<![CDATA[- NA -]]> <![CDATA[New Site Offers Free Parenting Advice & Software to Protect Families from Online Predators]]> New parenting advice web portal launched at http://www.kidsafe.com that offers free advice, consumer reports and free software to protect children from online predators.

 Children’s Educational Network (CEN) announced today the launch of their new website, Kid Safe.com to offer free parenting advice, tools and services. The website is designed to provide tools, information and resources to help busy parents in keeping their homes and families safe.

The website (http://www.kidsafe.com) provides product news and kid safety tips on topics such as swimming pools, high chairs, cribs and other every-day child oriented products, as well as discussing child service provider issues such as babysitter safety. The website also helps parents develop a kid safe approach to Internet safety, including a free Internet Filter, news and resources about stranger danger, Internet predators, blocking pornography and other vital cyber safety issues.
   
CEN recognized this gap as an opportunity to offer parenting advice and improve the quality of parents’ home and family lives, as well as helping to keep their children safe. A “parenting community website” was conceptualized and developed, featuring critical parenting information and vital parenting resources. With the launch of the new Kid Safe.com website, CEN has made these tips and resources for parents readily available in one convenient, fun and easy to use website.

In addition to providing information, links, downloadable consumer reports and software, the site features a forum board discussion area in which parents can interact together and talk about strategies and ideas that are effective in coping with parenting challenges. “We tried to build a platform that parents can use as a community resource. When you’re running full speed ten hours of the day at work, you don’t have much time to attend parenting clubs or meetings to learn about and discuss the information that’s out there.” said Greg Writer, CEO & founder of CEN.

“The Kid Safe (http://www.kidsafe.com) website and the discussion board in particular, are highly effective tools and parenting resources. We’ve provided parents a venue to get together and talk about the parenting issues and concerns they face without having to attend another meeting or leave the home to participate in a club.” Writer added. News and information articles added to the site will also be made available through RSS and Atom newsfeeds for parents who need their information resources on the go.

About Children’s Educational Network:
Children’s Educational Network (CEN) is building the premier, online community for children – “TUKI” ™, The Ultimate Kids’ Internet”™ http://www.tuki.com – specifically designed to provide a safe, fun and educational Internet experience only accessible through CEN’s TUKI Browsers. Currently offering Noah’s Net (A Christian Themed Kid Safe Browser www.NoahsNet.com ), The Scout Browser™ (A Scout Themed Kid Safe Browser www.Scoutbrowser.com ) and The TUKI Browser (www.TUKI.com). In all themed browsers, “TUKI’s” core function is to protect children from pornography, hate, violence, online predators and inappropriate content on the Internet while also offering fun, educational content that inspires and motivates children in a positive manner. CEN offers its Kid Safe Browser for free and allows other organizations to participate in protecting kids on the Internet, expanding their brand to the desktop and building customer loyalty by co-branding and private labeling CEN’s technology.

Partnership information or press contacts: http://www.childrenseducationalnetwork.com Children’s Educational Network, 760-233-2863.

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]]> <![CDATA[Kid Safe Email Helps Protect Children Offered By Children’s Educational Network]]> The TUKI Browser™ Software Educates, Entertains and Protects Children & Families – Gives Kids Safe Email Interface

Escondido, CA (PRWEB) May 12, 2006 -- Children’s Educational Network (CEN) announced today that their kid safe email system, bundled with their free Internet filter and parental control software (a kid safe browser) designed to protect and educate children on the Internet, provides children with the ability to utilize email capabilities in a safe, locked-down environment as part of their premium TUKI Kids Club Membership.

The TUKI Browser™ (http://www.TUKI.com) created by CEN is a kid safe browser designed to educate and protect children from pornography, hate, violence, online predators and other Internet perils by allowing kids to send and receive email messages only with parent-approved buddies, preventing unsolicited SPAM emails. It also prevents them from corresponding with people that parents don’t approve of or know about, and helps prevent children from giving out personal information about themselves, family members or to use inappropriate language.

