Catholic educators focus on keeping students safe on the Internet

Published: 2006-04-21

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNS) -- A generation ago, parents worried about their children getting in with the wrong crowd. Today, they worry the wrong crowd is being invited into their children's homes through the Internet. To combat the pervasive and sometimes dangerous impact of the Internet on today's youths, educators across the country are being trained in schools and diocesan programs about how to keep students safe while they are online. Linda Pacheco, assistant director of public programs for the Bristol County Sheriff's Office in Rhode Island recently gave a presentation to leaders in the Providence Diocese on the dangers of the Internet, especially threats linked to putting personal information on Web sites like www.myspace.com where users post online journals, photos, and thoughts and interests to share with others. Pacheco said students rarely realize that the information they post and messages they send on the Internet can be viewed by millions of people. That false sense of security allows some to believe that they can do and say anything they want without restrictions.

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