Attorney General adopts students’ SafeSurf campaign
Media initiative aims to prevent cyber-crime
The Florida Cabinet issued a resolution April 17 making the third week in April “CyberCrime Awareness Week” that recognizes a group of Florida State University public relations students for their work promoting Internet safety.
L to R: Governor Crist, Attorney General McCollum, Chief Financial Officer Sink, Agricultural Commissioner Bronson, Kristen Thompson, Robyn Blum, Dr. Rayburn and Jeralyn Eckhoff
The students in Dr. Jay Rayburn’s Public Relations Management class partnered with Attorney General Bill McCollum to develop a media campaign and slogan for his cyber-crime initiative. The students’ SafeSurf campaign was adopted and launched April 17 at the Capitol.
“It’s always a useful opportunity for students to take the theory they learned in the classroom and put it into practice, especially on an issue as important as this,” Rayburn said. “I’m very proud of the students and pleased the Attorney General gave them the opportunity to help children and keep them from becoming victims of cyber-crime.
“Their work may well save a child’s life,” he said.
The students held several brainstorming sessions to create ideas for a Web site warning of the dangers of surfing the Internet. The plan they developed includes separate areas with information specifically for adults, teen-agers and children about how to surf the Internet safely.
This year, the Legislature passed the CyberCrimes Against Children Act of 2007 and Internet safety is one of the attorney general’s top priorities.
“The number of sexual predators using the Internet to target children is steadily on the rise,” McCollum said. “With this new bill, we will be making Florida a safer place to live, work and raise a family.”
The Web site is the first in McCollum’s campaign to reduce the number of Internet predators. He plans to expand the SafeSurf Web site to include information about online identity theft and Internet safety for senior citizens.