Internet Safety Award
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Updated: 3:51 PM May 14, 2008
Internet Safety Award
Staunton, Va.
Law enforcement officials say identity theft is prevalent on the Internet, but so is online solicitation and child pornography.
Posted: 5:09 PM May 13, 2008
Reporter: Meg Gatto
Email Address: mgatto@whsv.com
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Law enforcement officials say identity theft is prevalent on the Internet, but so is online solicitation and child pornography. A group of Staunton City School students won an award Tuesday for their work to stop such online solicitation.

The group made a 30 second commercial for a statewide competition to warn kids about online dangers. The video depicts a child being abducted after meeting up with a stranger the child met on the Internet.

Assistant Attorney General, Gene Fishel, says Attorney General Bob McDonnell sponsored the contest for the best commercial because kids listen more to other kids.

Fishel says, "I think there’s a tendency among a lot of students to think they're invincible or somehow anonymous on the Internet and I think the message we try to get across on these programs and the message that Attorney General McDonnell is trying to push is that things you do online translate into reality."

Kyle Head, Jeremiah Eckard and Jonathan Fisher were the brains behind the commercial. Fisher says he wants his classmates to pay close attention to the message.

He says, "Teenagers, kids, they get on the Internet 24/7 all the time, every day, and they're out there and kids are vulnerable and they don't think about whose on the other side because there could be a sexual predator on the other side."

The students' commercial will soon be shown across the state on local television stations in order to spread the message about Internet safety.

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