Miss America shines light on Internet safety
Lauren Nelson only has been wearing the Miss America tiara for seven weeks and she is back home in Oklahoma, and one of her stops was at the state Capitol, where she spoke to legislators Monday about her platform, Internet safety for children.
The bill will allow the courts to prohibit registered sex offenders from accessing certain communication Web sites, like MySpace and Facebook, and requires them to register with authorities any current e-mail addresses they are using.
“It’s scary but it’s true,” Wesselhoft said. “Your child may be communicating with molesters and rapists right in your own home. These online social networking sites are an open invitation for child predators to communicate with children.”
Nelson, a former University of Central Oklahoma student , said studies show one in five children in Oklahoma are inappropriately approached online. It happened to her when she was 13.
Nelson said she was at a seventh-grade sleepover party when she and a group of her young friends joined an online conversation with an older man in a chat room. Innocently, the girls provided the man with personal information.
It's a start - maybe parents will listen to Miss America.....