More Insights About Internet Safety From Miss America

Miss America 2007, Lauren Nelson, continues her partnership with America’s Most Wanted by sharing her message of safety for kids on the Internet. We asked Lauren what inspired her to make Internet safety her personal quest.

* Why did you choose Internet safety as your personal platform? At age 13, some friends and I were approached in an Internet chat room by someone who we later discovered was an online predator. We made the mistake of giving out our personal information, including names, location and ages. A week later we received inappropriate photographs in the mail. We immediately told our parents and were lucky that the situation was defused without incident. We learned a valuable lesson about how to protect ourselves online. It is my hope that children will learn these lessons before they find themselves in a dangerous situation, like my friends and I did.

* You had a firsthand experience with a cyber predator, what happened and how has that affected your perspective today? Through my experience at the age of 13, I began to understand that the internet is an eye-opening place. I quickly understood that being online allows you to chat with your friends, check out the latest updates on people’s profiles and travel the world. However, there are certain places in the cyber-world that children and young teens shouldn’t go. I realized I wasn’t prepared for that experience and want to make sure that others understand how easily predators can enter your home and touch your children through your home computer.

Here are Lauren’s answers to questions from teens about staying safe online.

Q. Sometimes I get emails from people I don’t think I know, but they will say, “Hi Lauren!” in the subject box so I think that maybe I just forgot the person who sent it. Can I open them just to make sure it’s not someone I know?

A. If you receive an email from a name you do not specifically recognize, don’t open it no matter what the subject is. Delete it or ask one of your parents to check it out for you. Junk mail is designed to look like emails from friends, but it could include inappropriate material or viruses that harm your computer.

Q. Is it OK to talk to people I don’t know on the internet if I don’t tell them my real name or where I live or anything? A. No. Never talk to strangers on the internet. Even if you do not disclose personal information at first, an internet predator could build an online friendship and eventually get you to tell them private things about yourself.

Q. My friend told me about this thing called a “blog” that’s kind of like an online diary. I really want to make one but I don’t want strangers to read it, just my friends. Would that be safe?

A. If you want to write a blog, find a site that has privacy controls on it so that you can allow only confirmed friends to see it. Never reveal any information about yourself that would enable a predator to find you; this includes not only your name and address, but also the school you go to, where you hang out, sports teams in your area, and the town you live in. Have one of your parents read each of your blogs before you post it. Remember, if there is something written that you would not want your parents to read, you should definitely not put it on the internet.

Q. I have to do a project and I want to use the internet to research stuff. How do I know if what I click on is a good website or a bad one?

A. There is no way of knowing for sure what is going to be on a web page when you open it. In order to make sure you don’t accidentally click on anything inappropriate, talk to your parents about installing filtering software on your computer. This makes it impossible for you to open any questionable websites.

Q. My brother and I always make really funny videos of ourselves and we want to put them on the internet so everyone at school can see them, but would that be dangerous?

A. Public websites allow anyone online to see them, so think twice - it may not safe to post videos of yourself. Internet predators could easily find you by observing your whereabouts in the videos. Rather than posting videos online for your friends, burn them onto disks and give them out to the people that you want to see them.