The Internet provides a great opportunity for children to develop social skills via email. Parents want their children to be Internet savvy and learn netiquette at an early age. TUKI kid safe email offers a complete email system that was designed to be interactive, fun and educational at the same time, which encourages children to want to use the system and develop good email habits from day one.

Most children, by at least the age of 10, have an email account of some form, many of which are provided by the typical free web-based services. These accounts fill up quickly with unwanted SPAM, many of it is very adult and inappropriate for children in its content. Parents want to protect their children from being exposed to these too mature, and disturbing messages, as well as protect their expensive computer investments from the viruses and other mal-ware that is frequently attached to SPAM messages.

According to www.spam-filter-review.toptenreviews.com’s 2006 statistics, 40% of all email sent is considered SPAM, 12.4 billion SPAM emails are sent daily, 2,200 SPAM messages are received annually per person and, this is the really scary one…SPAM is expected to increase 63% in 2007.

Free download of the TUKI Browserâ„¢ can be found at www.TUKI.com, and once downloaded, parents can quickly and easily upgrade their service to allow their children to experience an appropriate, educational and fun kid safe email interface made just for them.

About Children’s Educational Network:
Children’s Educational Network (CEN) is building the premier, online community for children – “TUKI” ™, The Ultimate Kids’ Internet”™ http://www.tuki.com – designed to provide a safe, fun and educational Internet experience only accessible through CEN’s TUKI Browsers. “TUKI’s” core function is to protect children from pornography, hate, violence, online predators and inappropriate content on the Internet and offering fun, educational content that inspires and motivates children in a positive manner. http://www.childrenseducationalnetwork.com Children’s Educational Network, 760-233-2863.

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]]> <![CDATA[Free Internet Filter & Parental Controlled “TUKI Scout Browser™” Launched]]> The New TUKI Scout Browser™ Launched To Educate, Entertain and Protect Children & Families Online.

Escondido, CA (PRWEB) May 5, 2006 -- Children’s Educational Network (CEN) announced today the launch of a free Internet filter and parental control software (a kid safe browser) designed to protect and educate children on the Internet. The new TUKI Scout Browser™ (http://www.scoutbrowser.com) created by CEN is a kid safe browser designed to educate and protect children from pornography, hate, violence, online predators and other Internet perils.
   
The web is full of hazards and traps, take the example boyslife.com, a pornographic website with a name similar to the Boys’ Life Magazine website www.boyslife.org. Children looking for the official web site of Boys’ Life Magazine site could easily make a mistake and be directed to the pornographic content. This new kid safe browser will help protect scouts from accidentally stumbling across such inappropriate content.

Steven Stone, Chief Operations Officer for CEN, a parent and Eagle Scout said, “When we found that boyslife.com was a pornographic web site, we decided we should build a browser designed just for Scouts to make sure that kids could safely navigate to the magazine’s web site without the worry of stumbling across porn.”

The new TUKI Scout Browser™ is built on CEN’s proprietary technology; however, it is not authorized nor associated with Boy Scouts of America or Girl Scouts of America. “We tried to capture the essence of the Scouting experience,” said Greg Writer, CEO & founder of CEN. “The graphical interface, our educational talking character and the pre-approved child appropriate web sites were all selected and programmed with the Scouting experience in mind.”

In an effort to further protect children, CEN has programmed the default home page of the TUKI Scout Browser™ to www.BoysLife.org and has launched a marketing campaign in Boys’ Life Magazine, the official magazine of the Boy Scouts, where they are offering a free download for the new kid safe browser.

“The TUKI Scout Browser™ will provide a safe haven for children surfing the Internet, be positive, instructive and deliver daily educational content to children and their parents in an effort to teach proper Internet safety rules and netiquette,” said Writer. “We are extremely excited to offer a great tool free to all Scouts and their families.”

The new TUKI Scout Browser™ will utilize technology that allows children to surf only safe, parent-approved, child-appropriate websites. Unlike a traditional Internet filter or parental controls, the TUKI Scout Browser™ works on an ‘include list’ which allows children to only surf web sites from a database of pre-approved, pre-screened, child appropriate websites which is, “the safest and most reliable method according to industry experts,” said Writer. A great kid safe browser with easy to use parental controls.

