Moving at the Speed of Creativity

The following ideas were brainstormed results from our Oklahoma Library Association sponsored workshop on Internet Safety issues today in Midwest City. I primarily referenced my wiki curriculum “Internet Safety and Social Networking for Parents”, but also referenced resources from “Safe Digital Social Networking (DSN) -or- Proactive Approaches to Address Cyberbullying and Digital Social Networking.” My text notes from Larry Boggess of OSBI’s presentation “Internet Crimes” are available and I will subsequently post the audio recording from his preso here as a podcast. I was thrilled to meet Joel Gabel of Google from their new Pryor/Tulsa office today, and my text notes from his presentation “Internet Safety Issues” are also available.

Top Issues, Concerns and Questions:
1.In a public school teachers have a captive space, in a library kids are not captive - you have to get creative to get kids to participate!
2.How do you keep up?
3.I want kids to be safe online as a parent and librarian, but I am not sure I know how to do that, or my role?
4.balancing safety and access
5.our constituents are our staff, the public, patrons, legislators: educating all about the role of a public library
6.how do we get seasoned professionals to see the value? (we referenced the diffusion of innovations graph)
7.Internet is ever changing / dynamic, how can we monitor the changes without becoming obsolete?
8.how do we fit this in with how we spend our time at work? (what is appropriate and not appropriate )
9.Classrooms are different: captive audience, year long relationship – librarians are in a different situation, how do we make an impact in our role?
10.Chat rooms and filtering are big issues: want to close down chats in some cases
11.People watching out for the children: it is not part of library policy but is a moral or social issue
12.No cheese with the whine
13.electronic gaming: hard to keep up, kids taking over the computer room
14.people have moved their role (CIPA) from protecting from objectionable content to keeping kids productive / on task
15.importance of boundaries and communication, texting, gaming
16.considering having teens make a social networking account (We discussed how a moderated and managed/controlled social networking environment like ning.com could be preferable to just having kids setup a MySpace page. We also discussed the importance of parent permission and getting signed forms for participation from them as well as kids.)
17.we may have to break bad habits
18.boundaries are so important: cell phone example, parents wanting that contact

Internet Safety Education & Outreach Options (menu choices):
1.make it a cause
2.virtual worlds in our summer teens program, could sneak it in!
3.more specific teen programming, giving teens a reason to come (getting teens to teach)
4.setting up a ning or other social network for librarians (celebrateoklahoma.ning.com)
5.workshop for parents on iSafety (maybe PSAs created by the kids and published on YouTube)
6.to help participants in workshops process information and ideas: updates that are needed to their computer system (reaching out to seniors)
7.workshop idea: aimed at parents, get knowledgeable speakers, have people give the dark side and scare people, but also look at the good and the positive (don’t just hear 1 side)
8.low tech: provide bookmarks and flyers
9.netiquette class about digital citizenship
10.oral history project idea
11.demand for adult computer classes
12.voicethread.com
13.Celebrate Oklahoma Voices project
14.Genealogy project workshops in the library!

Additional items:
- The online timer we used
- VoiceThread

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These are my notes from a presentation at the Oklahoma Library Association’s workshop on 12 May 2008 in Midwest City on “Safety on the Internet Highway.” This presentation was shared by Larry Boggess of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) and was titled “Internet Crimes.” Thanks to Larry for giving permission to share an audio recording of this session later as a noncommercial podcast. MY THOUGHTS AND RESPONSES ARE IN ALL CAPS.

Unless it deals with children being exploited via the use of technology, our unit does not handle it
- grant money funds us along with other sources
- Oklahoma in the last year and a half have gotten more into investigation, not just forensics (pulling info off computers)

My first assignment for OSBI was in Bartlesville
- culture shock for 6 months
- opening in Internet Crimes unit came, was in OKC

When from 2 cases in six months to 100 cases in two months
- case load is huge relative to the number of agents now
- this is an up and coming

war on drugs? this is the new war
- we have so many undercover profiles out there online
- we use undercover profiles all the time
- you never know what you are going to get when you get online
- that is our advantage, when these predators get online and they think they are dealing with a 12 year old and they are dealing with us

saying “Keep the light in their eyes”
- we have 33 agencies throughout the state who are affiliates of ours

