Cybertraps for the Young

  • Cybertraps for the Young
    Cybertraps for the Young

    There's No Such Thing as Safe 'Sext'

Benjamin Franklin Award Finalist for Parenting & Family Issues

Approaching the risks for children on the Internet in a thought-provoking and intellectual manner, this study skillfully integrates contemporary news reports and disturbing legal cases to show how Facebook and other ready-made forums for information exchange are breaking down boundaries of privacy and facilitating a growing number of criminal convictions for cyberbullying, child pornography, hacking, and copyright infringement. Also included is a discussion of how the widespread use of camera phones, mobile tablets, and social media sites has given rise to a new and dangerous practice among teens: sexting. This reference provides parents with an authoritative lesson in cyberethics and practical instructions for instituting household internet policies, as well as school officials and communities with lessons on how to educate children about the responsible use of emerging mobile technologies.

 

Praise for Cybertraps for the Young

“Lane has a gift: the ability to explain complex matters so non-lawyers can comprehend the important nuances. Cybertraps for the Young should be standard issue for parents of all ages.”  —Mike Brunker, projects editor, msnbc.com

“Lane has kept apace with youths’ interest in the next new thing and is clearly attuned to how our imagined sense of privacy is an illusion, and even more so for our children.”  —Sharon Lamb, chair and professor of mental health, University of Massachusetts

“Evolutions in technology have reshaped the landscape of parenting and educating in the 21st century. Parents must take affirmative steps to adequately provide children with support and monitoring necessary to support healthy, responsible use of these technologies.”  —Michael Touchette, digital forensics examiner, Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force

“Lane provides an invaluable guide for parents concerned about a set of techno-pitfalls unprecedented in human history. That he does so with wit, candor, and grace is fortunate for all who must confront the twenty-first century dangers waiting to ensnare unmoored children.”  —Elizabeth Breau, ForeWord magazine

“Frederick S. Lane’s Cybertraps for the Young is a wake-up call to parents to recognize the potentially horrifying consequences of their children’s use of the latest electronic gizmos. In a well-organized format, the author demonstrates how children are using computers and mobile phones to bully and harass; to take nude photos of themselves and others, and then send those photos to hundreds; to cheat in school; to steal intellectual property; to purchase tobacco, alcohol and drugs; to commit a variety of crimes — often unknowingly — from identity theft to hacking to invasion of privacy, to libel, defamation, plagiarism and copyright infringement.”  —Arthur Vanderbilt II, New Jersey Star-Ledger

 

NSBA Presentation — “There’s No Such Thing as Safe ‘Sext’

On April 9, 2011, I presented a portion of Cybertraps for the Young to school board members and school district administrators at the National School Boards Association annual conference in San Francisco, CA. A copy of the presentation is available on Slideshare.net, along with copies of other related presentations.