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Safer Internet Day: Together For a Better Internet

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 11, 2020

SAFER INTERNET DAY: TOGETHER FOR A BETTER INTERNET

“Today, we encourage you to take the time to discuss internet safety with your children.” -Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes
 

SALT LAKE CITY —  Safer Internet Day is today, February 11th and the Utah Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force urges Utahns to get educated on internet safety to help prevent children falling victim to internet crimes. The best way to prevent these crimes is by educating yourself, your children, co-workers, teachers, etc. 

Safer Internet Day is celebrated across the globe each February. This year’s theme is, “Together for a better internet”. The Utah ICAC diligently works to make the digital world safe from predators, cyberbullies, and other online dangers. We urge you to be kind and respectful to your peers online and to observe internet safety as you access the internet through your phone, apps, gaming platforms, and computers. No matter what you use, it’s important to practice digital safety.

We encourage you to read and utilize these resources on this and every day.

Below are some helpful resources to help you learn more about dangers your child may encounter online, and ways you can help prevent them:

For internet safety tips, go here. 

More on Cyberbullying here.

Read the Safer Internet Day featured article, Sextortion: Stop It Before It Starts, written by Detective Christie Hirota from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office ICAC Task Force.

General Internet Safety

NetSmartz for Teens

Parental Guide to Apps

Safer Internet Day 2019 Livestream


Internet Safety for College Students

Universities are easy marks for hackers. This is because they collect so much personal & proprietary data. College students are also spending more time online than ever before to do research and homework and to stay connected. To protect yourself against scams, thefts, viruses, and more, check out THIS RESOURCE from Cyber Degrees for more ways to remain safe online.

 


Utah ICAC Blog: What’s that App? kik

Mobile devices are enabling our kids to have the world at their fingertips. While this is such an awesome resource for kids to be able to connect with relatives and friends through social media, do their homework, play online gaming, watch YouTube videos, and download music and apps there is also a dangerous side to this ever-changing world of technology and it’s up to us to teach them the basic rules of Internet safety so that they can use all of these safely and responsibly. 

Social apps are widely used by today’s preteens and teens. One popular app used is kik messenger. The app grants users anonymity, it allows searches by age and lets users send photos that aren’t stored on phones. It’s wildly popular with tweens and teens…and predators. Kik is an app that parents are unlikely to know about and it is a place where inappropriate sexual content and behavior can thrive. This app is a common avenue for sexting. For more information form parents go to: https://www.guardchild.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Kiks-Parent-Guide-1.pdf


National Crime Prevention Month

October: National Crime Prevention Month

AG Reyes Encourages Utahns to Fight Identity Theft, Online Exploitation During National Crime Prevention Month

SALT LAKE CITY October 2, 2017 – During National Crime Prevention Month, Attorney General Sean D. Reyes urged Utahns to educate themselves about affinity fraud, identity theft, and other forms of white-collar crime, especially those who are vulnerable to predators. With the recent data breach at Equifax, it is especially critical that Utahns take steps to protect themselves.

“While the Utah Attorney General’s Office fights crime every day—from human trafficking, drug smuggling, Ponzi schemes and public corruption to cyberattacks, identify theft and child predation on the Internet—we would like to highlight the danger of these latter threats as we focus on crime prevention this month,” said Attorney General Reyes. “We also want to raise awareness of resources to empower Utahns to protect themselves and ones they love. 

“The Utah AGO has prioritized the protection of businesses and consumers. With the massive data breach at Equifax, it is critical to the protection of consumers that they take steps to guard their credit and identity. Please take measures to monitor your credit, shield your identity from cybercriminals, shred old documents, and conduct research before you invest.

“Additionally, parents should take further precautions to assure their children under the age of 18 are protected, both against identity theft and from dangerous online predators who will not hesitate to exploit children. Kids are often targeted so criminals can use their information to create fake IDs, open credit card accounts, take out loans years before anyone ever thinks to run a credit check on the children. The best tool for stopping this shadowy crime is prevention, including the Utah Child Identity Protection tool. 

“Last, parents and caregivers should be vigilant about children’s online activities. The Utah Attorney General’s site offers many Internet safety resources to assist parents and caregivers as they fight online predators. These perpetrators may use the Internet to share inappropriate images or content with our kids, they may ‘sextort’ children by threatening them with release of embarrassing photos or information or they may entice young people to meet them for activities that put our youth at great risk of abuse or other harm. Proactive parents can greatly reduce the risk of harm to their children.” 

The Office of the Attorney General recommends a few of the many online resources to consumers.

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AG Sean D. Reyes searches for answers on Internet Safety with other AG’s and Google Execs

Jan. 24, 2014 — Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and eight other Attorneys General from around the country met with technology giant Google and its subsidiary, YouTube, to address law enforcement concerns related to the sale and promotion of unlawful conduct through their search engine and video platform. The meetings took place in Denver on Tuesday, Jan. 21 and addressed issues such as Google sponsored advertising in searches and video content promoting counterfeit products, drugs, child pornography and human trafficking.

“Google and YouTube literally shape the fabric of our national culture and can have such a tremendous influence on our society for good. They have shown a commitment to combat those who would take advantage of their services for illicit purposes. We are hoping these technology leaders can do even more to stop that conduct,” said Attorney General Reyes during the bi-partisan meeting hosted by Colorado AG John Suthers. “I look forward to collaborating with Google and YouTube to create consistent and sustainable solutions to combat such insidious elements of our society.”

When asked why he felt the need to make the trip having served less than a month and prior to a busy legislative session, Attorney General Reyes stated, “It is not my style to sit back and be invited to make a difference. I saw a clear danger to Utah businesses and citizens. The impact to Utah children is particularly alarming. It is important to address these issues right away. My job is to protect Utah and it is usually best to sit down face-to-face with either a potential partner or potential adversary when you are looking for solutions. General Jim Hood (D-Mississippi) and General Jon Bruning (R-Nebraska) have taken the lead on these issues and I wanted to be at the table to show my support and give Utah a voice in the solutions discussed. While I am new to the job, I am not new to standing up to protect citizens of our state.”

“While Google and YouTube have been largely successful in addressing some of these issues, we are asking them to find even more innovative and effective ways to demote, delist or take other actions to discourage sites and content that enable or openly peddle illegal activity. I’m pleased they have been receptive to our concerns. We have jointly begun to put in place a framework for more serious discussions that will hopefully lead to decisive actions. Having Google and YouTube bring such a large and well-prepared team to meet with us speaks to their good faith in finding solutions.”

Internet search engines face serious challenges in balancing the interests of free speech in a free market with trying to regulate, discourage or prevent the promotion of illicit activity.

A short video of AG Reyes talking about his visit is available at: