SEX SLAVERY IN CAMBODIA… We Need your HELP!?

• October
• 2

NOT FOR SALE NEEDS YOUR HELP TO CONFRONT SEX SLAVERY IN CAMBODIA

And we need to act fast. We have one week to raise the $10,000 necessary to sustain our newest international project:

Transitions Cambodia

Please WATCH this remarkable video.

At the Transitional Living Center (TLC), Vietnamese and Cambodian girls, ages 13-18, rescued from the slave trade are immersed into an innovative and holistic development program. Where most aftercare shelters experience a tragic 70% rate of failure - meaning the girls are re-victimized by traffickers or voluntarily return to the sex industry - Transitions Cambodia has a success rate of 75% and climbing! Graduates from similar programs often lack adult life skills, or are unable to secure a sustainable income with their substandard job training.

Transitions, however, champions an adult life skills program, integrated psychological therapy, exercise, spiritual reflection, and career training for the 21st century job market. Through this holistic approach, the young women are restored, empowered, and able to realize their dreams.

One MORE reason why we’re excited about our partners at Transitions: they have found a system that cuts the cost of aftercare in half! By outsourcing services for education, training, and vocational placement, Transitions supports local business, while reducing its own overhead. This system in Cambodia costs approximately $250,000 a year to successfully support 20 girls through the program — a small number when compared to other programs around the world. These costs ensure safe shelter, quality medical and dental care, counseling and therapy, as well as superior job training and education for every girl coming through “TLC.” The success is both astonishing… and invigorating! Restoring and empowering girls through belief and opportunity transforms these young women from victims… into survivors.

Hope and Action

Amidst the strongholds of trafficking, abuse, and exploitation, hope is seeping in. Hope for young women to escape a life of bondage. Hope for these girls to abide in a haven of community, love and support. Hope for them to envision future vocations, and prepare themselves to live them out. And hope that disheartening statistics about the failure rate of aftercare programs not only can be broken, but can be completely reversed. That’s why we at Not For Sale are so excited.

But hope and excitement lead us to ACTION, and the timing for this action is critical.

Please consider partnering with us now to raise $10,000. This is the minimum needed to sustain the work of our Transitions Cambodia project through the month of October. Each dollar you give makes a difference. Partnered together, we feel confident that we can meet this need, and will continue to do so far into the future.

Donate HERE to fight Slavery in Cambodia.

For more information, download our information PDF (10 MB).

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Larry Magid, is a Yahoo! Kids Blogger…

• October
• 1

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Larry Magid A True Responsible CyberCitizen - An Internet Safety Advocate

Today’s guest, Larry Magid, is a Yahoo! Kids Blogger, an active technology journalist with papers such as the New York Times, works with CBS News Technology, and also is an advocate for internet safety.

Larry’s advocacy work includes three websites that are geared towards a variety of audience types to help promote internet safety. The first site, safeteens.com, is geared towards both parents and teens with a focus on the fact that the majority of crimes people fall prey to on the internet are the result of misbehavior from individuals not pedophiles tracking down children. Such misbehavior may be cyber bullying, for example.

The second site, safekids.com, is a site where parents can go to learn how to protect their young children online. One area of the site allows parents to print off an internet safety contract, which helps the family to set and agree on guidelines for the internet. A second popular area is a pre-filtered web search tool for kids. Kids can go to the site, search the web, and get results that are filtered with the strongest filters possible and the parents don’t have to worry themselves over setting up their own filters or if their kids will get inappropriate sites.

