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POSTED: 3:54 pm EDT October 4, 2011
COVINGTON, Ky. -- A Boone County man was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 20 years in federal prison on child sex charges. Ricky Lee Dawson, 30, pleaded guilty to using a computer to set up a meeting with what he believed was a 14-year-old girl, but was actually an undercover investigator. Prosecutors said Dawson described in graphic detail his intention to have sex with the teen over a six-week period beginning April 26.. Dawson took a taxi June 1 from his home to Kenton County, where he was met by authorities and arrested. He was previously convicted of using a computer to entice a 13-year-old girl into having sex in 2007, but he instead was communicating with an undercover South Carolina police officer. Dawson was sentenced to 235 months in federal prison for the most recent offense, and authorities said his previous conviction was a factor in the sentence. He must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence and then will be placed under supervised release for 30 years once he's released. Copyright 2011 by WLWT.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
If you're reading this and you're young, there's a decent chance that somebody has hacked into your social media account recently. Maybe they sent a lewd tweet on Twitter or posted a hilariously confusing status update on Facebook. It's possible they set up a Hangout with your worst enemies on Google+ or read all your Gmail. Regardless, this is happening more and more frequently according to a new Associated Press-MTV poll. Three in 10 teens have had their social media accounts hacked, twice the number in 2009. The vast majority of the victims knew the perpetrators--67 percent of those pranked knew the prankster, 72 percent of those spied on knew the spy--and about half of them were upset about it.
Related: What Everyone Can Learn From the BBC's New Social Media GuideThe trend seems harmless enough at face value. If anything, being the victim of a hack prompts people to pay more attention to securing their identity online. The AP-MTV poll says that two-thirds take action by changing passwords or screen names, one in four delete their accounts altogether. Then there are the celebrity hacks--often good for a yuck or two. Earlier this year, a prankster hacked into Ashton Kutcher's account during a TED conference and used the access for a little bit of cybersecurity activism.?"Ashton, you've been Punk'd," read the rogue tweet. "This account is not secure. Dude, where's my SSL?" (SSL means "Security Sockets Layer," a simple shield against hacks that many believe should be the default security setting on Twitter on Facebook but is not.)
Related: Don't Expect Too Much From Social Media Town HallsWe reported last month that Twitter, for one, takes a pretty hands-off approach to what happens their users' accounts are hacked. The FBI's admits, "The truth is it's relatively easy to get into these accounts," but Twitter's standard response to users whose accounts have been attacked is to do what the teens we mentioned about are already doing: change your username, make a more secure password, if all else fails delete the account. (There are a few more tips about what you can do to protect your account here.)
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Teens who bully and mock via texting, Facebook posts, tweets and YouTube videos don't see the immediate consequences of the behavior, U.S. researchers say.
Brandie Oliver, an assistant professor in Butler University's graduate program for school counseling, said online bullies mistakenly think that once they've sent a message "it disappears into space" and can't be traced back to them.
"If a girl posts a mean remark online, she doesn't have to witness the target's hurt reaction," Oliver said in a statement. "Many students post messages that they would never say in a face-to-face situation."
However, these teens get upset when they realize their messages or posts can be retrieved and often are used in disciplinary school actions, Oliver said.
To prevent digital dramas, Oliver suggested:
-- Children accept "friends" online who you know and trust.
-- Kids shouldn't engage in online bullying, gossip or passing on embarrassing photos and video.
-- Everyone should understand whatever is posted -- a message, picture, video -- can be commented on by others.
Oliver said parents and adults should:
-- Get involved in the digital world of your teen.
-- Educate youth about the online world.
-- Don't "cave in" to a teen's begging for online access if he or she can't deal with digital drama.
Attorney General Jim Hood said today's teens are the first generation to deal with an onslaught of electronic technology.
Teens' online social networking can affect real-life safety and friendships, so parents should talk with their children about staying safe on social media websites panelists said at a Facebook roadshow yesterday.
The roadshow at Clinton High School last night offered resources and tips on safe social networking for parents, teachers and students. The state attorney general's office sponsored the event along with the Department of Education.
Brooke Oberwetter, associate manager of policy communications at Facebook, told parents and a handful of students at the event how to change their pages' privacy settings, report when someone is impersonating them on Facebook and block someone who is harassing them. Oberwetter recommended that people review their privacy settings each month and take a moment to adjust which group of friends they want to see content each time they post something.
Attorney General Jim Hood said teens today have to deal with an onslaught of electronic technology.
"This is where our young people are hanging out, instead of the pool or the pier," Hood said.
Oberwetter said one of the best ways parents can start a conversation with their teens about safety on Facebook is by asking them to help set up a Facebook page. As parents ask questions about changing privacy settings and posting status updates, they can talk to their children about what they are sharing online.
Hood and Oberwetter also took questions from the audience on topics such as what parents should do if they find out their child has two pages--one to friend them on and one for everything else--and what the relationship status "it's complicated" means. Oberwetter said having two Facebook pages is a violation of the site's terms of use, and if Facebook finds out, it will delete both pages. As for "it's complicated," the answer is, well, complicated, but that relationship status declined in popularity as the site transitioned from a social networking tool for college and high school students to one that more adults use.
When drama online escalates into threats, Hood said people should call law enforcement. Parents and teachers can watch for signs of "cyber bullying," since problems online often translate into problems in real life.
Rachel Carlton, 16, is a junior at Jackson Preparatory School and a member of the Attorney General's Youth Advisory Council. Hood said he formed the council, which will review an upcoming Facebook safety guide, to help his office reach youth. The attorney general's Facebook safety guide should be available within the next couple of weeks.
Rachel's mother, Virginia Carlton, said she thinks parents learned more from the event than teens who are already on Facebook.
"Rachel's very tech-savvy on the social media and the computer," she said. "I'm the one that's learning from her."
