Cherokee hosts internet safety event

by Laney Cline

On Tuesday, September 17, Cherokee hosted a Parent Cyber Safety Crash Course for parents and teens to learn about protecting themselves on the internet.

This event was hosted by Detective Dobbs, from the Cherokee County Sheriffs Office. Detective Dobbs leads the Internet Crimes Against Children department and has spent 6 years working to stop predators online. The safety course was attended by teens and parents from any school within the Cherokee zone, along with the media specialists of these schools.

Throughout the presentation, Detective Dobbs stressed this point; “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

New apps are created every day that people can use to invade your privacy. He wanted parents to understand that education is key, and that you should never let your student use an app that you don’t understand first.

Starting off, Detective Dobbs discussed apps that he frequently sees in his cases, including Whisper, Instagram, Snapchat, Kik, and more. Almost all of these apps have photo and video sharing abilities, along with weak privacy policies. For example, Snapchat, he said, is simply “a recipe for disaster,” allowing users to create private memories, and delete pictures and videos after sending. Nowadays, there are even “vaults” disguised as calculator apps that provide a private space to keep photos and videos. He urged parents to take a look at their kid’s phones, and search for unknown apps.

This training was a good reminder for both students and parents of the dangers of the internet, and how we can protect ourselves against them.