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Kim Johnson ReportingLast year saw an 84-percent increase in the number of parental complaints about Internet predators trying to entice children and meet them in person.
Utah's first and former first ladies unveiled a new website, ikeepsafe.org to help kids be safe online. It's sponsored by the Internet Keep Safe Coalition and features a character created by children's author Jacalyn Leavitt.
First lady Mary Kaye Huntsman read Faux Paw the Techno Cat to school children at Mountain View elementary school; it's a book written by Utah's former first lady Jacalyn Leavitt. Then the children watched a DVD created by student animators at BYU in which Faux Paw gets sucked into the Internet and has a close call with a stranger.
The animated 30-minute film can be found on the new website, along with three critical safety tips.
Jacalyn Leavitt: "Keep your private information protected. Don't meet anyone you've connected with online that you don't know in person, in real life. And tell a parent or trusted adult if you see anything on the Internet that makes you feel uncomfortable."
Mrs. Leavitt also has tips for parents.
Jacalyn Leavitt: "Parents need to have a filter on their computers, and have those computers in a common place, a place where everyone walks by with the screen turned out so they know that when they're on the computer it's not secretive."
Former first lady Jacalyn Leavitt based her story, Faux Paw the Techno Cat, on a real cat that was rescued from an animal shelter and moved into the Governor's office at the state capitol.
