picture?'" said McCaughey, whose daughter is 15.

Learn teen speak. Abbreviations like POS can stand for "Parent Over Shoulder." The NetSmartz Web site has a dictionary of online abbreviations.

Look up your house, your child's school and bus stop on www.maps.google.com to see whether your child's image has been captured, Rumenap said. Type in the address, click on "Search Maps" and click on "Street View" to see the image (zoom in if necessary). To remove an image, click on "Street View Help" in the top corner of the image, then click on "Report Inappropriate Image."