Mississippi Attorney General Promotes Internet Safety

Faux Paw the Techno Cat and Attorney General Jim Hood address online safety concerns.

Today, 40 percent of of teens post personal information online that can be seen by anyone. Mississippi's Attorney General is instructing parents on how they can protect their children from the dangers kids face on the internet. MPB's Carl Gibson reports.

Attorney General Jim Hood describes the internet as "the new Wild West" for child predators.

"It's like 'How to molest a child.' Its training videos on how to molest children. How to cover it up. How to keep the mother from knowing that you're molesting their child. So, its just kinda that most grotesque stuff on the internet that they're accessing."

In partnership with Comcast and the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, the state Attorney General's office has released a video for families on how to protect children from predators and unrestricted content. Coalition Spokeswoman Amber Lindsay says there should always be open dialogue between parents and children on what websites their kids frequent.

"Now with so many avenues on the internet like the general mentioned with social networking or with Twitter or whatever it is, there's so many sites that they're logging into. So it's important to know where they're going online."

Kids using social networks should be aware of establishing an online persona, says Frances Smith with Comcast. She adds myspace or facebook pages can be a liability or an asset.

"there's tons of stuff out there that's wonderful, you just have to learn how to navigate through it. A lot of businesses are using the internet as an additional reference check. Kids need to be aware of that, that what they're doing today can affect them long-term."

Parents can learn more internet safety tips by visiting info@keepsafe.org.