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A young girl, bored with the current friends she normally chats with starts searching Google for a new chatroom. She comes across an interesting Google search result : safe, monitored chatrooms for cool teens - registration required for entry - must have a valid school ID to register.
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OK.... Let’s see... which new Chat room is interesting!!
hmmm.... this one looks good! OK... what do I have to do......
“Safe, monitored chatrooms for cool teens - registration required for entry - must have a valid school ID to register. ”....
Sounds safe to me. Monitor: Hello Jenny, my name is Chad and I’m the chatroom monitor. Welcome to “Cool Teenz” chat; how are you? . Wow, that was fast.
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Jenny: I’m good, your chatroom is really cool! Monitor: Thanks, I just want to tell you about our simple rules and regulations.
Jenny: No problem, pretty basic rules, I’m glad that you have them…makes me feel safe and secure. Monitor: That’s why we have them and strictly enforce them Jenny. so pick a friend and have fun and remember that I’m always around if you need me,
Thanks Chad, now it’s time to meet some new friends!
1 Month Later
Chad: Hey Jenny, how are you today?
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Jenny: Fine Chad, how are you?
Chad: Not too good, we just lost two of our monitors and we may have to either close our chat service or really cut back the open chatroom hours unless we can find a few more monitors in a hurry! Jenny: WHAT??? WHEN…I can’t believe this!!
Chad: Yes Jenny, sorry to have to tell you the bad news….. if you know any responsible teens that want a job as a monitor please let me know?
Jenny: I think I know someone right now…
Jenny:
Chad: Really, who??
ME!!
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Chad: That’s cool, are you sure that you’re interested? Jenny: 1,000,000% Chad…what do I need to do to sign up?? Chad: You’ve already qualified because you’re a member in good standing with no incident reports. I can send you a link to a secure area of our website for you to complete your application. Chad: Once you’re approved all you need to do is go to one of our offices in your area because we need to personally verify who you are…we can’t be too careful because there’s a lot of very bad people online pretending to be someone else. Chad: Oh yeah, did I tell you that if your approved to become a chatroom monitor that you will get paid $10.00 an hour! Jenny: WOW!! $10.00 an hour… that’s more than I get for my allowance all week! And you guys really have a lot of security, and the fact that I might get paid for doing something that I really love is great!
DONE!!!... and what....? “Thank you for your application, you will be notified within 24 hours if your application has been approved” OH... OK....
Jenny: Please send me the link and maybe I can also get my friend Jennifer to be a monitor also, she’s a member too. Chad: Cool Jenny, here’s the link
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Ok... here we go!!!
DANGER LURKS AND LAYS WHERE OUR CHILDREN PLAY
AAAHHH!!! Can’t wait to find out if I’m gonna get approved as a chatroom monitor.
e-mail.... e-mail
....... huh...?
OMG!!! I got it!!! I got it!!! Wheee!! All I have to do is to go to the office in my area, listed in the email to get verified and I’m ready to go! DANGER LURKS AND LAYS WHERE OUR CHILDREN PLAY
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This is sooo cool!! If I can win the L.E.A.P. Safely contest at school and also get this great job I can save enough for college and also help my family to!
CLICK
I can’t wait to tell all of my online friends about the L.E.A.P. Safely contest!
CL
IC CL K IC
K
LOGIN
Jenny: Hey guys, I just wanted to tell you about this very cool online contest that I’m about to enter at school today…. it’s about online and offline safety. Jenny: First you have to buy this very cool safety comic called
“Danger Lurks and Lay Where Our Children Play” and then you can go to their website to register and then answer some questions about online and offline safety.
Chat friend #1: Sounds cool, can anyone enter the contest and where can we get the comic?
Chat friend #2: So why can’t just anyone enter the contest and why are clues placed inside each comic?
Jenny: No not anyone, to register and qualify to won you have to be a currently registered student or a Teacher. You can check their website @ www.leapingsmart.com to find out where you can get a copy of the comic in your area.
Jenny: I think it has something to do with safety stuff why only students and Teachers and their immediate families can enter this contest…..
Chat friend #3: So what’s the website that we can go to register? Jenny: It’s www.leapsmartandwin.com or you can send an SMS or call this number and they will give you further instructions what to do: 084838660 Jenny: Well guys, I have to go to school before I’m late, I have a very big day today! I’ll tell you about it later ok…
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Jenny: And about the clues inside each comic, I think they want to make sure that students and Teachers and their families actually read this very informative comic so they will know how to protect themselves better and what to do if some-thing strange happens!
I’m gonna surprise Mom and Dad later with my first job!! On my own too!!!
AFTER SCHOOL
OK... Here it is!!!
Hi there Jenny!!! Welcome!! Wow... he looks kinda cool!! All we need is your signature here to verify that all this information about you is true.
Thank you. Let’s go into my office for a little interview.
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Here...
Wh.... What!!!!
......
......
So.... are you ready?
For your first job?
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HEY!!! Wait!!! What are you guys doing!!!
NO!!
For your first job to be in a MOVIE CLIP....
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Chat Rooms Note: it’’ is easy to set up fake Chat Rooms, so be careful and be aware Chat rooms are places on the Internet where you can have live, real-time conversations with several people at the same time. Think of it as a telephone party line - except that you type rather than talk. Everyone in the chat room can see what everyone else writes, but you can still be as anonymous as you want. While chat rooms can be dynamic meeting places for people with similar interests, they can also be cruising grounds for predators trying to make contact with young people. For this reason, kids shouldn’t be in chat rooms - period. Just as we teach young children not to talk to strangers in the street, they shouldn’t be talking with strangers online either. When they become older (10-13) they should only participate in monitored kids’ chat rooms, and even then under the close supervision of an adult. Chat rooms are monitored in several ways. Some sites run software that automatically shuts people out for using inappropriate language, while others use real live monitors. Keep in mind that even in monitored chat rooms, there is nothing to stop an adult from joining in and pretending to be a child or in the case of our storyline, predators setting up fake chatrooms and lulling kids into a false sense of security! Online predators are extremely resourceful, cunning and crafty; which is why constant communication with your kids, online and offline safety education and setting and enforcing strict Internet usage rules for your kids are extremely important to best ensure their safety! Young teens are particularly vulnerable with regard to chat rooms. They’re exploring their sexuality, moving away from parental control and seeking to establish new relationships outside the family. In the anonymous atmosphere of chat rooms, they feel free to be more open and honest than in conversations
can quickly become intimate, making them vulnerable to online predators. Because of this, adolescents should be encouraged to only use monitored teen chat rooms that you or your school has approved, to protect their personal information when chatting online, never agree to meet strangers or people that they think are their friends (no matter how long they have been chatting with them online) but have never met or even seen
in person without your full knowledge and approval and although most safety experts warn that under very few circumstances or situations is it wise or really safe for kids to meet their online friends offline; if you do consent to this make sure that you clearly know who they are meeting and why, speak to the parents of your child’s online friend before consenting to the meeting, make sure that a trusted adult accompanies your child to the meeting, make sure your child and the adult that accompanies them has a mobile phone with them and set the meeting in a very public, highly visible, well lit place, preferably during the day light hours, and to always stay in the chat room’s public area. (Some chat rooms offer users the option of going into ‘private’ rooms, or sharing private messages, that no one else can see or monitor.) Tip: Keep your Internet-connected computer in a public area of your house - never in a child’s private room. Source: http://www.internet101.ca/en/ whatischatting.php#
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