Virginia Carlton said she trusts her children, but wants to get on Facebook so she can be more aware of what they are doing.
"I have to get up to speed," she said. "Since I'm not on Facebook, I cannot tell you what they're doing online. I have to rely a lot on what they tell me."
To see video of the event, visit the Mississippi Attorney General's Office Facebook page and click on Ustream Live.
For more Facebook safety tips, visit facebook.com/safety.
? 100 recent comments ?Note: You might want to turn down the volume on your computer before viewing this, or avoid it entirely if you're sensitive to explicit language.
WAYNESBORO ? Maybe being a jerk isn't all that bad.
At least that's what Khalyl McCarthy, Tyshawn Brooks, Kane Stinnett and Chris Turkiewicz tend to believe. Better known as Daffy Kilz, Show-Off, Johnny Millz and Turk, the four teens comprise the popular Waynesboro-based jerk dancing group called Metro Broz.
Closely related to breakdancing, jerking is a fast-paced dance style comprised of fancy footwork and lots of creativity and imagination. It even has its own music and culture, which often includes loud colors, skinny jeans and designer canvas shoes.
"It's just a way to express yourself," Brooks said. "It's fun. Jerking was made so kids would have something to do besides join gangs. We laugh and joke on each other. We just have fun doing it."
All the teens need are some skinny jeans, a vacant lot, some imagination and a Cisco Flip recorder.
On this particular day, the Metro Broz. members go back and forth, each suggesting different venues. Even as they are tossing out ideas, the teens pass by a vacant lot. It's perfect.
With the site established, the teens put their earphone buds in their ears, turn on the fast-paced music on their iPods, and start showing off their skills with moves like the swag walk and the coin drop.
The video shoot is a mixture of freestyle dances and choreographed steps. Sometimes, the teens just start dancing. At other times, they huddle and discuss intros, outros, angles and complex synchronized routine patterns.
The Metro Broz. usually make a Facebook event to let their friends know then they're about to make a video.
"We tag our people and tell them to come and tell anyone else they can come," Turkiewicz said. "It's usually at the Waynesboro City Park. We usually start on the basketball courts. We usually get a good amount of people, so that's pretty fun."
The video footage will be sent to a professional editor, and then placed on YouTube. Their most popular video is up to more than 8,000 views.
"We make videos for sponsors in California," Turkiewicz said. "We're trying to get our names out there for dancing."
The ultimate goal is to get enough buzz to attract deals with the hottest vendors within the subculture. The crew would love to earn a sponsorship with a group like Jerkaholics.
The Metro Broz. already have a little buzz on the Internet.
"We've been keeping up with a lot of contests online and staying connected," Stinnett said. "We hear about them from other videos or other crews. We just make sure we keep in contact with a lot of sponsors to make sure we know when the competition is coming. We just get the group together, and whatever we need if we need to buy clothing or anything, and we make the video."
While breakdancing is considered one of the original elements of hip-hop culture, HipHopDX.com editor Jake Paine says hip-hop has a curious relationship with jerk crews nationwide.
"Dancing has always been fundamental in hip-hop, with breaking being one of the culture's four pillars," Paine said. "Hip-hop began as reactionary dancing to music. Then it became supported by dance. Music ? like Joeski's Love's 'Pee-Wee Herman' or the 'Humpty Dance' ? has been about dancing."
However, Paine sees one big difference now.
"These contemporaries seem to be writing songs about dancing and dance-related things," Paine said. "It is definitely within hip-hop's lineage, but the rap community particularly distances itself due to a lack of substance or respect for the history."
While hip-hop has been hesitant to completely embrace the jerk movement, the Metro Broz. had little problem embracing Turkiewicz.
The crew laughs as they remember how they met Turk, who had just moved from Staunton back to Waynesboro.
Stinnett and the others were chilling outside the War Memorial Pool last summer, just listening to music and showing off their dance steps. Turkiewicz, whom the group had never met, asked to borrow the headphones.
Turk began doing similar dance moves, and a friendly battle emerged.
There were no hard feelings, however, as the teens decided to join forces rather than keep battling. From that point, they've decided to pool their talents into one collective force.
"When we first saw Chris jerk, we thought he looked pretty nice out there," Stinnett said. "We talked to him some, and then finally offered him a spot in our crew. He accepted it. He showed up, and from then on he's been there with us."
The Metro Broz. aren't the only local jerking crew. In Staunton, teens Bokeem Green, Rae'Quan Short, Weslee King and Rhashod Harrison have their own group East Coast Twisted Entertainment.
"It's a way to express yourself without words to me," Short said.
According to Valley Dance Theater director Kimberly Field, television shows like "Glee," along with dancing reality shows like "Dancing With The Stars," have put dancing in pop culture's limelight
"There's so much interest in dance," Field said. "Now all the major pop stars have amazing back up dancers. It used to only be Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. Now it's everybody. I think Justin Timberlake and Chris Brown had a lot of do with that."
Field even in traditional dance styles like ballet, the current trend is a fusion with influences from dance styles. The same is true with jerking, as other popular or retro dance steps from urban culture ? like the Dougie or the Harlem Shake ? can be incorporated.
"It changes every day," Turkiewicz said.
The Valley Dance Theater would love to have some give-and-take with the Metro Broz.
"I think they have a lot of raw talent," Field said. "I love that they use they are using their energy in a fun, creative way. I would love to have them come to my class."
A small-scale study by Stanford University has found that teens in the US spend significantly more time using the internet than their Chinese counterparts but Chinese students are more likely to own an iPad.
The study was conducted by the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE), part of the Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, and investigated how the digital lives of high school students aged between 16 and 18 differed between the two countries.
Overall, teens in the US spent more time online than their Chinese counterparts, however, teens in China were more likely to embrace the latest technology.
