Bill aims to improve Internet safety for kids

The Record (Hackensack N.J.)

WASHINGTON — Cyberspace can be a dangerous place for young people, and the federal government has to start backing programs to teach students what to avoid and adults what to do when something goes wrong, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said Wednesday.

The mother of an 18-year-old Ohio woman who committed suicide after being tormented by classmates over a nude photo that was widely distributed said schools need to know how to respond as much as youths need to know the potential consequences of their actions.

“For a school full of professionals to turn their back on her and never send a letter — they had to know something was going on with my daughter,” said Cynthia Logan, whose daughter, Jessie, had sent a photo of herself to her boyfriend. “She took her own life when no one would help her stop the harassment.”

Logan and child-safety advocates joined Menendez and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., to tout a bill that would provide up to $175 million over five years to identify the best Internet-safety programs for children and provide competitive grants to nonprofit groups and schools to spread the word.

Menendez said he hoped it could be considered by the full Senate this fall.

In March, a 14-year-old Clifton, N.J., girl was charged with distribution of child pornography because she posted nude photos of herself for a boyfriend to see on My- Space. Police in April sent a warning to youths to delete any copies they may have received via cell phone of a student’s nude photo, a practice known as “sexting.”

And with ABC’s “Good Morning America” joining in, parents in Ridgewood, N.J., were trained by child-safety advocate Parry Aftab how to check their children’s phones and computers, and some were stunned to find sexually explicit photos.

“It’s everywhere; they’re all doing it,” said Aftab, executive director of the group WiredSafety and founder of TeenAngels, which trains youths to teach safety to their peers. One of the original students trained eight years ago, Brittany Bacon, worked as a legislative fellow in Menendez’s office and helped draft the bill.