The Dangers of Cyberspace

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The Dangers of Cyberspace

• Written and Illustrated by Isabel

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• It was five in the evening, and Mira was on
  her computer in a chat room, as usual. She was
  trying to meet new friends, against her
  parents wishes. Miras mother thought that chat
  rooms were unsafe. Mira sighed, and sent out a
  message.
• mirabell268 Hi, Im Mira. ? Im twelve years old
  and live in Albany, New York at 268 Elmhurst
  Avenue and I like talking to people.

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• Mira waited and waited. Meanwhile, an evil
  hacker grinned evilly as he watched the chat room
  board, hoping for a revealing message about an
  unsuspecting user. However, patrolling the board
  was a member of the Internet Safety Police!

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• George was a ginger-colored cat, and he saw
  thousands of messages whizzing by. Then came
  Miras post, wearing a tag that said unsafe!
  Oh, no! exclaimed George. That message is
  unsafe!!!!!!!!!!

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• George raced after the message. It sped up,
  not willing to be changed. As the message sped
  up, so did George. George sped through the chat
  room, pursuing the message. Both George and
  message passed chat room boards with messages
  from all different countries. He flashed his
  badge at it.

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• The evil hacker laughed well, evilly. He
  waited and waited, but everyone on the board
  seemed to be aware of Internet Safety issues!
  No! It cant be! he shouted. The evil hacker
  realized that he could only sit and hope some
  naïve little kid was out there, just waiting to
  be assaulted!!! (He hoped the childs parents
  didnt work at the Internet Cyber Complaint
  Center! IC3)

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• Meanwhile, George was racing after the
  message. Mira, at dinner, didnt see him running
  across the screen of her computer. He passed a
  board from Japan, and saw another unsafe message.
  Miras message turned around, smiling, and
  taunted George as he struggled to decide which
  message to change and, in turn, which user to
  save.

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• Suddenly, a black cat with white paws was
  racing toward the new message. She leapt into the
  air and caught the new message from Japan. George
  was relieved to see one of his co-workers.

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• Thanks, Tabby, George said.
• No problem, George, said the cat, looking up
  from the message. She then returned to shaking
  her head at the personal information the user had
  given away. George now looked back at Miras
  message and prepared to pounce!!! The evil hacker
  laughed at the scene in his computer.

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• Seeing George, the message got scared and
  flew away quickly. George, sighing, followed it.
  As it sped past more message boards, so did
  George. Finally, after circling the chat room, he
  caught up to the unsafe and personal message.
• George grabbed it with his teeth. He read the
  message.
• mirabell268 Hi, Im Mira. ? Im twelve years old
  and live in Albany, New York at 268 Elmhurst
  Avenue and I like talking to people

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• Oh my! said George. This has way too much
  personal information. Flares burst angrily from
  the message. He touched the beginning of the
  second sentence with his nose, and it came away
  and reappeared in his mouth. He spit it out. The
  flares stopped. Then he retyped the ending. The
  message now read
• mirabell268 Hi, Im Mira and I like talking to
  people. ?

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• There, sighed George. This is much better.
  And he let the message free. It sprouted little
  wings and flew away.

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• The message headed towards the huge web hole.

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• The message was picked up by a bluebird and
  thrown through. On the other side, it attached
  itself to a message board. A message or two
  immediately responded, and Mira happily replied.
  Every time she gave out personal information,
  George weeded it out, keeping the chat room safe.
  
• But George was getting tired. He realized that
  he couldnt continue to save Mira from the evil
  hackers and criminals that waited. George
  summoned the rest of his energy and sent her a
  message by way of the board.

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• It said
• Attention! This is a message from the Internet
  Safety Police. Throughout the evening, you have
  sent numerous messages out containing PERSONAL
  INFORMATION. This includes
• Your full name.
• Your address.
• Your age or anything about yourself that you
  wouldnt want evil people to know.
• Please consider our warning and stop sending out
  these messages. Thank you.

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• Mira received the message, and understood
  Georges warning. She stopped writing personal
  information in her messages, and everything went
  well.

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• The evil hacker, unsatisfied and angry, shut
  down the computer. George returned to his cyber
  house and went to sleep. Thanks to George, the
  chat room had been kept safe, and Mira had been
  protected from evil!

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Web Sites

• George says Mew! Check out these websites for
  more information on Internet safety for
  children.
• Mira says Remember, never give out personal
  info unless a parent says its okay! That means
  check with your mom or dad before seeing these
  websites!
• Cybercitizen Rules http//www.cybercrime.gov/rule
  s/cybercitizen.htm
• http//www.cybercrime.gov/rules/rules.htm
• The Web Police -- The Web Safety
• http//www.fbi.gov/kids/k5th/safety2.htm
  http//www.fcc.gov/kidszone/faqs_9.html
• http//www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy
  /kidz.htm http//www.netsmartzkids.org/indexfl.ht
  m http//www.safekids.com/child_safety.htm

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THE END!!!