The Miss-Lou Regionalism Education Sub-Committee is sponsoring a public symposium titled “Your Kids and the Internet … Do you know what you need to know?”

This special event will be from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. today at the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center. The program will be conducted by the Louisiana Office of the Attorney General with Monica Ford, computer forensic examiner with the attorney general’s high technology crime unit presenting.

The Louisiana Office of the Attorney General, High Technology Crime Unit is home to the Louisiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The task force investigates, interdicts and prosecutes individuals who commit technology facilitated crimes against children.

Ms. Ford will discuss social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, touch upon identify theft and share cases prosecuted by the Office of Attorney General. Internet safety tips and suggestions will be presented and real life examples will detail what our children should and should not do while interacting with others online.

The Miss-Lou Regionalism Education Sub-Committee invites everyone who wants to know more about the Internet and the common activities children participate and are exposed to when online.

We particularly encourage parents, grandparents, guardians and educators to take the time to learn more about Internet social networking and what steps one can take to ensure the safety of our children.

Do you know what you need to know? We look forward to this very important and informative event and hope to see you there.

Mignonne Ater is a member of Miss-Lou Regionalism Education Sub-Committee.