The technology allows parents a great deal of personalization, permitting them to customize its interaction with their children and tailor their Internet experiences. It works with any Internet Service Provider and is built on the Microsoft Windows Operating System and Internet Explorer Platform. The kid safe browser and basic safety features are free.

A unique feature to the TUKI Scout Browser™ is that it utilizes Microsoft Corporations (NasdaqNM: MSFT) MS Agent technology. Using this technology, CEN has incorporated “Peedy” the bird, a 3D-animated cartoon character as the child’s “Internet guide.” This animated cartoon character will guide their personalized Internet experience while using the TUKI Scout Browser™. The character speaks out loud, enabling even children too young to read to participate. Parents also have the unique ability to program Peedy to speak “words of encouragement” and “chore reminders” to their children in addition to random educational trivia that is spoken to the children while surfing the web.

Free download of the TUKI Scout Browserâ„¢ can be found at www.ScoutBrowser.com.

About Children’s Educational Network:
Children’s Educational Network (CEN) is building the premier, online community for children – “TUKI” ™, The Ultimate Kids’ Internet”™ http://www.tuki.com – specifically designed to provide a safe, fun and educational Internet experience only accessible through CEN’s TUKI Browsers. Through each themed browser, “TUKI’s” core function is to protect children from pornography, hate, violence, online predators and inappropriate content on the Internet while also offering fun, educational content that inspires and motivates children in a positive manner. CEN offers its Kid Safe Browser for free and allows other organizations to participate in protecting kids on the Internet, expanding their brand to the desktop and building customer loyalty by co-branding and private labeling CEN’s technology. Partnership information or press contacts: http://www.childrenseducationalnetwork.com Children’s Educational Network, 760-233-2863.

DISCLAMER
The TUKI Scout Browserâ„¢ is not authorized by, or associated in any manner with, the Boy Scouts of America or the Girl Scouts USA. The views and positions expressed on www.scoutbrowser.com do not necessarily reflect the policies or positions of the Boy Scouts of America or the Girl Scouts USA and the TUKI Scout Browserâ„¢ does not claim in any way to speak for or on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America or the Girl Scouts USA.

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]]> <![CDATA[“Homeschool.com Joins Internet Safety Crusade”]]> San Diego – March 21st, 2006,  CA. - San Diego, Ca. based Children's Educational Network (CEN) and Auburn, Ca. based Homeschool.com announced today a Joint Venture agreement for CEN to create a Homeschool.com TUKI Kid Safe Browser.  This new browser will have a built in Internet filter and parental controls designed to protect children from the perils of the Internet, built on CEN’s proprietary technology that allows children to surf only safe, parent approved, child appropriate web sites.  Unlike a typical filter, this browser works on an "include list" methodology that is considered by industry experts to be the safest and most reliable methodology available today.

"We are very happy to partner with CEN to protect children from pornography, hate, drugs, violence & online predators while embracing a family’s dedication to education.  The educational aspects are endless and we our proud to be a part of Children’s Educational Networks mission to protect and educate children online.” Said Rebecca Kochenderfer, co-founder of Homeschool.com.

“The Homeschool.com Kid Safe TUKI Browser will provide a safe haven for children surfing the Internet, be positive, instructive and deliver daily educational content to children and their parents in an effort to teach proper Internet safety rules and netiquette” said Greg Writer, CEO and founder of Children’s Educational Network.  “I am extremely excited to have forged this alliance with the number one home schooling site on the Internet.  With our strategy to offer educational content in addition to protection we feel that this partnership will allow us to continue to be the leader in Internet safety and education.  It is very exciting to have such an incredible partner embrace our vision to build “The Ultimate Kids’ Internet™” built on safety and education”.

The Homeschool.com Kid Safe TUKI Browser will be offered as a free download from the web site http://www.homeschool.com and will be officially launched in July 2006.  The browser and safety features offered for free will be bundled with educational content and a closed filtered buddies-only email system that incorporates personal information filters and language filters to help prevent children from giving out their personal information and using inappropriate language.  These premium features, along with many others, are part of Children’s Educational Networks “TUKI Kids Club” and are offered for a monthly fee of $4.97.  TUKI TV™, TUKI Tunes™, TUKI Moola™ and other premium features are currently under development and will be part of the TUKI Kids Club Membership.

