It’s very common for any young
person with a camera phone to take a picture with a friend and upload it to an
Internet page or post it on a website.
Parents may be unaware that
every picture taken by a cell phone now has a geo tag, which provides the exact
latitude and longitude where the picture was taken.
This means that anyone who
means harm to young people can see a picture online, even an innocuous one, and
use the geo tag to find out exactly where the young people are. That’s cause
for great concern.
Our office is working in
partnership with District Attorney Joyce Dudley to be aggressive in the new
battles against cyber crimes and cyber bullying.
Incidents of bullying via text
and online sites are mushrooming, and their impact can be broad and
devastating.
A good strategy for parents is
to pay close attention to the ways their children respond to questions and
conversation at home. If they have an especially short fuse or are more
emotional than usual, and react badly to even mild criticism, they may be
experiencing cyber bullying.
It’s also important to notice
changes of any kind in a child’s behavior, such as a good student not wanting
to go to school, or an outgoing child becoming withdrawn.
Most important of all, parents
must monitor their children’s Internet activity and behaviors to make sure
their children know not to frequent sites that are dangerous. We all have to
work together in this area, because adults are truly playing catch-up.
