Net summit draws CSHS president
Safety focus of Bennett’s trip to D.C.
by Chris Moore

WASHINGTON, D.C./CAVE CREEK – Three years ago, Cox Communications took up the sword to promote Internet safety by launching the Take Charge program to help parents monitor and control children’s access to TV and the Internet.

Last week, Cactus Shadows High School student Bud Bennett took charge himself when he attended a teen summit on Internet Safety in Washington D.C. co‑sponsored by Cox and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and hosted by child advocate John Walsh of Fox Network’s “America’s Most Wanted.”

Bennett, who accompanied nine other teens from around the country at the summit, was selected to participate in the roundtable event by Cactus Shadows principal Sid Bailey based not only on CCUSD’s long history as a customer of Cox, but because Bennett will be student body president when he returns to school as a senior and by all accounts his online behavior and Web pages are exemplary.

“Bud is very articulate and smart,” said Vickie Yakunin, senior community relations specialist for Cox, who attended the teen summit on June 21 at the National Press Club.

The summit, according to Bennett, was about “what teens think, and what they’re doing.” Discussions of current online activity and behavior centered mainly on social networking sites such as MySpace, Friendster and Xanga, sites that allow teens to interact with others, share information and post pictures.

“We discussed what we were doing online,” Bennett said. “Everybody felt comfortable talking to one another.”

But comfort level is one of the problems facing teens who use sites like MySpace. Many teens do not consider the possible ramifications of posting personal information and photos online that could be used to identify them to predators or identify thieves.

“I was surprised when John Walsh asked the summit panel how many of them had actually met someone who had initially been contacted online,” Yakunin said. “All 10 hands went up.”

Bennett’s MySpace page was singled out at the summit as an example of what such a page should include and not include to provide safety for teens.

“Considering the dangers of social networking,” Bennett said, “I’ve always tried to adhere to safe online behavior.”

Prior to the summit, Cox conducted research that indicated that teens were not behaving as safely online as their parents may have thought. Cox’s survey indicated that 45 percent of teenagers have been asked for personal information by someone they did not know online; 40 percent would accept a message and chat with someone they do not know, but only 18 percent of those would tell an adult about it.

Almost one‑third of teenagers will consider meeting a person they have only talked to online, according to the Cox survey, and 14 percent of teens have actually met someone face to face that they had first met online. Among 13‑17 year‑olds, 37 percent said they are “not very concerned” or “not at all concerned” about someone using information they’ve posted online in ways they do not want. And maybe most alarming of all, one out of five teens reports that posting personal information on the Internet is “safe.”

Addressing that misconception by hearing from the teenagers themselves was the goal of the summit.

“Our consensus at the summit concerning Internet safety,” Bennett said, “was that the majority of teens do not take into account the results of their actions online.”

It was generally agreed that encouraging safer online use and improving communications between teens and their parents and guardians were areas on which to concentrate.

“We discussed age requirements and age restrictions,” Bennett said. “We agreed it would be nice to actually limit ages to high school level and older. Younger kids don’t really have enough responsibility to behave safely online.”

In addition to considering limiting the ages of users, Bennett also came away from the summit with some proactive plans for action.

“We should have Internet safety classes at the fourth‑ and fifth‑grade level–as soon as kids begin going online,” Bennett said. “Every student goes to school, and we need to build good habits from day one.”

“I’d also like to see a local version of the summit held here to teach students and parents about Internet safety. It would be nice if we could get John Walsh involved again, and also get a state representative to participate.”

Following the summit, the 10 teens participated in a press briefing with Walsh and then Bennett and Yakunin met with Arizona Rep. John Shadegg’s legislative aide Trista Wendell and asked her to convey to Shadegg their desire for him to seriously consider Internet safety legislation when it comes up in Congress.

“She was really interested in what we had to say,” Bennett said of Wendell.

When school begins at the end of summer, Bennett will share his experiences with the student body of Cactus Shadows High School, whom he hopes will show a similar interest so that progress can be made by teachers, parents and students alike to make the Internet a safer place for children to learn.

Reach the reporter at cmoore@thedesertadvocate.com.