About Children’s Educational Network:

Children’s Educational Network (CEN) is building the premier, online community for children – “TUKI” ™, The Ultimate Kids’ Internet”™ – specifically designed to provide a safe, fun and educational Internet experience only accessible through CEN’s TUKI Browsers. Through each themed browser, “TUKI’s” core function is to protect children from pornography, hate, violence, online predators and inappropriate content on the Internet while also offering fun, educational content that inspires and motivates children in a positive manner. CEN offers its TUKI Kid Safe Browser for free and allows other organizations to participate in protecting kids on the Internet, expanding their brand to the desktop and building customer loyalty by co-branding and private labeling CEN’s technology.

Partnership information or press contacts: Children’s Educational Network, http://www.ChildrensEducationalNetwork.com 760-233-2863.

About Homeschool.com

Homeschool.com is the #1 homeschooling site and one of the top 45 sites on the Internet, according to Forbes magazine. With over 2 million visits a year, Homeschool.com offers information, products and support to new and experienced homeschoolers around the world.  Homeschool.com, http://www.Homeschool.com  530-887-1684.

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]]> <![CDATA[Cyber Bullies – What You And Your Kids Need To Know Now!]]>
Cyber bullying takes what used to be schoolyard insults, pushing, and shoving to a whole new, expansive, and very dangerous level. The cyber bully uses email, chat rooms, instant messaging, cell phones and text messaging to insult, demean, threaten, humiliate, harass, deceive, impersonate, and in many cases, posts lewd or embarrassing photographs online of their peer - while hiding behind a veil of anonymity that the Internet provides. On the middle school level, typical insults include comments like “U R ugly, U R fat, U R a liar, Nobody likes you”, however when kids reach 13, the comments are often sexual in nature, include profanity and detail true or untrue reports of promiscuity. Photos, which are sometimes altered, and video from cell phones are posted in emails and on familiar file sharing sites such as Myspace.com, Xanga.com, LiveJournal.com, Blogger.com, and others. Even poor childish choices such as when a student puts up a website devoted to posting pictures of the ugliest or fattest kids in school, or when a 7th grade girl in Manhattan posted a video that a boy sent her of him serenading a song to her to her because he liked her and she didn’t like him back. It just seemed like a joke to her, that is, until it ended up being laughed at all over the Net. Needless to say, this young boy was devastated.

Unlike the schoolyard bully, these attacks aren’t by some scary kid wanting to push his weight around. They can be by anyone or no one that the child knows. Tragically, it’s sometimes by someone that the child thought was a friend. And unlike the schoolyard bully, a cyber bully can be comprised of one or many kids and by the time the posting hits the Net, literally thousands, if not millions of people have seen it, if it’s been shared around the world. And unlike the schoolyard bully, the cyber bully hits their victim in the sanctity of their own home or bedroom – where they feel that they can’t escape.

Suzanne Stanford, CEO of My Internet Safety Coach (http://www.myinternetsafetycoach.com) , notes: “Often, kids are afraid to tell their parents for fear that their computer will be taken away or that their parents will make the situation worse. What they don’t realize is that unless the bullying stops immediately, it can escalate and leave permanent psychological scars. That’s one of the reasons Ms. Stanford recommends Children’s Educational Network’s FREE Internet Filter and Parental Control software and there TUKI Browser (available at http://www.TUKI.com and a Christian Version at http://www.noahsnet.com ). Kids need to know how to navigate safely within this environment, so they’ll know how to prevent and protect themselves from these situations. Additionally, we make it very clear to kids who might want to engage in this type of activity, that there are severe personal consequences to their behavior. For example, we want them to consider “before” they make poor choices that whatever is posted on the Net is there forever, and as much as they may regret later that they did this to someone, the damage is done and irreversible.” Experts in the field state that victims of these crimes suffer psychological trauma requiring professional help, have had to move to other schools, their mental state has resulted in their grades dropping to such a degree that they cannot qualify for college upon high school graduation; many are afraid to form close relationships with new people; and in more severe cases, suicide or murder has resulted. These are not just childhood pranks. These are serious crimes, and several states are enacting laws, such as Florida, making these emails felonies. In Pennsylvania, cyber bullying, harassment and stalking carry stiff jail sentences and fines for those convicted.
Cyber bullies need to realize that they may be able to hide from their victims behind screen names, but they cannot hide from law enforcement. Mark Franek, Dean of Students at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, explained the process very well: “Each time the Internet is accessed, an IP (Internet Protocol) address is established. The 12 numerals punctuated by the 3 periods is the electronic fingerprint that can be accessed by the authorities to trace all electronic communications between computers and/or mobile phones. No computer or mobile phone – or its user – is really anonymous in cyberspace.”

