The folks at PC Pandora have released their much-anticipated PD Pandora Internet Safety Symposium!! Read below and check it out!!

A new and entirely free Internet Safety Symposium is available to educators, law enforcement, child welfare organizations, community leaders and parents across the country. PD Pandora offers a new way to bring the topic of Internet safety to the local community that will keep kids safe online, and can act as a fundraising vehicle in the process…

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) August 11, 2009 — Read any newspaper, magazine or blog and it’s no secret that Internet safety is at the top of today’s list of parenting concerns. Why shouldn’t it be? With seemingly no restrictions, we let our children use a machine that connects them to the entire world – and, more importantly, connects the entire world to them!

The benefits of the Internet spread far and wide; but for as much good as it has brought, there are those who use the internet to do bad things, including prey on children. From Internet predators to thieves and cyberbullies to illegal downloads and kids themselves doing naive but dangerous things like “sexting,” the dangers associated with the Internet are many and they are REAL! Parents need to think twice before allowing the children to use the internet without monitoring what they are doing.

Pandora Corp. makers of PC Pandora computer monitoring software, in association with nationally recognized child advocate, Maureen Flatley, and her team at Flatley McNeil and Associates, have created a comprehensive Internet safety symposium, available to anyone looking for or in need of materials to educate parents and discuss online safety in their local community.

“Every day,” says Flatley, “countless children are exposed to inappropriate content and are actually victimized either in cyberspace or in their own schools, neighborhoods or homes by abusers who range from hardened criminal predators to opportunistic abusers to their own peers. Letting your child go on the internet alone is like letting them get in a car with a stranger.”

“The first step in achieving a safer global internet is education and awareness for families and the people who serve kids, whether it’s schools, day care centers, community groups or even law enforcement,” says Pandora Corp. co-founder James Leasure. “We’ve taken the time and devoted the resources to creating a simple-but-thorough PowerPoint presentation, so busy professionals, parents, educators and community groups have the ability to download and provide simple, straightforward information to groups quickly.”

“This is also a critical time to present Internet safety as a topic of importance to parents,” adds Flatley. “Kids are heading back to school soon and we will see a new wave of children using the internet for the first time.”

The PD Pandora Internet Safety Symposium is an informative and customizable 90-minute safety seminar that analyzes the common threats children and families face online every day. The symposium covers Internet predators, cyberbullying, peer-to-peer file sharing, social networking and more, as well as solutions that will help any 21st century parent. The complete package consists of a full PowerPoint presentation, read-along script, 6-page parent hand-out for distribution and marketing materials.

The PD Pandora Internet Safety Symposium is designed for any parent group, community organization or law enforcement body that is in need of concise but thorough Internet safety materials for a planned, requested or desperately needed community meeting on the topic.

“Education is really the first step,” explains Leasure. “An educated community is a strong one. We are thrilled to be able to offer this resource to communities and organizations that need help.”

The materials cost nothing and are free for anyone to download and utilize, but there is an extra incentive that Pandora Corp. is hoping will be a driving force. While they aren’t the first to offer Internet safety materials for educational use, they are the first to offer a fundraising partnership incentive.

Pandora Corp. is providing the opportunity for local community groups to hold PD Pandora Internet Safety meetings. By promoting the company’s well-reviewed computer monitoring software, PC Pandora, now in its 6th iteration, organizations and communities can raise funds for their own ventures. This makes the PD Pandora Internet Safety Symposium not only educational for parents, but beneficial for the organizations hosting symposiums.

“Any organization that registers for a PD Pandora kit will be given the option to use the symposium as a fundraiser,” explains Leasure. “Help us spread the benefits of PC Pandora, and we’ll send a substantial portion of money raised right back to where it matters most – your community.”

A copy of the PC Pandora computer monitoring software is included in the PD Pandora Internet Safety Symposium kit.

So, if you are ready to talk Internet safety in your community and need materials, or if you are in need of a fundraising vehicle – and are tired of selling candy bars and magazines from a flyer – please take a look at what the PD Pandora Internet Safety Symposium has to offer. It’s the easiest way to make 2009 a safer year for kids on the internet, while giving back to your school or community at the same time.

For more details, head to the PD Pandora Internet Safety webpage at www.pcpandora.com/pdpandora, where you can view a sample of the materials and fill out the short online form to get started. You can also email the company directly.

About PC Pandora: Pandora Corporation was formed with one goal – to help our customers monitor, control and protect their families and themselves online. First released in mid 2005, PC Pandora has been constantly upgraded to industry-leading specifications and has received accolades from users, reviewers and even school districts and law enforcement agencies, who use the program to help in the day-to-day supervision of the children and citizens they are charged with protecting. The company website devotes space to helping parents by providing 18 Tips to Safe Surfing and Pandora’s Blog, where current news in the world of online safety is discussed regularly. PC Pandora has vaulted into a leadership position by boasting a combination of features that are unparalleled in the monitoring industry. In February 2008, Version 5.0 was released, again widening the spectrum of coverage and protection offered by the program. PC Pandora is also now available through the Pandora Corp. store at Amazon.com. Currently in version 5.3.11, the next release of PC Pandora will incorporate Pandora LIVE, a web-based service that will allow parents to check content from anywhere through a secure server.

