The vast world of the Internet can be a delight or a danger, depending on who’s behind the keyboard. Montgomery County police hope to teach teenagers how to stay clear of dangers with an Internet safety program.
Teen Internet Safety, led by Jay Patil of the police Community Service Office, is scheduled for Sept. 28 at the Silver Spring library located at 8901 Colesville Road.
With more than 50 million registered users of the popular social networking site, MySpace.com, and the recent conviction of a Potomac rabbi on charges that he solicited sex via the Internet with a 13-year-old boy — a case highlighted on NBC Dateline’s popular To Catch a Predator program — teen online safety has become a hot-button topic.
Students at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda produced a documentary about MySpace.com last year, said Assistant Principal Dr. Ben OuYang.
The documentary was broadcast on Whitman Shorts, a student-run TV show broadcast on the county school’s cable channel and Whitman’s closed circuit channel.
While the show discussed the merits and problems with posting personal information, Whitman itself blocks use of sites such as MySpace on school computers because they lack academic value, OuYang said.
Most discussions about Internet safety, however, are left up to parents and the student.
“For us, we talk to them about the appropriateness of what is online,” OuYang said. “We have had issues where we were concerned about online chat rooms.”
More information
» When: Sept. 28
» Location: Silver Spring Library
» For more details on the Montgomery County Department of Police Teen Internet Safety program, call 240-773-9420.