Students from Silicon Valley spent almost twice as long on social networking sites (two hours per day). Beijing teens were more likely to go online to watch videos and films.
Forty-four percent of Chinese students surveyed owned an iPad compared to just 16 percent of students in the US.
More than 90 percent of students in Beijing said they have online friends that they have never met in person.
While some digital habits may differ between the two countries, teens in technology hotspots such as Silicon Valley and Beijing are embracing technology and their online lives.
"In certain urban locations, today's teens are native 'netizens'," said Marguerite Gong Hancock, associate director of SPRIE. "Most teens in our survey in both Palo Alto and Beijing have had mobile phones since the age of 12. They lead a large part of their daily lives online."
Technology and the internet are becoming increasingly important for young people. A separate study by the University of Maryland found that college students around the world become distressed and experienced withdrawal symptoms when deprived of their gadgets.
In June, a Chinese teenager was so desperate to get his hands on Apple’s new iPad 2 he allegedly sold his kidney to pay for the device.
The extremely small sample size of Stanford University’s study (which included 44 students from Palo Alto and 27 students from Beijing) means the findings should be taken with a grain of salt, but the results are interesting nonetheless.
On the one hand, cyberpranking and cyberharrassment have increased. On the other, more kids are willing to intervene when they see cyberharrassment.
For example, 34 percent of respondents to a recent survey on digital abuse said someone looked at their text messages and recent call logs in their phones without their permission this year.
The figure for 2009, the first year this survey was conducted, was 40 percent.
To offset that, 56 percent of the respondents to this year's survey said they're likely to intervene when they see someone being mean to another person on social networking sites, up from 47 percent in 2009.
Also, 51 percent of the respondents to this year's survey are likely to ask someone to stop using discriminatory language on social networking sites.
This year's survey was conducted in August by Knowledge Networks on behalf of MTV and the Associated Press. 
Twenty-one percent of the respondents to this year's survey reported that someone had impersonated them by logging into their email, social network or other account without their permission this year, as against 12 percent in 2009.
Further, 16 percent said someone had put embarrassing pictures or videos of them on an Internet page without their permission, as opposed to 11 percent in 2009.
The number of respondents reporting that someone wrote something untrue about them on a Web page was 26 percent this year, compared with 22 percent in 2009.
Twenty-four percent said someone wrote something very mean about them on an Internet page, as against 19 percent in 2009; and 21 percent said someone used email, IM or text messaging to spread untrue rumors about them this year, as opposed to 18 percent in 2009;
Thirty-four percent stated someone looked at their text messages and recent call logs in their phones.
"When you look at 14- to 24-year-olds, you do see an increase [in digital abuse, cyberbullying and sexting] between 2009 and 2011," Jason Rzepka, who heads MTV's drive against these behaviors, told TechNewsWorld.
MTV conducted its first survey in 2009, when it began looking into the issue of digital abuse, cyberbullying and sexting, Rzepka said
On the other hand, "the use of social media has increased drastically during that period (2009 to 2011), so in some sense it's not unexpected to see that young people have seen some sort of unsavory experience," he said.
Apparently, some young victims whose cellphones, computers and Facebook pages have been hacked or invaded without their permission pass this off as a prank.
However, cyberharrassment or invading someone else's digital life may break the law.
"From the standpoint of criminal statutes, if you're taking someone's passwords and hacking into their accounts, or hacking in and changing something you don't have the right to do or viewing something you don't have the right to view, it's a crime," Roy Hadley, an attorney at law firm Barnes & Thornburg pointed out.
"It doesn't matter whether you're a kid or a juvenile," Hadley told TechNewsWorld.
"We tend to think social media is a different area, but it's still subject to the same laws [as everything else]," Hadley continued. "Just because something's on the cutting edge doesn't mean you can disregard the law."
Part of the problem is that the current generation of youth is growing up in a world different from anything its predecessors have known, and there are no societal guideposts stemming from previous experience to help them proceed.
"No generation has grown up this way before, connected 24 x 7 all their lives," MTV's Rzepka stated.
"There's a generational gap, not just technologically but culturally," Jeff Mcintyre, director of national policy at Children Now, told TechNewsWorld.
"We're still in an age where most adult communications focus around email, and talking to a child about email is like teaching her to drive an Edsel," McIntyre explained.
"There's a big need for this to become part of the classroom experience and to teach digital ethics," MTV's Rzepka suggested. "We're giving these kids power tools and we're letting them use these with no training." 
The advocacy group, Free Tibet, said in a statement that rumors were circulating in the region, known as Aba or Ngagba in Tibetan, that “many more people were prepared to give up their lives in protest.”
The latest self-immolations reported by the group brought to seven the number of such attempts by Tibetans in China’s Sichuan Province since March. All but one of the earlier acts of self-immolation were by monks from the Kirti Monastery, a restive religious institution that was at the heart of anti-China protests in 2008.
Free Tibet said the two teenagers, identified as Choepel, 19, and Khayang, 18, set themselves on fire at midday. The group said Choepel died at the scene and that Khayang’s condition was unknown.
The group said the two, who both were wearing layman’s clothing at the time, were believed to have been former monks at the Kirti Monastery. It said Choepel was expelled in March, after the first self-immolation there, for reasons unclear. The group said it was also unclear why Khayang had left Kirti, but that his uncle was one of at least 20 people killed in the 2008 riots and crackdown by Chinese forces.
Free Tibet did not specify the precise sources of its information, and there was no word about the self-immolations in the state-run Chinese media.
The group, which is based in London, seeks to publicize what it regards as China’s violent suppression of Tibetan autonomy. The group has become a conduit for news about acts of political protest by Tibetans in Tibet, the former Himalayan kingdom that China regards as part of its territory, and in adjoining Chinese provinces populated by ethnic Tibetans.