Listen to the interview here:

The last site, connectsafety.org, is not-for-profit funded by a variety of businesses and provides the public (kids, teens, and parents) with a myriad of resources that can help them in their goal of internet safety. The site also offers a forum where parents can come and get answers to specific questions that they have regarding the topic. Read the rest of this entry…

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Nancy McBride Launches NSTeens.org

• September
• 17

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First, as a reminder to all those listening, the Cyberhood Watch now has three websites which serve as centers for the Cyberhood communities with new information available regularly from around the world. Be sure to remember to check those sites to keep up to date.

http://ResponsibleCyberCitizen.net
http://OnlineSecurityAuthority.com
http://TheCyberHoodWatch.com

and our radio channel http://CHWradio.com

Nancy McBride Launches NSTeens.org

The guest for today’s show was is Nancy McBride, who has had a huge impact on both of the hosts early in their radio careers. Nancy has worked with Adam Walsh since the beginning of the Adam Walsh Center, which raises the awareness of what happens when a child is abducted. She is also the National Safety Director for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), working out of the Florida branch. She has also written a couple of books and some articles as well.

The mission of NCMEC is to help prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation. As the National Safety Director, Nancy always stresses that the second part of that mission statement is just as important as the first, as it is the role of adults to protect our children. Several new campaigns have been started recently, including one focusing on children getting to and from school safely. That campaign can be seen on www.netsmartz.org. The website also has information from a other campaigns.

Listen to the interview here:

According to Nancy, a responsible “cybercitizen” is someone who acts in a way that they would want someone to act towards them. If you are ashamed of someone seeing your online actions or you wouldn’t want someone to do the same thing to you as you are doing to them, then you are not being a responsible cybercitizen. Some actions are even illegal.

A lot of teens don’t realize that once something is posted on the internet, it is always available. This is true even if the information is deleted or removed. This can and does impact the person’s future, as many colleges, employers, and other companies research a person online, to learn more about them. This is why it is important to be a responsible cybercitizen.

In order to stay safe and be responsible, it is the parents’ job to make sure the teen doesn’t post any personal information which could be used to link them to their hometown or school. It is also just as important for teens to restrict their behavior on the internet. They should not be chatting, e-mailing, or posting about sex or indecent/illegal behavior. All of the above could be put together and result in dangerous circumstances. The number one way to do these things are to communicate openly with your children and keep tabs on them. Make sure you have candid, open discussions with your children often and explain to them why you are having them. The number one way to keep kids safe online is to communicate with them. Just pulling the plug on them doesn’t work anymore.

This brought about the next important topic in today’s show: cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is the use of the internet to harass or bully others. In order to save kids from being cyber-bullied, the most important thing to teach kids is tell a trusted adult what is going on. When it comes to bullies, either online or in person, it’s important to not react to them in anyway. Instead of saying things back and forth, just go tell that trusted adult who will help you with the situation.

Cyber-bullying can become such a large problem for a few reasons. First, unlike kids fighting on the playground, there is no “bell” signaling the end of recess or the start of the next class. In those situations, the bullying is interrupted by an outside source and everyone has an opportunity to cool down a bit. Online there are no interruptions and things can escalate further. In addition, there are no adults around to break up a fight online as there are on the playground. If something happens and the kids don’t tell an adult the bullying can just go on continuously. Without intervention, the situation just gets worse and has been known to cause extreme personality changes and even suicide.

There are several programs that NCMEC runs to help kids be responsible and safe online. One program was Netsmartz, which was already mentioned and is a great resource for both younger kids and teenagers to use for both online and real-life situations. There are both fictional characters and stories there, as well as real-life stories from people who have been in dangerous situations. This website has really made a difference.

One real-life story on the website is from Julie, a girl who met a man in church then started an online-relationship with him. Eventually she decided to run away with him, and it turned out that he was a convicted murderer. Julie was able to get out of the situation unhurt, however her story brings up several important points in online safety. First, dangerous adults usually patrol for kids in a lot of places. In this example it was church, however it could also be online chat rooms that are geared for kids or teenagers, forums, or a variety of other venues. Secondly, these people try their best to come off as likeable and often times will try to win the parents over as well. They do not want to be detected as a dangerous person. For this reason, it is important for parents to communicate with their kids and question any adult who is focusing excessively on a child. Often times parents will admit after their child is abducted how much they liked the abductor and how nice they were being to their child. If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

Another important point from Julie’s story is the false hope that kids, especially teen girls, often have in these situations. They think and feel that the dangerous person really cares for them and they are looking for that sort of attention. This is only a hope, however, and makes them more vulnerable for attack.

