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Coco Warner ReportingChild safety advocates cite studies that find one in five children receives an online sexual solicitation each year. Utah is joining 46 other states in a new initiative announced today in Washington.
Not only are kids being solicited for sex on the internet, they're also giving out personal information if asked. So Utah is participating in a national campaign called the Internet Keep Safe Coalition. The goal is to help kids and their parents practice safe online behavior.
Who says cats and dogs can't get along, especially when a child's safety is at stake? Utah's former first cat, "Faux Paw the Techno Cat" joins McGruff the crime dog in order to take a "byte" out of internet crime. The two characters helped launch a new campaign called the Internet Keep Safe Coalition or "iKeepSafe." This program includes tips for parents and children who surf the web.
Tatiana Platt/AOL: "Something like a quarter of kids online are exposed to online pornography; nearly 30 percent of kids online are giving out personal information when asked online to strangers."
Jacalyn Leavitt, Former First Lady of Utah: “The message of Faux Paw the Techno Cat is you should not trust people you connect with online. You don't know who they really are."
Kids and parents can access Faux Paw's animated feature, books, and other materials on iKeepSafe's new website. The site emphasizes the coalition's three basic rules:
- Keep your personal information protected.
- Don't meet with someone you've connected with online.
Mary Kaye Huntsman, First Lady of Utah: "I am a mother of five teenagers, so I see it everyday in our home. And I am always concerned as my children turn on the internet that they will not be coaxed somehow to give out their name or their address. And to know there is something like ikeepsafe to give them some rules of what to do and what not to do while the internet, to me is very important as a mother."
The coalition hopes to distribute its internet safety plan to every second, third and fourth grade class in the country