Stephanie Brigden, the director of Free Tibet, said in a statement that Tibetans were sharing news of the self-immolations in online chat rooms and through word of mouth, despite the risk of severe penalties by local Chinese authorities who forbid the distribution of such information.
“Tibetans are determined that these acts do not go unnoticed,” she said.
Tibet’s political status is a sensitive issue in China, which has occupied Tibet since the 1950s and considers Tibet’s spiritual leader in exile, the Dalai Lama, a subversive “splittist” agitator. The Dalai Lama, a Nobel laureate, has said he does not advocate Tibetan independence, but his enormous popularity among Tibetans infuriates Beijing.
{"s" : "cmcsa,cmcsk","k" : "a00,a50,b00,b60,c10,g00,h00,l10,p20,t10,v00","o" : "","j" : ""} Press Release Source: Comcast Corporation PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq:CMCSA - News), announced today the findings of its Internet safety and security survey to assess the general knowledge, attitudes and behaviors among U.S. adults and teens. One of the highlights in the independent nationwide survey revealed that although 95 percent of parents believe it is just as important to talk about online safety issues with their children as it is to talk about sex education and the risks associated with drugs and alcohol, only 65 percent have actually had that discussion.
To help parents initiate these conversations with their children as they progress through different developmental stages - teens, tweens, school-age children and preschoolers, Comcast is raising awareness about new discussion guides created by Dr. Michael Rich, Director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston. The results of the survey and the new guides come as the nation recognizes National Cyber Security Awareness month in October.
“As the nation’s largest residential Internet service provider, we want to continue to provide tips and resources on ways consumers can stay safe online,” said Cathy Avgiris, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Communications and Data Services for Comcast Cable. “Some of the survey results were surprising because they showed that parents and teens may not be on the same page on a variety of online safety issues. As a result, we want to raise awareness about great resources for parents, teachers and caregivers to talk about how to be safe online with their kids or loved ones.”
Among other findings, the survey revealed that when using the Internet, 65 percent of parents say online security and safety is most important to them compared to only 46 percent of surveyed teens. This suggests teens are underestimating or are not fully aware of some of the risks associated with their online activities.
“Because a child’s exposure to and use of the Internet changes over time, it was important to create conversation starter guides for parents that represent the different stages of a child’s life,” said Dr. Rich. “For example, you can’t talk to a preschooler about the Internet the same way you would talk to a teen about the Internet. The short and simple guides that have been developed can help parents navigate talks about things like safety, the amount of time spent online and appropriate online behavior.”
The guides are available to everyone, not just Comcast customers, and can be downloaded for free at http://xfinity.comcast.net/constantguard/Education/For_Parents/The_Internet_Talk/?CID=661 or at the Center for Media and Child Health website at http://www.cmch.tv.
Additional survey highlights include:
Across various Internet-connected devices, including personal computers, laptops, tablets and smart phones, teens feel safer online compared to parents. Thirty-nine percent of teens feel their personal data is very safe and secure on a personal computer or a laptop compared to 25 percent of parents. For smart phones in particular, more than twice as many teens as parents believe their data is safe from hackers or cybercriminals. Teens’ use of passwords is riskier than parents. Teens are much more likely to use the same password for every online account than are parents. Twenty-three percent of surveyed teens report that they use the same password for their online accounts compared to 14 percent of surveyed parents. Roughly two-thirds of parents (66 percent) and teens (61 percent) believe they are in full control of what they post online and can take it down whenever they want. In fact, most parents and teens do not understand the reality that what goes online, stays online – and nearly three in 10 teens have posted something online that they later regretted. Parents vary on the appropriate age for a child to start using the Internet. Thirty-six percent of parents surveyed believe the appropriate age for a child to start accessing the Internet is between the ages of 10 and 13; 35 percent of parents believe the appropriate age is between 6 and 9 and 12 percent of parents think a child 5 years old and under is the appropriate age to start using the Internet. Parents are not aware of what their children are downloading on the Internet. Sixty-eight percent of teens surveyed say that they have downloaded a program or software without their parent’s permission. However, only 35 percent of parents surveyed believe that their children have ever downloaded a program or software without their permission.For more tips about Internet safety and to download four different Internet safety conversation starters, please visit http://xfinity.comcast.net/constantguard/Education/For_Parents/The_Internet_Talk/?CID=661.
For additional survey results, please visit: http://www.comcast.com/MediaLibrary/1/1/About/PressRoom/Documents/pdf/InternetSurveyChartsOct2011.pdf
Earlier this year, Comcast launched the Constant Guard? Protection Suite, the most comprehensive suite of online security and safety of any major Internet service provider in the U.S. The addition of the Constant Guard Protection Suite for Xfinity Internet customers and “The Internet Talk” guides for all consumers are further examples of Comcast’s continued efforts to promote Internet safety awareness and education. In addition, Comcast recently began rolling out Internet Essentials?, a program which offers families with children who are eligible to receive free lunches under the National School Lunch Program low-cost Internet service, affordable computers and digital literacy training.
About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq:CMCSA - News) (www.comcast.com) is one of the nation's leading providers of entertainment, information and communications products and services. Comcast is principally involved in the operation of cable systems through Comcast Cable and in the development, production and distribution of entertainment, news, sports and other content for global audiences through NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is one of the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone providers to residential and business customers. Comcast is the majority owner and manager of NBCUniversal, which owns and operates entertainment and news cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, local television station groups, television production operations, a major motion picture company and theme parks.
*SURVEY CONDUCTED BY AN INDEPENDENT RESEARCH FIRM, PENN SCHOEN BERLAND (PSB) ON BEHALF OF COMCAST. NATIONWIDE 1,610 INDIVIDUALS WERE SURVEYED.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50019925&lang=en
MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50019925?=en
When Gina Varieur needed to buy clothes or shoes as a teenager, she would just ask her parents for the money.
