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Michigan Representative David Law introduced a bill last week that will require Michigan schools to teach Internet safety to elementary through high school students.

If passed, it will be up to the individual school districts to implement the specifics. Unfortunately, there is no funding for the program.   Internet safety should be required in all schools.

Tallahassee school administrators recently completed a Internet safety training seminar from iSafe, a leader in online safety education.  The Florida principals and vice principals attended the four-hour seminar from the online safety organization.

As someone who is certified by iSafe, this is a great first step!

Lori Drew, the alleged mother who took part in the Megan Meier cyberbullying case, plead not guilty in a federal court room today.

According to the Associated Press, Drew plead not guilty to charges of conspiracy and accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress and is free on $20,000 bond. Her trial is scheduled for July 29th.

In a press release yesterday, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that the world's largest Internet Service Providers, will work together to shut down online child pornography. 

Sprint, Time Warner Cable and Verizon will target online pornography in 2 ways;  They will "eliminate access to child porn newsgroups" and will purge child porn websites from their servers.  Newsgroups are online bulletin boards where people can download and upload files, images, etc.  

An undercover investigation revealed 88 different newsgroups had more than 11000 sexual images involving prepubescent children, children being raped and children in sexual activities with animals.   The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMEC, will assist in identifying child porn websites.

Governor Matt Blunt was expected to sign Missouri's SB818 today, but due to severe weather, the signing was postponed.  The tragic Megan Meier case placed the international spotlight on the growing problem of electronic bullying.  The cyber harassment bill was to have been signed near the Meier home.

It goes without saying, giving out your password to anyone other than a trusted adult, is not a smart choice. 

A young Florida girl reportedly missed her own 8th grade graduation ceremony because she was just too afraid and embarrassed to attend.

Like many children, she shared her MySpace password with a friend, and they later had a falling out.   They changed her password.  The girl could no longer access her own MySpace account.  Sexually provocative comments were published on her page and within hours, the young girl began getting phone calls on her cell phone from men who wanted to meet her.

Police from Riviera Beach, Florida, are investigating.

Passwords are private.  Never give them out to anyone except a trusted adult!