I am able to file charges in both state and federal courts
- simple possession for 1 image, I can get a person federal prison time for 10 years, 18.5 years in state prison
- we can put these guys in prison for a long time
- 90 days processing in federal prison for case, state charges may take 2 years to process
- this really helps to get these guys in prison
- many guys who have not been charged in the federal system get out on the street and continue to threaten children
- these guys are not going to change their behavior

Map showing locations of Oklahoma Statewide ICAC Task Force Affiliate Locations

I average about 3000 miles per month driving on my car
We are adding to our affiliates constantly

Internet crimes unit is a national program, Oklahoma program, and all about internet safety
- this presentation today is a small part of what I do
- I have been to the McAlister library, the turnout wasn’t too great though

We are promoting Intenret safety for children
- we are all susceptible to Internet crimes

We use MySpace a lot, social networking
- came across a young lady from Mustang, Oklahoma
- from her photographs found her vehicle with her tag number, her place of employment, her house number, her company name from a nametag she was wearing and posted on her party pics

THIS MAKES ME REALIZE HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO HAVE AN UNLISTED ADDRESS

It is not hard to go find a child who has put personal information on a MySpace account

Talking to kids and telling them: If I know your first name, where you are from, and what you look like: I could have you kidnapped this afternoon

If you have those accounts, there is just 1 reason to be on there: to social networking with your friends
- MySpace is not a dating website like eHarmony

XBox: how many people know you can chat online with an Xbox
- your child can chat with anyone
- he may think he is chatting with a 12 year old but really he is chatting with a nasty 44 year old

As parents we have to step in and cut off a lot of things you have to do
- I am going to buy the program to monitor every keystroke our kids are going to make
- monitor everything our kids do
- society’s attitude now is to give kids a little more freedom
- what does that lead to? kids getting kidnapped

story of girl who had chatted online and kidnapped her
- took a girl and put her in a dungeon with a dog collar

our agency has original jurisdiction with certain crimes, including crimes against children
- you think your children are being exploited or threatened online, you contact me and I or my partner will

more than 30 million children in the US use the Internet
- how many of you know what these kids are doing online?

stats from ICAC standards 2007
- 1 in 4 had an unwanted exposure to sexually explicitly pictures
- approx 1 in 5 received a sexual solicitation or approach
- 1 in 13 was threatened or harassed
- 1 in 24 received an aggressive sexual solicitation (from someone who asked to meet them somewhere, called them on the telephone, sent them regular mail, money, or gifts)

MySpace is one of my biggest headaches now

we gear up for takedowns on these guys just like drug raids
- these guys are bad news and dangerous

I say to young kids, “You shouldn’t have friends throughout the country, you can’t even drive”

young adolescent girls are socializing right here, on the computer

it starts small, and then a strange car is rolling down the street

you can’t blame the child
as adults, we have to monitor it

cell phones for kids
my deal is: if kids can’t drive, they shouldn’t have a cell phone
text messaging cases are tough
- cell phone companies are not that way with keeping text message chats
- Google keeps things forever
- some phone companies purge their records every 24 hours
- many parents get really mad because of this

For me to just do 1 supeneea , is a 2.5 hour process

Many wireless networks at libraries are unsecured
- I figured this out from my 18 year old son outside the library online
- I am not telling your job and how to do your job, but if I get a case and it comes back to a public library, I close the case
- I had one case of 704 images of child porn being downloaded, it came back to an unsecured library location

I have to know a little bit about the bad guy, get his mac address, etc to go farther

question from a library participant: what about community wifi proposals?

citywide wifi is a nightmare for us
- in Library they have a state-run library system
- to get online in their library, you have to use your library card and to get that you use your driver’s license
- they don’t have unsecured wireless
- that makes for easy cases to prosecute

Most predators and perverts know if your library has unsecured wireless

Filters are great if they are set right

Story of Sarah, an outsider who turned to drugs (Primetime TV Special, “The Secret Life of Teens”)
- lots of kids on MySpace talking about alchohol abuse, drugs
- teen culture looks for models 4 years older

guys, that is pretty self explanatory
- that can happen to any of you
- I am not saying MySpace is a bad thing, as long as you are monitoring what kids are doing

I know some libraries have shut down MySpace altogether, and that is great

Key points of this video
- MySpace is just 1 Internet site
- Amy thoughtshe had no one to talk with about her life: teenage feelings
- met someone online
she can tell strangers things
- he/she will take care of her
- ran away, no regretful

question from librarian about responsibility of libraries who setup MySpace accounts
- response: I go undercover all the time to send out friend requests to look for predators
- hire security for your parking lot when you have kids showing up at your library
- predators surf the library all the time, they are in and out

registered sex offenders in the state of oklahoma can’t be around schools, parks or libraries where children are around at all
- to know if a person is a registered sex offender, you have to do some research

librarian told story of changing the rules about the “adult” computers in the library

People need to quit putting up with this
- if you see it, report it
- there is nothing wrong with calling 911 to report a problem

every police officer is a public servant for each and every one of you
- if you have a problem, you call the police chief or the OSBI

Question about “how do you catch an Internet predator”
- couldn’t tell their methods
- search warrants and interviews lead to a lot of evidence

99% of sex offenders in Oklahoma are not allowed to be on a computer
- if the police department in your town is not dealing with that, then I have a problem with that police department

question: should a library with a myspace account hide their friend list:
- yes
- and the library should have a private myspace account

recommendation is to have adults and kids on different sides of the library on the computer

What can you do?
- www.netsmartz.org free program and website

Problems or concerns with Internet crimes and children in Oklahoma, need a talk about Internet safety at your library or school? Call Larry Boggess, Special Agent
Oklahoma ICAC Task Force
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation
6600 North Harvey
Oklahoma City, OK 73116
Office: 405-848-6724
Cell: 918-619-7866
email: larryb [at] osbi [dot] state [dot] ok [dot] us

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BEFORE THE SESSION JOEL TOLD ME THAT GOOGLE MAINTAINS MULTIPLE COPIES
OF THE INTERNET AT ANY ONE TIME, WHICH ARE SAVED IN DIFFERENT
LOCATIONS… WOW. THERE WERE MANY QUESTIONS I HAD FOR JOEL THAT HE
COULDN’T ANSWER… GOOGLE CERTAINLY SOUNDS LIKE A FUN AND DYNAMIC PLACE
TO WORK! THERE ARE LOTS OF THINGS GOOGLE EMPLOYEES CAN’T TALK ABOUT
THOUGH!

SafeSearch settings that can be adjusted on the Google toolbar directly
- by default, all users have moderate safesearch turned on
- phishing and malware are biggest threats we see on the internet
right now, so we have worked on developing tools to fight them
- we dont release what OS’s we run to reduce the possible impact of
threats, it harder to find something when you dont know where to look
- we try to develop applications which can assist users

Bank of America fake website example
- Google prompts with message: “Suspected Web Forgery”
- Google toolbar or the FireFox browser will bring up these features
- website antiphishing.org covers much of this
- within Firefox you can report a web forgery
- we do get numerous requests for legit websites, so we require the
user to validate the submital

How to avoid phishing
- don’t reply to or click on emails that ask for personal, financial,
or account information
- instead of clicking the links in emails, go to websites directly by
typing the web address into your browser, cut and paste or use
bookmarks
- if on a secure page, look for https at the start of the URL, and the
padlock icon in the browser
- keep your computer’s antivirus, spyware, browser, and security
patches up to date and regularly run system scans (Have a schedule to
do this)
- review your accounts regularly and check for unauthorized activity
- use a browser with a phishing filter (Firefox, IE or Opera)

always think in a public environment about people who come after you,
who try to access the websites you’ve accessed

Malware used to be called spyware
- many people would consider these viruses
- all have intent to steal information or damage your equipment
- good website for more ifo at stopbadware.org
- we want our users to feel safe when they search the web
- we have some warnings integrated into our search tool, “This site
may harm your computer”

Removing malware from your computer, we recommend these tools
- Spyware Doctor (starter edition is included for free with the Google Pack)
- Sunbelt Software Counter Spy
-
- more…

Skype
- it is free Internet phone
- Well used product
- doesn’t cost anything, but it can tie up public computers and use up
a lot of your bandwidth

Tools to combat abuse
- community flagging tools, like those on YouTube
- community flagging lets you select reasons to flag: sexually
explicit, mature (over 18), other terms of use violation, graphic
violence, and hate speech)
- now we have a computerized system for flagging videos, but we still
have the human system

Orkut is our equivalent of Facebook, has other report abuse buttons
integrated into it