Reporters and Producers: Looking to cover this topic? We are your technology solution component. Software is available to journalists for review and testing. Staff members are available for interviews. Let us help you show your audience how easy it can be to keep their kids safe.

Simply put, predators are on the net. Some say the media has overblown the issue – but would you rather drop your guard, over-react, or take the middle ground and simply ensure safety. I wrote this blog because I use PC Pandora monitoring software – and I believe in it soo much – I want everyone to know about it (yes, they have given me permission to talk about it). Monitoring your child’s online activity is the best and smartest decision you can make as a 21st century parent.

Internet safety for young users is a hot topic right now. From sex predators, cyber bullies, and simple immaturity – kids online are facing threats from everywhere. But none of the dangers are as threatening as Internet predators.

While some experts want you to believe the news and media are blowing things out of proportion and that abductions are ‘extreme’ cases, that doesn’t nullify the fact that it still happens all the time. They may be rare cases and instances – but do you want to take the chance with your own child?

There are many variations of statistics for online predators, but the most common seems to be that: 1 in 7 children between ages 13 and 17 on the Internet today are approached by a stranger online, many of those times with the agenda of sex.

But it’s not just the feared and much-talked-about and criticized social networks. A new study was just released that shows most of these predators are in simple chat rooms. The study collected data on 1,588 children aged 10 to 15 years old. The children were asked about their online experiences over the past year. Among these children, 15 percent said they had an unwanted sexual solicitation. Only one-fourth of these occurred on a social networking site, such as MySpace or FaceBook. 33 percent of the kids said they were harassed online; but only about one-fourth of the incidents occurred on a social networking site. However, 43 percent of unwanted sexual solicitations occurred via instant messaging, and 32 percent occurred in chat rooms. Harassment was most common with instant messaging, which accounted for 55 percent.

Do any research on how these predators work and it is no surprise, yet still shocking. Some of them will come right out and more or less ask for it. But others will befriend a young user and gain trust. Then they strike. Almost everyone lies about their age and real person… anonymity is their friend.

The bottom line is these guys are out there and responsible parents of the 21st century should not be taking any chances. The words, “that could never happen to me” are a death sentence. They will invoke the wrath of Pandora’s box…

Fortunately, there is something you can do about it: monitor your children.

One of the biggest responses given by parents for their lack of monitoring is that they simply don’t get the technology. They are sure that no matter what they try to do, their kids will get around it anyway because they are more technically savvy then themselves – so why bother…? I’ll tell you why!

Because YOU (parents) have a secret weapon: PC Pandora.

Simply put – PC Pandora is monitoring software. It will monitor and record everything that your kids do on the computer. That doesn’t just mean online – it means everything. Emails, IM chats, websites visited, programs run… even movies and music downloaded.

The basic function is the recorder. Actual snapshots of the computer screen are taken at intervals, allowing you to see – visually – exactly what your child sees. Think of it like a DVR for your PC. No need to wade through lots of text to find out what your kids are up to. You can see it.

To back up the recorder, PC Pandora also logs and gives detailed reports on emails, IM chats, websites visited, programs utilized or run and any peer-to-peer file sharing. Once you know what your child is up to, you can talk to them about it and set up filters and blocks to prohibit websites and programs from being accessed. (You can even customize messages to bust your kids for trying to go somewhere you don’t want them to!)

Finally, the program also comes with a feature called the IRIS. This basically is a parent’s dream. You can have detailed reports sent to your email about your child’s online activity. If you are work when they get home from school, within minutes you can know what they are doing online. It’s just as good as being there next to them.

The program runs either silently or out in the open. And they have just released a new upgraded Version 5!!

Bottom line, with technology and tools like PC Pandora available to parents – there is no reason for not knowing what your kids are doing online – and more importantly – WHO they are talking to. Don’t take the chance and think, “oh that could never happen to my kids.” It can. And what’s worse – many young users consent to dangerous activity (like meeting in real life) because, let’s face it – they are kids!

Check out PC Pandora. They get my vote!

Also, here is another blog/site that talks about the need for monitoring:  Monitoring Child Internet Activity. What if your kid is being cyberbullied?! There’s no reason not to know…

While some may question the tactics of the Perverted Justice crew (PJ) – the guys that do all the dirty work for Dateline NBC’s To Catch a Predator series – you can NOT deny that the scumbags exist – and are often too funny and/or pathetic when caught. It’s like a who’s who of trailer trash and low lives…

Here are some good snippets I’ve found online:

A good compilation…

His back hurts…

54YOman + 13YOboy = ILLEGAL! (aka math teacher busted!)

Snappy dresser caught for a SECOND time…

Perverts like candy too…