Shop Safely this Season

I love shopping online. Go to my favorite stores, search out what I need, and have it mailed to my home. Even better when you're shopping for someone else - they'll gift wrap and mail it for you! No post office trip needed!
What's not so great are the inevitable scams and phishing attempts that happen online. These are something you can count on, like rain in Seattle, and they're something you can handle easily by remembering a few easy pointers.

Key points for online shopping:

• Read the URL - if it doesn't start with "https://", you shouldn't enter any financial or personal information.


• Your financial organizations will never ask you to 'click a link' and log in to deal with any issue. If you receive such an email, open a new browser window, go to your financial institutions website, and check for issues. Contact your bank if you have any concerns at all.


• Read the privacy policy for the websites you use. By using the website, you may be signing up for more than you expect: marketing emails, usage tracking, and storage of your financial information for later use.


• Your Attorney General is your resource for scams and fraud. Visit your Attorney General's website or call them, if you have any questions or concerns.


• Kick off your online shopping season by making sure your computers are protected. Follow the guidelines recommended by your operating system manufacturor (for most of you, that's Windows), and by your anti-virus/computer security.

Reminders for offline shopping

• Look into fraud protection for your credit/bank cards.


• Keep your shopping bags in the trunk where criminals won't see and be tempted.


• Review your purchase history online and verify that charges are appropriate. Follow-up immediately with your financial institution if anything looks amiss.


• Park close to the mall, in well-lit area, and don't be shy about asking for an escort to your car after dark.


• Roads may be bad - take appropriate precautions, and make sure you dress for the weather: Layers! You can leave them in the car, but you'll want them if you get stuck some where.

Cyberbullying-excerpt from December Update

Cyberbullying - The #1 Online threat to your Kids
What is cyberbullying? It's the same as regular bullying, except it happens via text message, social networks, and email. And it follows your child away from the playground, into the house, into their bedroom - and can follow them all the way to adulthood.

Likely because so many children feel a disconnect between what happens on and off-line, cyberbullying can be more vicious and it can spread much faster. In the news, we've seen some very extreme examples of what cyberbullying can lead to. At CommunityWatch we've talked to a lot of worried parents who want to know what to do about it.

Prevent and deal with cyberbullying:

• Most important! - Don't let your kids use digital communication in their bedrooms. Cell phones, lap tops, netbooks - anything that can text, instant message, or email needs to stay in a public part of the house like the kitchen or dining room, where your kid has some oversight. Do not let your kids keep their cell phone in their bedroom at night.


• Talk to them about their computer/phone use, and ask questions about who they're communicating with, what social networks they use, and -even if they're teenagers- know their user-names and passwords.


• Talk about reputation - kids who bully will have a damaged reputation when word gets out, and kids who post personal information online run the risk of having that information come back and embarass them. If they wouldn't say it in front of the entire school, then they shouldn't say it online, even in a 'private' email or text message.


• Sexting - ugh. You have a 9 year old? You may still need to deal with this. Kids of all ages are getting pressured into taking inappropriate pictures of themselves and sending them to 'friends.' Talk to your kids about reputation, stress appropriate boundaries, and ask your kids if a friend would really ask them to do something so damaging. Remember, too, that teenagers are going to jail and getting registered as sex-offenders for having these images on their phone/computer.


• If you suspect any cyberbullying is going on, follow-up immediately, and don't let it go until you have resolution. Be tenacious, calm, and let your kid know you are on their side, period (even if they are the ones bullying - you'll help them find the right path).

For more information on cyberbullying, you can visit NetSmartz and GetGameSmart.

12 Computer-use Rules for Kids

1. Use parental controls. It's difficult enough with software, and nearly impossible without. MS makes a free, easy to use product: http://download.live.com/familysafety
2. Computers should be kept/used in a central location like the dining room or kitchen table, where there is family activity.
3. Kids should not keep cell phones in their rooms overnight. 24 hour access to text/email/Internet is too much.
4. Monitor their traffic - how many texts and to whom? What websites visited? Let them know you track it.
5. Kids should not expect to keep online activity private from parents. All digital communication is fair-game.
6. Discuss reputation - photographs taken and statements made NEVER go away. Poor judgement as a child online can follow them through life.
7. Talk to your kids about websites they like to visit, and which of their friends also use those websites.
8. If your kids use social networking sites, set the privacy settings so only friends can view their updates/information, and make sure you're always on their 'friend' list.
9. Know their passwords - all of them.
10. Let your kids know what qualifies as personal information*, and that personal information NEVER goes online, in texts, or in emails.
11. Be calm no matter what your kids tell you they saw or read online. You freaking out means they are much less likely to come to you with these issues in the future. Don't threaten their access to the internet/communication, or they may not tell you when they need help.
12. Make sure your kids understand why they should never arrange to meet people from the internet without including you in their arrangements, and without taking along a friend, meeting in a well-lit, public place, etc.

*Personal information is anything that can be used to identify or locate a person - financial information, address, ID numbers, etc.