Product safety features
- key pieces of info about you: your name, your city,
- If you went to a banking site
- aliases were created on the internet to give a level of anonymity
- it is VERY important that you can trust the people you talk to on the Internet
- real world incidents are happening as a result

GMail features
- spam filtering
- search mail
- organize
- chat built in
- label, filter, star
- mobile access
- storage
- good ads
- save time
- all for free

At google we use all our own products (including Gmail)
- always log out

Safety features built into GMail
- report spam
- also has a built-in spam filter
- there was a bad virus a few years ago that said “I love you” so
sometimes messages with that text gets dropped into spam as a result
of previous threats

Algorithm changes and grows for spam identification based on user spam reports
- we are not about saying we know everything, we don’t
- we need your (the users) help to identify new trends as well

Google is always trying to get input from users to improve products
- have new warnings now: “This message may not be from whom it claims
to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender
with any personal information. Learn More.”

Google Checkout
- Google’s equivalent of PayPal
- we do our best to protect your sensitive data
- we want to make sure once you submit it to us we do what is right to
protect your information

Child Safety on the internet
- we have really gotten involved
- google.org is really interested in helping anyone, our philanthropic arm
- Google responds to legal requests with a dedicated staff

Family safety guide

Educating users through our products
- we provide users with tips and articles for staying safe and
protecting their privacy while using our products

We grant up to 10K to non prophet companies in the Google AdWords program
- free advertising for NFP this includes some of the Internet safety
education sites

Organizations that parner: NCMEC, CEOP, Connectsafety.org, Common
Sense Media, the fAmily Online Safety Institute, i-Safe, iKeepSafe,
Net Family News, more…

Getting the message out on YouTube
- we are working with CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection and others

a LOT of people watching YouTube every day, we should ask our
employees what they are doing
- YouTube is free
- we can help push lots of information out on our channels
- this is about a global impact

Recognition software on YouTube is brand new
- millions of videos are viewed
- we do our best to make all information available on the internet
- we do our best to not post things that are evil

Google wants to have 100 employees by the end of construction in Oklahoma
- in Jan 2009 will open for limited testing, and production later in 2009
- There are 4 Google employees now in Oklahoma

Q&A

Using Google analytics is giving good information to librarians
- web browsers DO log the referring URL for all websites

We should be talking about IT etiquette
- email can be taken the wrong way, I re-write many emails at least
twice, I want to get my message across correctly
- show your family/students what is right

If my laptop gets stolen, I am worried about what someone may do with
my laptop, I do everything I can to protect my data

Great case of a young girl talking to someone online
- she gave her name and the city where she lived
- he asked what her school mascot is
- now that person had enough information to find that little girl
- we need to educate our children about those kinds of situations, how
that type of info can be exploited by someone with malicious intent

The internet is so global, and there are people with bad intent, all
those people existed before the Internet– but the Internet has changed
how they communicate

Question from a librarian from city of Stillwater
- thinks their email filtering is great
- knows someone working for a state agency who has terrible email filtering
- they should direct their issues to their IT department
- Antispyware and antispam can be very expensive, its often hard to
move after investing in a product for a businesses

Google is an analytics company, we analyze data

I will not say what I use to log what my son does online, but I use a
commercial product.

Question from a librarian about cartoon pornography
- people are likely not finding that by accident
- need to make sure safe search is turned on
- content filters don’t always work with other forms of media requests
- please help us by reporting those images and video’s

Re-image is the best way to return a PC to a working state if you get malware
- this is done all all the time
- often easier to keep a single image for quicker recovery

Keep yourself safe

you do not want to leave your bluetooth on unless your using it.
- people can detect bluetooth devices at 10 to 15ft

if you are not using wifi on your laptop, turn it off
- in a public place, that can be very dangerous

don’t click “keep my password” on anything
- that can save you from many headaches
- even on your home computer - problem is, many people leave their
computers on when they leave the house

I recommend you change your passwords often and randomly, not every 90 days
- some people change every 17 days, because that is impossible to
track on a calendar
- don’t use anything as a password that someone can find in your house
(not pet name, relative’s name, etc)

Remember what you put on the internet IS public

You too have to be a geek now, because there just aren’t enough geeks
to go around! Knowledge is the key to Internet Safety.

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