Safe Internet Alliance

Though many news stories about Internet safety today focus on children and teens, the fact is that adults have several risks when they go online.  Crimes such as sexual predation don’t just happen to young people; criminals don’t only hang out in teen social networking sites; and an adult’s personal and financial information and buying habits are of great value in the e-commerce and virtual economies.

The vast majority of adults may not consider their online activity particularly noteworthy, with activities as innocuous as checking email and deleting spam, or paying bills.  But every detail adults share online about their lives and the extended group of people they interact with is stored somewhere. The more pieces of information you provide in your online identity, the more clues you give predators of any kind – whether their intent is to cause financial, emotional, or physical harm.
 
Having easy access to privacy tools and asking sites and providers for better control over how information accumulates is critical to a safer online experience. 

Recommended Resources:

• FBI Publications: A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety
• "Internet Safety - A Parent's Guide to the Internet " from The Division of Criminal Justice Services
• i-SAFE Inc. Internet Safety Tools for Community Outreach and Parents