When I attended Harvard Law School's Technical Task Force meeting last September 2008, I was so excited that the world was coming together to help protect help our kids online.  In attendance were multitudes of technology companies willing be partners to protect our kids online.  Others included people deeply involved in the community;  businesses that were willing to help solve this problem in any way they could; parents, educators and non-profits all together in a room to talk about the safety of our kids online.  People came from all over the United States to offer their concerns and findings. 

Forty-Nine Attorneys General asked the The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School to form a committee n/k/a the "Internet Safety Technical Task Force" headed up by John Palfrey.   This year-long committee studied all the data available, talked to experts and released their findings on how to protect our kids online.  Despite the media stating this problem is not as big as once thought, could be construed unfounded if you ask the mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers and everyone who care about all the kids no longer with us because of the internet being the tool for better access to our kids.

They state in their findings "sexual predation on minors by adults, both online and off, remains a concern."  "Much of the research based on law-enforcement cases involving Internet-related child exploitation predated the rise of social networks."  They explain this by stating the youth were aware that they were meeting an adult male for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity, but they note "more research needs to be done concerning the activities of sex offenders in social network sites and other online environments," and want more data made available for this purpose.

What the report did not include is sexual solicitation of minors by minors was more frequent, but this issue is also understudied and under-reported to law enforcement and was not a part of this conversation.

Bullying and harassment is at the forefront and are the most frequent threats to minors online and offline.

The report discusses illegal content, pornography exposure and social media and how minors are at risk.  In other words, not all minors are at risk equally.  Behaviors of minors who engage in risky behavior and outside factors of a minor's life are better forecasters of risk than their use of the technologies themselves. 

The report concluded there is still not enough data to conclude the risk factors among minors, and "too little is known about the role that minors themselves lay in contributing to unsafe environments."  Technical Task Force Final Report Executive Summary

We conclude from their findings that education and parental knowledge are the two key elements needed to protect your kids online.  To us, nothing has changed.  They concluded there is "no one technological solution or specific combination…to the problem of online safety for minors."

"Instead, a combination of technologies, in concert with parental oversight, education, social services and law enforcement, sound policies by social network sites and service providers may assist in addressing specific problems that minors face online."

Recommendations quoted:  "Parents and caregivers should:  educate themselves about the Internet and the ways in which their children use it and the technology in general…be engaged and involved in their children'Internet use;….be conscious of the common risks youth face to help their children understand and navigate the technologies; be attentive to at-risk minors in their community and in their children's peer group; and recognize when they need to seek help from others."

I couldn't have said it better.