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America's Schoolchildren Learn Internet Protection and Responsibility

FBI and Justice Department support I-SAFE mission of empowering youth to avoid online perils.

SAN DIEGO -- PRNewswire -- The statistics are terrifying: In recent months, Christina Long, 13, of Connecticut and Nonnie Drummond, 14, of New York were murdered by unstable predators they met online. A 13-year-old in Nashua, New Hampshire, was abducted for three weeks when she slipped out for a clandestine meeting with her Internet boyfriend. There is a proliferating epidemic of youngsters who have been abducted, raped, and killed when virtual romances become deadly real-life encounters.

"Children are sophisticated users of technology, and they are also targets," says Teri Schroeder, founder and CEO of I-SAFE AMERICA, the San Diego-based nonprofit foundation whose mission is to educate and empower youth to safely and responsibly take control of their Internet experience. According to the FBI, child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children through online means is the most significant crime problem it confronts. Kids are also used by terrorists and criminals as unwitting accomplices through steganography, the Internet's invisible ink.

In recognition of I-SAFE AMERICA's leadership in counteracting the growing threat to our nation's youth, bipartisan Congressional leaders approved two 2002 earmarks for a total of $3.554 million to launch the I-SAFE Safe School Education Initiative and Outreach campaign in 25 states during the first project year. The grants are being managed by the Child Protective Division of the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquent Prevention within the Department of Justice.

Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, whose state is already in process of launching the I-SAFE curriculum in its schools, says, "I believe education arms children with the tools and knowledge to identify and avoid online dangers, and become intelligent consumers of the Internet's wealth of resources." Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida's 18th District agrees: "With more and more young children regularly using the Internet, pedophiles, sexual predators and cyber-criminals pose a real and imminent danger ... I-SAFE AMERICA provides the guidance on how to respond appropriately to incidents and stay safe." Congressman Don Young for All Alaska calls I-SAFE "a necessary program."

The curriculum devised by I-SAFE uses guidelines from the FBI. I-SAFE personnel train educators and work with law enforcement in the school districts to ensure the program will impact students in grades K-12 and their parents. A successful pilot program in American Fork, Utah, yielded positive results including the removal of a predatory teacher whose behavior was reported to authorities by a student using I-SAFE's recommended procedure.

The program is being rolled out in September and October in the following states: Hawaii, Alaska, New Hampshire, California, Ohio, North Dakota, Utah, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Florida and Virginia, to be followed before the end of 2002 in Texas, Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Delaware and Connecticut. In February 2003 the program will commence in Michigan, South Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. In addition to the core lessons in schools, the Outreach/Youth Empowerment Campaign in each of the states will include community and school-based events and activities targeting both students and parents, and Public Service Announcements.

"We selected states where students are considered at a 'high-risk' for computer-related incidents," Schroeder explains, "and we work with each state Department of Education to identify the best method of reaching the widest audience for training."

President and CEO Teri Schroeder, a seasoned executive with more than 20 years in the telecommunications industry, founded I-SAFE AMERICA five years ago, spurred by the reaction of teenagers and younger children to a legal chat room on AOL that she ran for judges, lawyers and police officers.

"The kids found us," says Schroeder. "They told us they were lured into private chat rooms and exploited. Some kids had been stalked and exposed to inappropriate content. They didn't feel that they could go to their parents, so they came to us to ask about their rights."

She says that the I-SAFE curriculum in schools addresses a range of topics including: Living as a Net citizen in the cyber-community; personal safety as a cyber-citizen in the 21st Century; technology and the computer virus; plagiarism and the theft of intellectual property; law enforcement and Internet safety.

Schroeder, who has raised two sons herself, adds: "Kids like boundaries. While children know more about using the tools than most adults, they still need guidance. Moreover, students do not always understand that the same laws apply in the online world as in the real world. When children break the law online, they will be held responsible for their actions along with their parents. The answer is not to take computers away from youngsters, but to educate both parent and child to behave responsibly."

Copyright 2002. Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.