She could choose what she wanted, she said, but ?I really didn?t have the concept of money.?
And as a young adult, Varieur said, she struggled with figuring out how to pay her bills on time. ?I did it, but I didn?t have a good method for doing it, and I think it took a few years for me to actually learn that.?
Today, the Simpsonville mom owns and operates a business with her husband, Joe, and she?s been diligent about teaching her three children the importance of money management.
?They are very appreciative and I feel like they make good choices,? Varieur said. For example, daughter Shelby, 16, was able to save $800 for a trip to Colorado this summer. ?She worked for it and saved her own money.?
Such financial lessons are particularly important during a down economy, experts said. Parents have to take a pro-active role in helping their teens develop money management skills.
?Financial illiteracy in children is a very real problem,? said Josh Pearman, a financial adviser at Edward Jones on North Main Street. ?A lot of parents are busy and don?t take time to talk with their kids.? And while the lack of time can be a hurdle, it?s no excuse. ?We just have to be intentional and make time.?
A recent Charles Schwab survey noted that 77 percent of teens (ages 16-18) see themselves as financially savvy, although the majority lack knowledge about specifics such as balancing a checkbook, checking the accuracy of a bank statement or managing a credit card.
The good news is there?s a growing interest among teens to become more financially literate.
In a 2011 survey by Junior Achievement and the Allstate Foundation, eight out of every 10 teenagers said the recession has motivated them to learn how to manage their money.
And more than half of the teens surveyed by Charles Schwab said they are more grateful than in previous years for what they have, are less likely to ask for things and have a greater appreciation for how hard their parents work.
?These teens over the past few years have seen so many adults struggling with mortgages and credit card debt,? said Sarah Bulgatz, spokeswoman for Charles Schwab. ?So our inference is that the recession has just been a wake-up call.?
These days, 16-year-old Jaquan James, a junior at Greenville Senior High, is taking a closer look at balancing his needs versus wants.
He isn?t so quick to ask his parents for money for, say, a video game as he might have been in the past. ?I don't ask for a lot of stuff now,? said James, who?s taking a course in personal finance . ?I?ve learned how to budget and save more.?
Teaching money-management skills helps kids become independent adults and avoid potential disasters such as financial fraud, identity theft, bankruptcy or underfunded retirement years, Pearman said.
And ?one of the most important things we do as parents ... is to help our children become independent adults,? Pearman said.
While 92 percent of teens surveyed by Junior Achievement and Allstate said they learn about money management from their parents, fewer than half said they?ve discussed the issue with their families.
Money shouldn?t be a taboo conversation, said Kathleen Kennedy, who teaches personal finance at Greenville High, where it?s a relatively new elective.
?It?s a natural cycle. What goes up must come down. We?re just in that downward slope,? Kennedy said. ?And education is the most important piece to get that engine running back up hill again.?
Young people will be the driving force for what kind of jobs will be out there in the future and what kind of incomes can be earned, Kennedy said. ?They just don?t realize how much power they actually have.?
It?s not about overwhelming your children, Kennedy said, but preparing them. In her personal finance class, students create personal budgets, research careers, set short-term financial goals, and learn about investing, the pitfalls of credit, identity theft and insurance.
?It?s an eye-opening experience for them,? Kennedy said. ?They recognize that this is real and practical ... that it?s going to have an impact on them. They get very engaged in our discussions. My classrooms are full and I see that being a trend that will continue.?
Cynthia Tucker, 17, a senior at Greenville High, says the recession, along with what she's learning in the class, has given her a greater appreciation for how hard her parents work. ?It almost makes me not want to grow up,? Tucker said.
But she?s already getting a taste of the real world. In addition to cheerleading and school, she holds a part-time job at McDonald's. Some of her income goes to cheerleading expenses, gas and car insurance. She?s also saving for her class ring.
Tucker?s mom, Cyndi, set up a checking account for her daughter and helps her budget expenses with online banking and an envelope system that allows her daughter to earmark extra money for clothes and other items. ?She has to figure out how to do it with what she makes.?
Police say that the number of sex predators using the Internet to target teens is on the rise.
Smart phones are plugging in new ways to connect to the Internet.
Police say this technology is a reason online sexual assault now happens more than ever.
It's also easy for predators to track any photos sent to them through phones.
Many students bring their concerns about predators to School Resource Officer Matt Kessler.
Cpl. Matt Kessler- "It's very disheartening to know the things that are going on online and some of its really hard to do anything about at this.. I also have children myself so you know it really makes me think of the people out there and the things that they're doing to our children.... "
Kessler says always remind any minor, its important to contact a parent, counselor, or an adult they trust if they feel targeted.
One big knock against mobile payments is that the technology is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.
Critics suggest that using a credit card at the register is not much harder than using a phone enabled with near-field communication. But if you are having a hard time understanding, maybe it’s because you are getting too old (sorry, if I’m the one breaking it to you).
In an interview, David Messenger, American Express’ head of online and mobile, tells me that they have identified a major pain point among teens and others who are still using cash and checks to conduct a majority of their transactions.
Dozens of companies are rushing into the space, including eBay-owned PayPal, American Express, Google, Visa, Mastercard and start-ups, too, like Square and others, but it’s not clear how quickly consumers will find reasons to use new payment technologies.
“The key thing that we’ve found resonates is the social aspects,” Messenger said. “This is about new growth opportunities and people who use cash and checks. … It’s the social experiences that don’t have great solutions. It’s awkward.”
Messenger also sat on panel yesterday at Mobile Future Forward in Seattle to discuss the topic with other executives from Google, Walmart, T-Mobile USA and OpenMarket.
The conversation got heated when a woman raised her hand to say she didn’t understand why she would ever adopt mobile payments: Seriously, how could a phone be easier than swiping a card?
