By Jess Nall
Tribune-Courier News Reporter

MARSHALL COUNTY – Never talk to strangers. Don’t go anywhere without a friend. Always treat others the way you would want to be treated.

These lessons parents and educators alike press upon children are boundaries that attempt to keep kids safe.

However, these common codes of conduct don’t just apply to the playground or shopping mall, they are guidelines and regulations that should be set in the comfort of one’s own home.

North Marshall Middle School Youth Service Center Coordinator Glenda Thompson is working in conjunction with employees at the Board of Education to inform parents on Internet safety when it involves children.

Thompson said the major issues parents need to be informed about are cyber bullying, chat room lingo, Internet safety tips and how to report inappropriate online behavior.

Angie Murdock, Secondary Supervisor at the Marshall County Board of Education, warned, “Websites such as Myspace, Facebook and MSN Messenger have caused an increase in cyber bullying via the Internet, and it is a widely used tool for child predators.”

According to www.cyberbullying.us, cyber bullying is defined as “willful and repeated harm inflected through the medium of electronic text.”

Murdock explained children are willing to type things about others that they wouldn’t ordinarily say aloud.

“You can be whoever you want to be because the Internet is so wide-open. We see some kids impersonating other children and then saying derogatory things online. It is so different and so much more cruel than face-to-face.”

While Murdock assured that schools in Marshall County weren’t seeing cyber bullying as a major issue, this isn’t the case nation-wide.

In October 2003, Vermont 13 year-old Ryan Halligan took his own life because of online harassment and humiliation brought on by peers in his hometown.

Halligan is one of many teens that experienced hate messages, embarrassing comments and death threats from both peers and complete strangers. According to i-SAFE statistics, a 2005-2006 survey of 13,000 students in grades five through 12 concluded that 22 percent of students knew someone who had been bullied online, and 19 percent admitted to saying something hurtful to others online.

Even if a child escapes being a victim of cyber bullying, the most Internet-savvy parent may have trouble monitoring what their children are saying online.

“Children have their own language. Even if the parent is monitoring their child’s Internet access, they may not be able to understand what they are saying,” said John Son, Chief Information Officer at the Marshall County Board of Education.

Son was referring to what is known as “chat-room lingo.” Created by teens as short-hand with secret meanings, this language has spread like wildfire, giving teens the ability to decode messages that may seem like jumbled letters to adults.

This cyber language can be as harmless as “BRB,” which means be right back, or as personal as “ASL,” which means age, sex, location. Then there are abbreviations that could be a sign of trouble, including “P911,” which translates roughly to, “my parents are coming.”

While these are just a few, a complete list of chat abbreviations can be found at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s website. This “new age” language isn’t only used by teens in online chat rooms. Chat lingo is used by predators to both trick and relate to children online.

TV shows such as MSNBC’s “To Catch a Predator” and world-wide news coverage have brought light to a new issue that has become a major concern.

Sexual predators, kidnappings and child pornography are all criminal acts that have been heightened with advances in Internet technology and unlimited online communications.

Without parental controls and safety walls, adults and teens are able to communicate from across the globe. Murdock stated, “Kids can post pictures online, and when someone comments on how they look or how beautiful or handsome they are, they are easily flattered and genuinely trusting. That is just one example of how a child can get into serious trouble.”

Children stalked by online predators can have severe emotional problems and contradicting feelings. The child may know that talking to an adult online is dangerous, but they may have a friendship with them that they feel guilty about breaking.

Thompson explained the process that victimized children experience.

“Children being stalked by online predators have a hard time concentrating, trouble sleeping and they are nervous all the time. The predator will ask the child more and more questions, probing the child for information. That is how it usually starts, they ask something simple and then they track the child down.”

Experts agree that there are steps that can be taken to prevent children from being victimized online from both their peers and strangers.

Murdock also suggested getting passwords to your child’s accounts and letting them know that you will be checking them on occasion.

Thompson recommended that a simple talk with your children about what they are doing online, what they shouldn’t do online and the risks that are out there would be one of the most beneficial and preventive tools for children.

“We want them to be smart, there are a lot of things that can be done to protect them.”

Thompson said if a situation has occurred, talk to your child, get the full story and take it to the authorities, if necessary.

“Our main objective is to educate parents and make sure they talk to their kids about what is going on online,” Son said. “We are trying to make information available on our website and hope to provide informational handouts. We feel it is our responsibility to give parents materials, and it is their responsibility to read them.”

Sites such as www.netsmartz.org offer safety tips such as the following: Don’t give out any personal information, and don’t respond to mean, offensive, threatening or unwanted e-mail or instant messages. Choose a screen name that doesn’t identify gender, and never share passwords with anyone other than a parent or guardian.

For more information on Internet safety, contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-843-5678, local authorities, website for the Office of the Attorney General or Glenda Thompson at North Marshall Middle School.