A website that’s popular with students is being banned from all public school computers in Davenport. School district spokeswoman Karen Farley says “my-space-dot-com” was designed to be a place for young users to post pictures, comments and funny quotes, but it’s being misused.
Since kids use it freely, Farley says it’s not unusual for students who are upset to post things that are hurtful and “de-esteeming” to other students and they need to be warned about it. She says some of the personal information that students put on the website could become a problem in the hands of adults with lewd plots.
Farley encourages parents to pay close attention to the websites their children are frequenting at home and talk with them about what’s appropriate to post on the Internet — and what’s not appropriate and what might put them at risk. She says the information students make public may be harmless for friends to read, but on-line sexual predators may have other ideas.
Farley says students don’t always use their best judgment in terms of things they say on-line and they’re often too open and put too much information out there and don’t realize who else may be reading the website.