Oct. 23--A group of local parents got lessons in online safety Thursday evening through an event organized by Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway.

About 30 people gathered for a "Cyber Safe KY" presentation, one of a series of meetings statewide to teach parents how to monitor their children's Internet use.

Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are important and useful, but can also be hunting grounds for would-be criminals, said Conway and others, urging parents to closely watch their children's time online.

That's a message that can't be repeated too often, said Joe Tinius, superintendent of Bowling Green Independent Schools. He's glad to see cybersafety high on Conway's agenda, he said.

Due to the relatively sparse attendance in the Kentucky Building on Western Kentucky University's campus, almost everyone present went home with a door prize, with about half receiving Lexmark computer printers. Some got a tote bag or coffee mug, but the Stacks family of Bowling Green left with a Dell laptop computer and new printer.

Kathy Stacks said that -- in addition to the door prizes -- she was glad to learn a number of safety tools to monitor her daughter, Jasmine, 16, a Warren Central High School student.

"And what did you get from it?" she asked her daughter.

"That you shouldn't talk to strangers online, and you shouldn't put your personal business on it," Jasmine replied.

Kathy Stacks' husband, Dennis, said he was interested to hear the extent to which prospective employers check social networking sites for information about their applicants.

College admissions and scholarship committees also check those sites, according to Lori Farris from Conway's office. It's important to let young people use those social sites, but even a quick search online for local teenagers turns up a number of potentially embarrassing pictures, she said. Just as prevalent is widespread release of personal information, Farris said.

"Thieves and predators love these social networking sites," she said.

Parents should set rules for home Internet use and actively work with their children, not try to just ban them from the Internet, Farris said.

David Couch, associate commissioner of the Office of Information Technology, said the push for "anytime access" from mobile devices makes bans hard to enforce. Parents can't rely on content filters to keep their kids safe, and many public Wi-Fi sites don't have filters anyway, he said.

The majority of Kentucky residents have high-speed Internet access and modern computers, which gives them a huge advantage; but many also exercise "horrible judgment" in spreading information about themselves, especially with phone cameras, Couch said.

Conway told the group to Google their children's names and insist on joining their online "friend" lists. Social networking sites are "the new malls," where teenagers go to meet, but are tough to monitor, he said.

Conway said he has worked on drafting a comprehensive cybercrime bill, and established a state cybercrime lab to deal with online predators and cyberbullying.

"We're doing this because the need is there," he said.

Conway is seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Jim Bunning, but electoral politics went unmentioned during the Cyber Safe KY seminar.

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