Another campaign by NCMEC is Take 25, a program to help people recognize National Missing Children’s Day on May 25th, which was designated by President Reagan. The idea is for people to set aside 25 minutes to talk to their children about safety. Take 25 creates a variety of programs across the country that helped raise awareness and has been very successful.

If you are a person who is interested in helping the effort to make the internet safer for children, there are several things you can do. One thing is to support the NCMEC and other programs/organizations that are around who are working towards that goal. Another thing that can be done is to tell the officials when you think someone is being victimized. Lastly, of course, learn as much as you can and talk with your children.

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Raise Your Voice - New Love 146 Blog

• September
• 4

Due to the visual mediocrity of our previous blog, we have started a brand new/brand awesome blog. The purpose of this new blog is not simply the evident blog prowess over other blogs, but it is meant as a sounding board for our thoughts as well as a platform to encourage, dream, think, and inspire action in the fight against child sex slavery and exploitation. We are very excited about this new way to involve and communicate with those who know the story of Love146. We are more than aware of our inability to stop this atrocity on our own, and we feel this blog can provide the means for creative thinking, inspiration, collaboration, and the Collective Shout that we truly need. Take a look and subscribe (there is an rss feed)… 146blog

Raising your voice by wearing it on your chest… & Tshirt Contest

To all of you who have asked for T-shirts … Skreened is a sweat shop free, environmentally friendly company. T-shirts are available now. Now!!! All money we receive goes to our programs. Buy Tshirts… here Love146 is holding a contest (of sorts). As an organization we believe in the power of art (hopefully you have noticed). Although we have some crafty genius artist types in our office, we wanted to invite you to use your voice (your pen, your paint…) after all, abolishing child sex slavery is not on the shoulders of one, it must be that collective shout that will hopefully put us out of a job. We need a few shirt designs. There are really no limits but we are looking for art. Send me (Desirea: d.rodgers@love146.org) an original design by Sept. 30th. Design requirements: 2000 by 2000 pixels/ 10 by 10 inches/ 200 dpi/ on white background. NOTE: white = transparent, nothing white will be able to be printed. Please include your name and a sentence releasing Love146 to use your original design. On October 10th we will announce the three winners, and your shirt will be immediately available on Skreened.com Let the shouting begin.

146 Patches Now Available!

We are now offering “146″ Patches on our website. We are continually blown away by the reports of people telling the story of Love146. The patch is similar to the one that the young girl (#146) wore in the brothel. This number is not only a representation of her, but also of the multitude of children forced into child sex slavery. We honor them by telling their stories. The 146 patches we feel help tell their stories. You can find the patches here on our website. We are so excited about this time with Love146. More and more people are hearing the story and joining the fight. Thank you for your support and your voice. We value both. Abolition and Restoration! Desirea Rodgers Creative Director/ Co-Founder If you want to donate to Love146 please go to our donate page.

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Utah’s Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, Is Back On His Feet Again

• August
• 28

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The guest on today’s show is Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who is excited to help make the Responsible Cyber Citizen program go national. Mark is in his eighth year as Utah’s Attorney General.

Who David and I meet as community leaders addressed the media at the Salt Lake County Children’s Justice Center for a press conference on the April 3rd. 2008, to raise awareness about child abuse and to promote safety tips to keep children safe…

As citizens of the United States of America, it is each person’s responsibility to help make and keep this country safe, according to Shurtleff. One way to do that is to become a responsible cyber-citizen, who will do their best to take on an active role in internet safety. It isn’t enough to just learn about being responsible online; a person also needs to teach others about it, and implement it to really be a responsible cyber-citizen.