Walmart’s SVP of online and mobile, Gibu Thomas, explained that the discount retail conglomerate would never pressure users to adopt it, while T-Mobile Chief Strategy Officer Peter Ewens defended the technology by saying that it improved security.
But Messenger said in an interview to me that the bigger opportunity is in the international markets, and for now it’s focused on teenagers in North America, who struggle in social settings.
He said the benefits are obvious when splitting a check at a restaurant, divvying up rent and utilities among five roommates every month, or being the person who fronts the money to buy tickets to a concert for a group of 10. Those transactions today are largely conducted with cash and checks.
Earlier this year, American Express unveiled a new business called Serve that competes head-on with PayPal and other emerging payment platforms. It lets consumers make purchases at retail, withdraw cash from ATMs and make person-to-person payments from their computer or their phone.
Serve recently inked a deal with Ticketmaster to be integrated into the check-out process. People frequently abandon the purchase at the check-out in fear that their friends won’t repay them the hundreds of dollars owed for a concert or sports event.
Once Serve is integrated, he said, Ticketmaster will hold the tickets for a certain period of time and send an email to friends, alerting them to pay directly for the ticket. At that point, it’s simple: If they don’t pay, they won’t go.
American Express is also experimenting with using social networks by creating an Facebook application called “Pay Me Fool,” which uses humor as a way to make it more comfortable for someone to bug a friend to pay them back for beers last weekend.
For now, Serve mostly works as a prepaid card, but in the future, the platform could be used in conjunction with NFC or other emerging technologies. Messenger said they aren’t ruling anything out and are trying to be as open as possible.
The card can even be topped off with a Visa or Mastercard.
But right now, Messenger and the other participants on yesterday’s panel agreed on one thing — that NFC is still about three years away from hitting the mainstream. It will take a while for users to get NFC-enabled phones and for retailers to have NFC-enabled payment terminals.
“NFC gets a disproportionate amount of attention,” said Messenger, who attributed the fixation on our “gadget-driven culture.”
A look into his wallet suggests how far the industry is from any major changes. Messenger’s thick leather wallet contained cash, a Connecticut driver’s license, 10 loyalty cards and five credit cards, including two from American Express, one from Serve and two from Mastercard.
However, I’ve found that asking mobile payment executives what is in their wallet is far from a window into the future.
Messenger said most importantly, the prepaid product addresses a whole new segment of the population that its corporate-heavy image would not normally attract. He hopes new types of commerce models will flip its business upside down.
For example, today, Amex markets heavily to acquire new customers and then keeps existing users happy by offering them rewards. He suggests that Serve will make it much easier to acquire new customers because of partnerships, such as the deal with Ticketmaster or another deal it has Verizon Wireless. From there, he said, they will have to keep giving Serve users reasons to come back.
[image via if-youcantsleep.tumblr.com]
INDIANAPOLIS - A Maryland man charged with extorting an Indiana teen into sexual favors victimized other teens in several states after he was released on bond, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Trevor Shea, 20, has agreed to plead guilty to charges of sexual exploitation of children stemming from both cases, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Prosecutors say he blackmailed and convinced 10 girls between the ages of 13 and 16 to send him sexually explicit photographs or videos.
Court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis allege that Shea coerced four girls in Florida, Kansas and Maryland into various acts after his release on bond following his initial indictment in June 2010. At the time, Shea was on home detention and being electronically monitored and had agreed not to use a computer as a term of release. He was in U.S. marshals' custody Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney A. Brant Cook said it was important for teens to realize that online acts that seem harmless and private today can later come back to haunt them.
"It's important to note that digital images ... never go away and can be passed along at the click of a button," he said at a news conference to announce the charges Wednesday.
Shea could face 15 to 30 years in prison on each of the seven counts against him under terms of a proposed plea agreement, and up to 30 years more for violating the terms of his pre-trial release.
Shea's attorney, Michael Donahoe, declined to comment on the case.
The case is an example of a growing crime that federal prosecutors call "sextortion," in which Internet predators catch victims in embarrassing situations online and threaten to expose them unless they create sexually explicit photos or videos for them.
U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett said Shea's case was a "landmark of its kind" in part because there were so many victims from across the country and he allegedly forced the girls to indulge in sadistic and masochistic behavior on webcam.
Shea's case began in September 2009, when police received a report that a 16-year-old girl from Brownsburg, Ind., was being stalked over the Internet. The girl and two of her friends had visited a chatroom and flashed their breasts over a webcam. A week later, a stranger contacted the girl and said he had captured her image on the webcam and would post the pictures to her MySpace friends unless she posed for more explicit pictures and videos for him, the documents said.
"Every time she logged on to the Internet, she couldn't escape him," said Brownsburg police Detective Sgt. Jennifer Pyatt, who attended the news conference.
The girl complied for a while, but finally balked, and the stranger briefly took control of her MySpace page and threatened to expose her. Investigators traced the online threats to Shea and raided his Maryland home in March 2010, and eventually found videos of five more girls on Shea's computer, the documents said.
After appearing in court in June 2010, Shea was released on bond and ordered not to use a computer or the Internet. But in November, police in Pace, Fla., received a report that a 16-year-old girl was being blackmailed over the Internet. Documents say a person later found to be Shea contacted the girl and asked if the person who had blackmailed her previously had been caught, then told her to guess who was back. Shea allegedly coerced the girl into posing for several nude videos before she contacted police.
Authorities traced the threats to Shea's residence, where they arrested him and seized his computer on Dec. 22. Investigators who examined the computer also found videos of three additional girls, one from Maryland and two from Kansas, engaged in sexually explicit acts that were later found to have been made while Shea was on pre-trial release. That led to the new charges.