According to a survey conducted in June of 2000 by The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on 1,500 children aged 10-17, 1 in 17 youths had been threatened or harassed over the Internet and about one-third of those found the incidents extremely distressing. A study in Britain in 2004 by NCH, a British children’s charity, found that 1 in 4 students had been bullied online. According to a CBS 2 (television) Special Report, conducted in 2005, more than 50% of 4-8th grade students have been bullied online. A recent nationwide survey of children and pre-teens by i-Safe America found that 57% of kids in grades 4-8 said someone had said hurtful or angry things to them online, 13% "quite often"; 53% admitted to saying mean or hurtful things to others, 7% "quite often"; 35% had been threatened online, 5% "quite often"; 42% had been bullied online, 5% "quite often"; and 58% had not told their parents or another adult about receiving mean or hurtful comments. In the UK, 33% of 9-to-19-year-olds who use email, chat, IM, and/or text messaging phones at least once a week "have been sent nasty or hurtful messages, and only 4% of parents say their child's been bullied online, according to very recent research from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

The Internet and cell phones have become, in large part, the fabric of the social lives of tweens and teens. As such, they are prime targets for this kind of attack. The first thing kids need to understand about Instant Messaging, and blogs (web logs) or live journals, is that the more personal information you give someone, the more it can be used against you by not only those whom you wanted to read it, but by others whom you didn’t. Whenever you type something online and press “send”, you have just given up your privacy. Additionally, people online will pose to be people they aren’t for purposes of deception and in many cases, to commit crimes – often stealing someone’s identity in the process.

Some helpful tips for kids and teens regarding Cyber Bullying:
• Know that there are ALWAYS people available to help you that will make cyber bullies stop. These people are law enforcement; your school teacher, school counselor, principal; your parents or a nurturing, responsible adult; Cyber crime reporting sites such as: www.cybertipline.org, www.wiredsafety.net, www.KidSafe.com and safety@worldkids.net.
• Don’t give out any personal information such as your name, your school’s name or the name of any of the sports teams in which you play, your home telephone or cellular phone number, your address-- including the city where your other parent lives if they are divorced, your parent’s office address, or the address of your school.
• Don’t ever use your real name as your user or screen name.

If you find that you are a victim of cyber bullying:
• Do not respond to the harassers directly because that is exactly what they want. Don’t give them the pleasure of knowing that you’re upset by it -- Stay cool.
• Save and print out all messages – DO NOT ERASE THE EMAILS.
• Report this crime to the police. If possible, report it as it is happening.
• Take notes: State the name of the harassers, if you know it, and all the details about the incident(s)
• If you are afraid to call the police, email a report of the incident(s) to cyber crime reporting sites such as: www.cybertipline.org, www.wiredsafety.org, or safety@worldkids.net.

REMEMBER: YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF YOUR ONLINE EXPERIENCE. IT IS UNACCEPTABLE FOR YOU TO BE VERBALLY ABUSED OR THREATENED

If you want to BLOCK USERS from contacting you via email, do the following:
• Look for the “Block” button. Sometimes it is in your Inbox.
• You block someone by highlighting or checking the box next to their email and then clicking on the Block button. When you do this, all the emails form the address you blocked will not go through to your Inbox.
In Outlook Express, you go to a “Blocked Senders List”. To do this, do the following:
Click on:
• “Tools”
• “Message Rules”
• “Blocked Senders List”
• Click on “Add”
• Type in the persons email address in the box, or right click on the name of the person in your contact list.
• Click either “Mail Messages” to block only emails; “News Messages”, if you want to block communication from a news group or someone in a newsgroup; or “Mail and News Messages”, to block the persons personal email and communication via the news group.
If you’re still getting messages from someone who is harassing you online, after you do the above, change your email address.

