"Social networking Web sites have become extremely popular with young people," Attorney General Wasden said. "This popularity can easily equate to danger because it invites one to one communication with people who may not be whom they claim to be. There have been many instances, including here in Idaho, in which registered sex offenders have been active users of social networking Web sites. I urge every Idaho parent to read these two new publications."
A Parent's Guide to Social Networking discusses social networking Web sites such as MySpace.com and Facebook.com. It describes the nature and content of social networking Web sites and the risks of unsupervised use of these sites by young people. The booklet also describes how parents can determine if their children are using social networking Web sites, how to discuss social networking Web sites with their children and how to delete a social networking Web site account.
The Internet Lingo Dictionary gives parents a glimpse inside the online world of young people. The 36-page pamphlet lists more than 500 common Internet acronyms and their meanings. Young people have developed their own Internet shorthand language to save time typing. Common acronyms include "AFK," meaning "away from keyboard" and "WOMBAT," shorthand for "waste of money, brains and time." The pamphlet also includes a list of emoticons -- keyboard symbols, letters and numbers meant to look like facial expressions or objects -- such as the classic smiley :-) a rose @}->-- and someone snoring |^0 .
An example in the dictionary shows how Internet users string acronyms together: "19/m/ca watz ur n/a/s/l? snd m ur p# we can pRt! g2g4n" To most people, this looks like nonsense, but it's not. The message is from a 19-year-old male located in California (19/m/ca), asking for the recipient's name, age, sex and location (watz ur n/a/s/l). His message is: "Send me your phone number (snd m ur p#). We can party! (we can pRt!) Got to go for now (g2g4n)."