The proposed plea agreement does not include any agreed-upon recommended sentence. Both sides will argue for what they deem to be an appropriate sentence at a hearing to be scheduled later.
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Sean Duffy, 25, admitted posting images on Facebook and YouTube mocking the deaths of four children, including Natasha MacBryde, 15, who committed suicide and was found dead on a railway line near her home in Worcestershire in February.
Reading Magistrates' Court heard that after her death, Duffy posted a video with Natasha's face imposed on Thomas the Tank Engine to a Facebook tribute page set up by her brother. He posted comments including, "I fell asleep on the track lolz."
Her father, Andrew MacBryde, told the court Duffy's actions had "added to the horror of dealing with the death of [their] beautiful daughter".
Duffy, who had posted the images using false details, was traced by police through information from his internet service provider and arrested.
He admitted to "trolling", a term used to describe the trend of anonymously seeking to provoke outrage by posting insults and abuse online. He pleaded guilty to two counts of sending malicious communications.
The court heard Duffy posted pictures on Facebook of car-crash victim Hayley Bates, 16, of Stoke-on-Trent, who died last September. One image showed her with crosses on her eyes and red marks on her face. A caption under a picture of flowers at the crash site read: "Used car for sale, one useless owner."
Duffy posted on an online memorial page to Lauren Drew, 14, who died after suffering an epileptic seizure at her home in Gloucestershire in January.
Posted on Mother's Day, it read: "Help me mummy, it's hot in hell." The court was told a friend of Lauren's had attempted a drug overdose after wrongly being blamed for the post. Lauren's father, Mark Drew, said: "Lauren didn't deserve this. Seeing him in court was really hard. I was so angry. This person hid behind the computer screen with no feeling."
Duffy also targeted 14-year-old Jordan Coope of Newcastle upon Tyne, who was stabbed to death. Duffy created a group called "Jordan Cooper in pieces" and made a YouTube video with pictures of Jordan's eyes crossed out and slashes across his face.
Lance Whiteford said in mitigation that Duffy had been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at an early age. He said one of the characteristics was an inability to judge the reaction of others. Duffy had struggled with alcohol problems and lived "a miserable existence", Whitford said.
As well as the jail sentence, Duffy got a five-year anti-social behaviour order which bans him from social networking sites and prevents him buying devices which allow him access to the net without police permission.
Anti-bullying charity Beatbullying called the conviction "a monumental move towards bullying and cyberbullying being taken more seriously". Spokeswoman Sherry Adhami said the sentence "sends a strong message ... that bullying, whether online or offline, is not going to be tolerated". A Facebook spokesman said: "It's against Facebook's rules to intimidate or harass others, and we provide everyone with the tools to report such content."
- Independent
Facebook link to teen suicide The Facebook row in a nutshell After death, 'web assets' get lost in the cloud Facebook 'smart lists' automatically sort your friends Related TagsCrimeInternetWorldBe part of the news. Send pics, video and tips to nzherald.Send
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JobsCarsClassifiedssellafindaRadioEventfinderShoppingOtherPrivacy PolicyTerms of UseGroup SitesCopyright 2011, APN Holdings NZ Limited and TM c Rugby World Cup Limited 2008 - 2011. All rights reserved. Assembled by: (static) on akl_n5 at 15 Sep 2011 17:08:58 Processing Time: 63msAmarillo---?Parents are being warned? to keep a closer watch on their teens.
The Better Business Bureau tells NewsChannel 10, scam artists are fooling more people in this digital age, more and more often, that could be your children.
While many think scams?mainly?harm seniors, that's a myth according to Janna Kiehl, executive director of the BBB.
"They?[scam artists]?target anyone who will participate in their fraud." said Kiehl.
Like teens, who are at risk of sending money or information.
"They tend to respond to all other emails. They want to have more friends online and they think that's easy to do. They are responding to emails they should be deleting." said Kiehl.
So she's giving a little advice to parents.
"They should have spam filters on their computers, They should watch what their teens are doing online and they should read what their teenagers are doing." expressed Kiehl.
Tips she hopes will keep not just parents but everyone alert.
"It is more dangerous, from children to elderly adults and everyone in between." said Kiehl
Kiehl also tells? NewsChannel 10, many young college students who are strapped for cash are also falling victim because they are trying to win sweepstakes online.
If you feel like you have been victimized in a scam, contact the BBB.
CHICAGO - Strong driver's licence laws have led to fewer fatal crashes among 16-year-olds but with a disturbing side effect — more fatal accidents among 18-year-olds, a U.S. study found.
Many states require young drivers to get extensive experience, including driving with an adult, before getting a full licence. But in most states those laws only apply to those younger than 18. The new study suggests some teens are just putting off getting a licence until they turn 18 — meaning they have little experience and higher odds for a deadly crash.
"There's an incentive right now to skip out and just wait until you're 18," said Scott Masten, the study's lead author and a researcher with California's Department of Motor Vehicles. "In most states you don't even need to have driver education or driver training" if you obtain a licence at 18, he said.
"I was actually bummed by my own findings — to find out we're offsetting the benefits" in young drivers so much, he said. "It was quite unexpected."
The study examined fatal crashes from 1986 to 2007 involving 16- to 19-year-olds. Results appear in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Most previous studies have also linked graduated licensing programs with a decline in fatal crash rates among young teens, but evidence on effects in older teens is mixed.
A journal editorial by researchers with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said the potential effects in older teens "is a serious issue deserving attention by researchers and policymakers." The editorial noted that New Jersey is one of the few states where graduated driver's licensing restrictions apply to all first-time applicants younger than 21. That has led to lower crash rates among 17- and 18-year-olds.
Whether these programs should be extended to include older teens merits further study, the editorial said.
Every state has some type of graduated driver's licensing program. These typically allow full, unrestricted licences to kids younger than 18 only after several months of learning while driving with an adult, followed by unsupervised driving with limits on things like night driving and the number of passengers.
