CyberSafeKY

THE CRISIS

• 94% of youth 12-17 are online, 63% DAILY
• 90% of students believe ONLINE CHEATING is never caught
• 63% of youth 12-17 have been CONTACTED BY A STRANGER online
• ONLY 3% of youth 12-17 TELL AN ADULT when they have been APPROACHED BY A STRANGER online
• Pew Internet Study, 2008

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A Collaborative Effort to Keep Kids Safe - Both On-line and Off:

Kentucky Child Now has partnered with the Kentucky Office of AG and the KDE to develop and delivered a three-year initiative known as CyberSafeKY, working with many other partners to generate a clear, concise and consistent message from everyone interested in the safety of our communities, our schools, our families and our youth that allows Kentucky to embrace technology without generating risk to our state and ourselves.

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THE MESSAGE
Technology is expanding our world, making relationships easier and more personal, providing access to a wealth of information and knowledge previously not even dreamed of. The user-created content Web 2.0 environment allows anyone to post quickly, efficiently, and globally anytime, anywhere. But there are issues. Intellectual property issues. Cyber-predator issues. Pornography issues. Bullying issues and more...

CyberSafeKY is driven by the following statements:

• The Virtual Environment provides tremendous rewards, but not without tremendous risk.
• Without the use of the feedback available in the physical world, we cannot be sure to whom we are speaking and what they are doing with our information.
• Kentucky teens report that they only post "for their friends" and feel secure posting photos, comments and videos that demonstrate sexuality, illegal substance abuse and bullying activity.
• Sexual predators and identity thieves roam freely throughout online profiles (and easily circumvent privacy settings) to identify and take advantage of our children.
• The Internet gives the feeling of being very spontaneous and temporary. It is not. Archiving makes everything that goes up online-forever.
• Youth must become empowered to build positive, proactive and responsible relationships with technology and the face-to-face community.
• Adults must become engaged in a real and tangible way with the virtual world in which our youth, the digital natives, already reside.
• We can't do it alone. Creating a safe online environment will take adults and youth understanding this new world and working together.

While this is a life-expanding and wonderful experience, there are very real dangers which both youth and adults must become aware of and do what we can to eliminate.

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Together, we can work toward making this always-on, always-connected physical and virtual environment safer for Kentuckians. To learn more about how you can help to keep the young people you know safe, attend an CyberSafeKY event, or schedule an CyberSafeKY training in your area, call Kentucky Child Now at 502.227.7722.

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CyberSafeKY PARTNERS

• Kentucky Office of the Attorney General
• Kentucky Department of Education