Video, Ben Halpert Presents - Cyber Threats: Teach Your Kids
How to Defend Themselves

A follow-up to his informative class, "Cyber Threats: Our Children are Targets, Know What They're Up Against" Ben Halpert will delve into what you as a parent or other adult caregiver can do to help the children in your life make smart decisions regarding technology use.

The Learning Annex
Inst: Ben Halpert, Savvy Cyber Kids

Ben Halpert Presents - Cyber Threats: Our Children are Targets,
Know What They're Up Against

"Today's children are growing up in a connected society. Rarely does a day go by without reports of cyber bullying, sexting, online predators, self-injury, privacy or other cyber related topics that impact our children. Learn about the threats your children are exposed to every time they pick up an iPhone, Smartphone, tablet, or other computing device."

The Learning Annex
Inst: Ben Halpert, Savvy Cyber Kids 

Proposal Would Punish PARENTS of 'Sexting' Teens

A measure which would allow a judge to punish the parents of teenagers who engage in the risky practice known as 'sexting,' was introduced today in the Texas Legislature, and immediately received the support of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, 1200 WOAI news reports.

The measure, introduced by State Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin), would make sexting a Class C misdemeanor requiring a court appearance for the teenaged violator, and would allow a judge to 'sentence' his or her parent to participate in an education program on sexting's long-term harmful consequences.

'Sexting' is the use of a e-mail or a texting service to transmit an explicit photograph of themselves or of another teen.

"This bill ensures that prosecutors, and, frankly, parents, will have a new, appropriate tool to address this issue," Watson said.  "It helps Texas laws keep up with technology and our teenagers."

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy report in 2008 estimated that 22 percent of teen girls said they have electronically sent or posted online nude or semi-nude images of themselves.

"Sexting message senders have no control over their message's ultimate destination," Abbott said.  "Embarrassing or sexually explicit messages can be forwarded to other students and later spread quickly through a school or anywhere in the world."

Currently, teens engaged in 'sexting' can be charged with possessing or trafficking in child pornography.  That offense carries the potential of decades of prison time, plus the requirement that the teen register for the rest of his or her life as a sex offense pervert.

"This bill's legal provisions ensure that minors are punished for their improper behavior, but do not face life altering criminal charges," Watson said.

The law would also allow teens who successfully adhere to the court's requirements, which includes completing an ‘education program’ about the consequences of sexting, to petition to have the misdemeanor offense expunged from their records.

Gang rape of girl, 14, recorded on cell phone - Met on MySpace

Four Stickney teenagers gang-raped a 14-year-old girl and recorded the attacks on a cell phone, police said this morning.

Alex Picallo, 16, Majeed Khalifeh, 18, and Jonathan Leanos, 19, were charged Wednesday with two counts each of aggravated criminal sexual assault in the incident at Leanos’ Stickney home in the 3900 block of Wesley on Saturday, police said. Picallo was charged as an adult.

A fourth suspect, Vicente Hernandez, 22, of Cicero, was similarly charged today and is scheduled to appear at a bond hearing in the Bridgeview courthouse later today.

Picallo was ordered held on $500,000 bail Tuesday. Khalifeh and Leanos appeared in court in Bridgeview on Wednesday and were ordered held in lieu of $600,000 and $750,000 bail, respectively.

Leanos met the victim, who does not live in Stickney, online on the MySpace site last summer, and they met several times before Leanos took the victim to his house Saturday, police said.

When she refused his request for sex, Leanos took her cell phone and forced her to have sex, police said. He then drove her to pick up Khalifeh and Hernandez, and they all returned to Leanos' house, where they were met by Picallo, police continued. Leanos told the girl to have sex with his friends, and cell phones were used to record the assault.

The girl's parents brought her to the police station Sunday.

Police do not believe the suspects posted the videos on the Internet.

Stopping Bullies: Cyberbullying & Digital Citizenship for Classrooms

Texting is replacing talk among teens. The feature is so important to them that if texting was no longer an option, 47% of teens say their social life would end or be worsened – especially among females, 54 % compared to 40% of males. Most cell phones today have the capability of taking photos. Many teens are engaging in “sexting” which is writing sexually explicit messages and/or taking sexually explicit photos of themselves or others and sending them via text to each other. So why are teens engaging in this type of behavior?

• 51% of teen girls say pressure from a guy is a reason girls send sexy messages or images; only 18% of teen boys cited pressure from female counterparts as a reason.
• 23% of teen girls and 24% of teen boys say they were pressured by friends to send or post sexual content.

Once the message or image is sent, there is no way for the sender to retrieve it. Some tweens/teens rely on the promise that the recipient will not share the messages or photos with others but these messages are often forwarded to others and can quickly become out of control. The embarrassment and humiliation that follows can be devastating for the sender.