The study authors analyzed fatal crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and information on each state's licensing programs.
Comparing states with the most restrictions versus those with the weakest laws or no restrictions, there were 26 per cent fewer fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers; but among 18-year-old drivers, there were 12 per cent more fatal crashes. The differences are estimates, taking into account factors that would also influence fatal crash rates, including seatbelt laws, changes in minimum speed limits, and the fact that 18-year-old drivers outnumber 16-year-old drivers.
The programs appeared to have no effect on fatal crash rates for drivers aged 17 and 19.
Researchers estimate that since the first graduated licensing program began in 1996, the programs have been associated with 1,348 fewer fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers but with 1,086 more fatal crashes involving 18-year-old drivers.
During the 1986-2007 study, there were nearly 132,000 fatal crashes of drivers aged 16 to 19. Nearly 20 per cent involved 16-year-old drivers, while almost 30 per cent involved 18-year-olds.
Evidence suggests that many teens are waiting until they're older to get their licences; in California for example, only 13 per cent of 16-year-olds have driver's licences, Masten said.
In a nationwide survey of almost 1,400 teens published last month in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention, one in four who were 18 and hadn't obtained a licence cited the hassle of licensing requirements as a reason.
Masten said more research is needed to determine why the fatal crash rate among 18-year-olds rose and whether an increase also occurred in nonfatal crashes.
The study confirms that graduated licensing "is doing what it was intended to do — prevent novice drivers from being in high-risk conditions before they're ready for it," said Dr. Flaura Winston, a pediatrician and traffic injury expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. But the results also show there's a need for strategies for the novice independent driver at any age, she said.
___
Online:
JAMA: http://www.jama.ama-assn.org
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.gov
___
AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner
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CollectionsTeaching crude teens good digital citizenshipAugust 31, 2011|By Sharon Noguchi, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS\ABS\Auto Blog Samurai\data\Cyber security Tips\rss3\pixel.gif){kind=tracking}
Exploring the frontiers of newfound freedom, many tweens and teens quickly embrace the raunchy, rude lingo of cyberspace, casually flinging insults, obscenities, and taunts that make chat rooms sound like barrooms.
"Foul language is just what is popular," said Rachel Carrasquillo, a junior at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif. "I think half of the stuff people say on Facebook they'd never say face to face."
But now, as kids head back to school, they may find more adults are paying attention. Educators increasingly are joining in to challenge the crude culture of social networks, which they fear unleashes cyberbullying and sexting, heightens the social drama of puberty, and teaches the wrong values.
Even though Facebook flaming usually originates off campus, more schools are teaching "digital citizenship," how to care for online profiles, deal with bullies, and speak up for what's right - a critical skill because teens often don't take problems to adults.
A recent check of Formspring, an anonymous opinion site, shows what the adults are up against. On the site, Palo Alto, Calif., middle schoolers chatted about the size of classmates' body parts and who was having sex. On Facebook, one boy wrote to a girl: "go away b4 u get gang raped."
How is it that kids' conversation has become so nonchalantly, and publicly, crude? Partly, they don't have impulse control and can type whatever pops into their minds, said Caroline Knorr of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit offering free curricula for schools on digital literacy. And partly, they're exploring their identity. "They say, OK, I'm not like this in real life, but I can be like this on the Internet," she said.
A large part is that no adult is paying attention.
Slowly, that's changing.
The Santa Clara County Office of Education has set up an anti-bullying task force. The Silicon Valley Interschool Council, composed of high school students, hopes to launch a campaign encouraging students to counter cyberbullying.
Newly signed legislation, sponsored by State Assembly Member Nora Campos (D., San Jose, Calif.), enables schools to suspend students who bully others on social networks. Among others, the Oakland Unified School District is considering a policy to specifically prohibit cyberbullying.
1 | 2 | Next ?MORE LIKE THIS ?Monica Yant Kinney: Young lives are a too-open bookAugust 21, 2011Parents, students learn about cyberbullying and its sometimes-deadly results
April 6, 2011
Index by Keyword|Index by Date|About Philly.com|Contact Us|Terms of Use & Privacy Statement|Copyright 2011 A new game aims to combat childhood obesity with virtual reward-based incentives to get young teens off the couch and on the move.
Dubbed Zamzee, the game comes equipped with a hip-worn sensor that tracks kids' movements and awards physical activity with points that they can upload to the Zamzee web portal.
There they can access rewards to buy virtual goods at Zamzee's online store and share their data with their friends in the social network. Its maker, a nonprofit game developer called HopeLab, aims to launch the game this fall, and a spokesperson for the company told Relaxnews that registering for Zamzee will be free but the activity meter should cost in the $50 range.
Hopelab has also created a game for cancer patients called Re-Mission that pits a nanobot named Roxxi against cancer cells. A study of that game published in the journal Pediatrics showed that patients who played Re-Mission were more likely to stick to treatment programs. For Zamzee, Hopelab stated on its website that it has completed a pilot test that found a 30 percent increase in physical activity in the 350 teens who used the device for some 10,000 days.
"Although the idea of a reward-based system is not strictly new for these types of devices, the child centered approach for its design is quite interesting," reported tech site Medgadget on Wednesday. "It is a fascinating project and we will be watching closely to see how it develops."
For grownups and older teens who need a nudge to work out, self-monitoring fitness tools are aplenty. A new app called Nexercise lets you rack up credits for physical activity in exchange for real-world benefits, including gift cards, coupons, and vitamin supplements.
Among other devices for enhanced self-awareness is the FitBit, a small clip-on tracker that monitors your fitness and sleep patterns. Also, the Nike+ monitors heart rate data, calorie burn, pace, and distance of runs and other workouts.
