Chet Edwards For Congress

May 14, 2006
Keeping up with the children online

Bryan-College Station Eagle
By HOLLY HUFFMAN | Eagle Staff Writer

Mary Wolf's daughter doesn't have a MySpace page. At 12, the preteen still must ask permission before she can surf the Web, and she must keep her mom updated on what she is doing.
But that likely won't last forever. And Wolf knows that.

"It's a changing world. Parents didn't grow up using this language or using the Internet," the College Station mother said Thursday after attending an Internet safety seminar. "We need to try to be at least as educated as our children."

She added: "By the time she's 16, I'm going to need to know a whole lot more."

Wolf was one of more than three dozen parents who gathered in the College Station Middle School cafeteria for "Web-wise" - a seminar created by a Bryan-based Internet safety task force. It was presented during a community meeting hosted by the College Station school district and police department.

The nearly three-hour presentation is designed to give parents, who are often less technologically savvy than their children, a lesson in general Internet safety. The class aims to give moms and dads tools for keeping kids safe, whether they are playing video games, instant-messaging friends or posting profiles on social networking Web sites.

Several parents spent much of the meeting furiously scribbling notes about helpful Web sites, security software and acronyms that should raise suspicions such as PA or IPN - "Parent Alert" and "I'm Posting Naked." Some questioned the safety of computers at libraries and community centers, while others expressed frustration about teens who were able to crack parental controls.

"Don't be afraid to be a nosy parent," College Station police Detective Paul Price told the crowd during a question-and-answer session.

But while the seminar covered a broad range of safety topics, most parents seemed preoccupied with one site in particular: MySpace.com.

With roughly 77 million members, MySpace has become something of a cultural phenomenon since its 2003 inception. It is immensely popular among teenagers, college students and young professionals. But lately the site has been drawing a little unwanted attention from parents and educators who worry teens are revealing too much personal information, inadvertently making themselves targets for online predators.

The controversy has even sparked debate among legislators as to whether MySpace and similar sites should be regulated by state or federal laws.

"There just needs to be some protective measure built in by the legislature," said state Rep. Fred Brown, R-College Station in a recent interview. "The opportunity for predators is the big issue."
Brown said he was familiar with the continued debate over MySpace and expected legislators to prefile bills about the Web site later this fall. But he said he hadn't thought specifically about possible solutions because he's been engrossed in the recent special session aimed at overhauling public school finance.

His comments were echoed by a spokesman for state Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan.

Neither Ogden nor U.S. Congressman Chet Edwards, a Texas Democrat, could be reached last week for comment, but Edwards did release a statement indicating his support for groups such as the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The nationwide task force is funded by the Justice Department.

"As a parent of 8- and 10-year-old sons, I want to do everything possible to protect children from being victimized over the Internet," Edwards said in the statement sent in response to The Eagle's inquiry. "First and foremost, I believe parents must take responsibility for their children's welfare and closely monitor their activities on the Web."

That seemed to be the mindset of most parents at College Station's recent meeting.

Wolf described herself as someone who believed in trusting children and giving them privacy - she never considered it appropriate to read children's journals or diaries. But leaving the meeting Thursday, she said she thought an occasional spot check of Web pages and chat logs might not be a bad idea.

It's not about a parent trusting a child; it's about a parent not being able to trust others on the Internet, she explained.

"It's a whole new world," she said.

College Station mother Lauri Brown echoed her sentiments. Taking notes throughout the meeting, Brown said her 11-year-old daughter doesn't have a MySpace page, but she is allowed to browse the Internet.

"I'm just interested in protecting her," she said, laughing as she acknowledged how hard it is to stay in touch with fast-changing technology. "She can't know more than I do."