Third Annual Cox Communications National Summit on Internet Safety Provides Key Information...

Third Annual Cox Communications National Summit on Internet Safety Provides
Key Information for Protecting Children Online
Children's Advocate John Walsh and Lauren Nelson, Miss America 2007, Help
Explore Tweens' Online Behavior

WASHINGTON, July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Cox Communications and the National
Center for Missing & Exploited Children(R) (NCMEC) held the third annual Cox
Communications National Summit on Internet Safety today in Washington D.C.
Sixteen students from Cox communities nationwide participated in discussions
on Internet safety led by children's advocate John Walsh and Lauren Nelson,
Miss America 2007.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080722/CLTU122 )
This year's Summit focused on the online behaviors of tweens, children
between the ages of eight and twelve, and was inspired by the results of the
Cox Tween Internet Safety Survey. For access to the complete survey results,
fast-facts culled from the findings, photos and b-roll from the Summit please
visit www.safeteensonline.com .
"I have worked at the Boys & Girls Club in Orange County since I was
sixteen, and I always work with the tweens," said Navid Rastin, eighteen, one
of the summit participants. "I can tell how hard it is for them to make
friends. Social networks are a place where they look for friends, but they
find a lot of peer pressure there, and they do a lot of crazy things,
including posting inappropriate pictures. It's all about self-esteem."
Again this year, discussion at the Summit covered a mix of encouraging and
troubling news revealed by the most recent survey on Internet safety. Key
findings from the survey released today are:
-- Ninety percent of tweens report having used the Internet by nine
years-old.
-- Tweens online presence doubles or even triples between the ages of
eight to ten and eleven to twelve.
-- Thirty-four percent of eleven and twelve year-olds have a profile on a
social networking site. Tweens with social networking profiles post more
personal information online.
-- More than one in five tweens post information about themselves online,
including pictures, the city they live in and how old they are. Twenty-seven
percent of tweens ages eleven to twelve admit to posting a fake age online.
-- Twenty-eight percent of tweens have been contacted over the Internet by
someone they don't know.
-- The percentage of tweens that tell parents "a lot" or "everything" they
do online drops rapidly with age. Only sixty-nine percent of eleven to twelve
year-olds tell Mom and Dad a lot/everything versus eighty-six percent of eight
year-olds to ten year-olds.
-- Of tweens who have been contacted online by someone they don't know
(twenty-eight percent), eighteen percent keep the messages to themselves, and
eleven percent have chatted with the unknown person.
"Our first line of defense in keeping kids safe is parents and guardians,
and most parents seem to be taking this responsibility seriously," said John
Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted" (FOX). "Seventy-three percent of the
tweens who participated in our survey indicated that Mom and Dad had talked to
them 'a lot' about Internet safety. The remaining twenty-seven percent
represents too many kids to leave unprotected when there are people out there
who have the compulsion to commit horrible acts. Each child with Internet
access must learn as much about safety as possible. The stakes are just too
high," he said.
Lauren Nelson also shared her own personal experience in an effort to
raise awareness about the dangers for children on the Internet. "When I was
thirteen, my friends and I made the bad decision to share personal information
on the Internet with someone we later learned meant to harm us," said Nelson.
"We told him our names, ages and where we lived. Thankfully, we told our
parents about what we had done, and nothing bad happened to any of us, but not
all kids are this lucky. Tweens share a lot with their parents, but start to
keep things to themselves as they mature; parents need to understand this and
do their best to keep the lines of communication open."
Tomorrow, Walsh and Nelson will also discuss the survey and implications
for families live in local broadcast television and radio interviews, and they
will also be available via Web cast from 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. EDT to answer
questions about Internet safety and discuss the teen survey in greater detail.
To view the Web cast, go to
http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=49596®d=n
Also tomorrow, the tweens are headed to Capitol Hill where they will meet
with Senators and Representatives from their respective states in an effort to
bring awareness to the issue of Internet safety. During more than twenty-five
separate meetings, the tweens will speak one-on-one with Senators and
Representatives including: Shelley Berkeley (D-NV), John Boozman (R-AR), Rick
Boucher (D-VA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Dianne Feinstein
(D-CA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Chuck Hagel (R-NE),
Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), John Kyl (R-AZ), Blanche Lincoln (D-AK), Charlie
Melancon (D-LA), Jeff Miller (R-FL), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Bill Nelson (D-FL),
Mike Ross (D-AR), Jon Porter (R-NV), Jack Reed (D-RI), Harry Reid (D-NV), Lee
Terry (R-NE), David Vitter (R-LA), Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH), Jim Webb
(D-VA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
The Tween Summit is an extension of Cox Communications' ongoing Take
Charge! initiative ( www.cox.com/takecharge ), which helps parents, guardians
and kids make smarter media decisions. The Teen Summit will air on Cox's local
cable channels nationwide starting later this summer.
About Cox Communications:
Cox Communications is a multi-service broadband communications and
entertainment company with 6.2 million total residential and commercial
customers. The third-largest cable television company in the United States,
Cox offers an array of advanced digital video, high-speed Internet and
telephony services over its own nationwide IP network. Cox Business is a
full-service, facilities-based provider of communications solutions for
commercial customers, providing high-speed Internet, voice and long distance
services, as well as data and video transport services for small to
large-sized businesses. Cox Media offers national and local cable advertising
in traditional spot and new media formats, along with promotional
opportunities and production services. Cox Communications wholly owns and
operates the Travel Channel. More information about the services of Cox
Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at
www.cox.com , www.coxbusiness.com , and www.coxmedia.com .
About Cox Communications' Take Charge:
Cox's research on teen Internet safety from the last three years, online
safety tools and tips, and links to NCMEC and other sources are available at
www.cox.com/TakeCharge . Cox's Take Charge program was launched in 2004 to
educate parents and guardians about the importance of Internet safety and to
help families get the most out of mass media in the home. It provides scores
of resources to help parents and guardians manage what their children see, and
don't see, on TV and the Internet -- from instructions on setting parental
controls, to a guide to the lingo teens use online, to tips for more
constructive conversations between parents and kids. Teaching young children
and teens how to stay safer online is a major element of the Take Charge
program, thanks in part to Cox's partnership with NetSmartz.com , a
collaboration between NCMEC and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Cox has
donated more than $30 million worth of advertising time to NetSmartz and NCMEC
to encourage safer online behavior among children. Cox's Take Charge site
will be updated with the complete 2008 tween research findings at the
conclusion of the summit.
About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC):
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984, the
organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children's
hotline which has handled more than 2.2 million calls. It has assisted law
enforcement in the recovery of more than 128,000 children. The organization's
CyberTipline has handled more than 600,000 reports of child sexual
exploitation and its Child Victim Identification program has analyzed
15,000,000 child pornography images and videos. The organization works in
cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention. To learn more about NCMEC, call its toll-free,
24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit its web site at
www.missingkids.com .
SOURCE Cox Communications

Amy Burton of Weber Shandwick Worldwide, +1-404-266-7557 (w), +1-404-909-9318
(c); or David Grabert of Cox Communications, +1-404-269-7054 (w),
+1-678-592-2258 (c), David.Grabert@Cox.com