SocialShield had the opportunity to attend the 2011 National Strategy Conference on Combating Child Exploitation over the past few days. The conference was held in San Jose, CA and the theme was “Partners in Protection and Prevention.” This theme represents the collaboration between the Project Safe Childhood and Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, made up of detectives, police offers and other members of state and local law enforcement agencies. The ICAC task force aims to be educated and aware of people out there who use the Internet and computer technology primarily to sexually exploit children. Additionally, ICAC members often travel to schools to spread awareness of the dangerous online predators and sex offenders who are out there. Other themes addressed at the conference included cyberbullying, sexting and how kids can practice safer online behaviors.

We were approached at the conference by many policemen and women, as well as educators who are always talking to schools about ways to keep kids safe online. Many people at the conference told us that parents are always asking them how to better monitor their kids’ social networking and other online activities, and what are some examples of the dangers that are out there. We were proud to be able to suggest monitoring services such as ours, and to also share additional information on cyberbullying, sexting, online reputation management and other online dangers that parents may not be fully informed of.

What are your biggest fears for your kids when they spend time online?