It’s an unsettling thought for any parent to think that their child may be a victim of a Cyber Bully, or be one. As difficult as it may be to consider, parents and teachers alike need to talk about this subject at home and in the classroom. We need to raise awareness of this issue and be pro-active. At present, lawmakers are drafting laws to prevent and prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes. Education, Vigilance, and strict laws are key in disarming bullies.

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]]> <![CDATA[TUKI - The Ultimate Kids’ Internet - What's It All About]]>
Most everyone with children has either experienced first hand or knows someone with children who have stumbled across negative content (either innocently or intentionally). The Kid Safe Browser is designed to give parents the ability to have a say as to what their kids are looking at. Parents are given the tools to either delete or add (pre-approve) websites that they deem appropriate or inappropriate.

TUKI is the acronym for “The Ultimate Kids’ Internet” (http://www.TUKI.com) and this is the membership portion of the their service which offers many premium features. The one very important and meaningful benefit for you and your family is the educational aspect of the Kid Safe Browser. Management of the Company are committed to not only protecting children with technology but also offering educational messaging to teach children the ins and outs of being a responsible, safe web surfer.

This educational messaging is a real powerful feature that we found with TUKI and could not find any other Internet filter or parental control software that also offered an educational aspect.

The Kid Safe Browser gives access to thousands of pre-approved (by teachers and parents) websites that can be surfed (NASA, Nickelodeon, Disney etc.). If a child tries to go to a website that has not been pre-approved the browser displays a message that reads: “This website is not in the ‘Approved List’.

Parents can then decide whether or not that site is acceptable for their child to visit and choose to add it if meets their approval. There is also a “Internet Protection Lockdown” feature that prevents the user from exiting the Kid Safe Browser and entering another browser (AOL, Netscape, IE etc.) that allows access to potentially controversial websites.

Yet, another concern for Parents is that they might receive unsolicited (spam) email. As part of the TUKI membership kids are issued a spam free and safe email account. Again, parents are given the keys to their children’s email box so to speak. Parents pre-approve who the child can send and receive email from. Parents can also add key words (to an already existent ‘Ban List’ that a child cannot send out via email & chat. For instance, a child would be prevented from giving out private information such as a home address, home phone number, school name or sports team or any other bit of information that a parent might feel would compromise their privacy or safety.

Other features of the TUKI membership are “Chore Reminders” and “Encouraging Words”. Since each browser has it’s own (themed) animated talking Internet Guide, (The Noah’s Net Browser has Noah – The Mindstein Browser has Professor Mindstein) Parents can dictate some of the things that the Internet Guide will pop up and say; “Mandy – did you feed Fido today?” “Billy, Your Mommy loves you so much!”

For the most part, the Kid Safe Browser is pretty easy to use. Mostly, your kids will love the talking animated characters; the many games included with the software, and homework sites that make keeping with their schoolwork easier. Meanwhile, you will love the fact that you can sleep at night knowing you’ve taken action in preventing your child form being exposed to sites and sounds that he or she shouldn’t.

As a child advocate I recommend everyone to take action and get this new free Internet filter and parental controlled Kid Safe Browser. To get your own Kid Safe Browser visit http://www.tuki.com and download your very own Kid Safe Browser.

Features at a Glance:
• Fully capable Web browser with parental control over websites that children can surf.
• Ability to ban potentially objectionable words
• Options to approve which buddies your child can communicate with
• Chore Reminders
• Encouraging Words feature
• Talking animated character, emails and instant messaging

System Requirements:
• Windows 98/ME/XP Home or Professional
• Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher (included with installation)
• Internet Connection at 56K or faster
• 133 MHz Processor
• 64 MB RAM
• 10 MB free disc space
• Sound card and speakers]]>