One of the issues a responsible cybercitizen needs to be aware of, is identity theft. As people are doing more and more personal financial items online, like shopping and banking, it is becoming easier and easier for criminals to steal valuable information that are costing people a lot of problems. The Attorney General’s office has been running a program online that combats cyber-criminals for the last four years. One website that is involved in the program is a website, www.idtheft.utah.gov, which allows people to file a complaint about identity theft, which is then sent on to the proper police department and provides information about how to get their identity back, once it has been stolen.

The Attorney’s General office does prosecute fraud and identity theft cases. In the past they have successfully prosecuted cases where people have been used social security numbers and other information that they obtained online to buy homes or cars. Criminals get this information by “phishing.” This usually comes in the form of an e-mail from a service (such as EBay) which asks you to go to a website or call a number and verify your account information. The website you go to or the number you call seems legitimate and is usually identical to the real site, but in reality is from a cyber-criminal. Once you verify your information, they have it all at their fingertips and your identity has been stolen. This type of identity theft can be avoided by simply ignoring all e-mails that ask for your information. If you feel that it is perhaps a legitimate e-mail, then go to your phone book and look up the company’s number personally. Then you can call it and inquire. If it’s legitimate, they’ll be able to tell you. If not, then you’ll have saved yourself from identity theft. Read the rest of this entry…

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Protecting Yourself, Your Business and Your Family

• August
• 19

Our guest today on the CHW show was Ben Wilson, Esq., founder and principal consultant for Xcera Consulting. He is also Co-Vice Chair of the American Bar Association’s Information Security Committee.

Ben’s work primarily focuses on computer and e-commerce consulting as well as digital forensics. He is the father of an 11-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter, both of whom give Ben a keen sense responsibility in protecting individuals, including children, from the dangers of cyber corruption. Listen to the interview here:

Since Ben has devoted much of his career to cyber law and protecting people from internet corruption, he has developed a strong affinity for defending some of the internet’s most vulnerable targets: children. Bottom line, parents must be responsible for identifying threats and steering their children away from websites that could cause them harm. While dialogue is important, parents may also wish to invest in software, such as Pandora PC, that will trace or report suspicious internet behavior.

Unfortunately, most everyone is naturally programmed to trust one another, a trait that internet schemers love to prey on. People, especially young people should always tread cautiously on the internet and begin relationships with a bit of skepticism.

Part of protecting yourself and others around you means joining a league of “Responsible CyberCitizens.” This group of extraordinary “netizens”, or people who are particularly internet savvy, educate themselves about the internet system, its threats, and its vulnerabilities. Responsible cyber citizens know how to avoid the internet traps and, hopefully, teach others how to do so as well.

E-commerce start-ups, in particular, must be observant when establishing privacy and transaction security policies. There is no room for careless omissions. Nor can people blatantly ignore these policies when conducting financial business over the internet. First, all data – whether it’s being stored on a server or being sent over the internet – must be encrypted with either a secure socket layer or transport layer security. Consumers should also be vigilant by looking for a lock icon on a website before entering credit card information. This icon indicates that the site is secure with a digital certificate. Also in today’s world make sure to protect your WiFi connections no matter where you are.

E-commerce owners need to also educate themselves on new cyber laws. While it is difficult to keep tabs on every piece of new legislation, there are websites that can help. The THOMAS website (www.thomas.loc.gov) allows anyone to search for new legislation based search criteria (i.e. internet security). Business owners must also be aware of the Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This law essentially states that websites cannot collect the personal information of children under the age of 13 without parental consent. Websites can generally bypass this law by not collecting birth information from its subscribers.

While cyber corruption is rampant, there are easy ways to protect yourself, your children and your e-commerce business. For parents, knowledge and responsibility are two tools that help you fight cyber crime. For business owners, it means protecting the confidentiality, security, and integrity of every piece of personal information collected.

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Become part of The UNDERGROUND

• August
• 14

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