S^. Yes, that’s right — I said: S^. If you’re not sure what the heck that means, then you’re just like millions of other parents out there who are wondering what language their children are typing. It figures: There’s an app for that!
A secret Internet language has emerged that puts even more distance between teens and their parents. It’s not a spoken language, but a written one that even uses pictures to describe emotion. Text, slang and emoticons make up the basis of this Internet language.

Some of it is as benign as me using terms like “radical” or “gag me with a spoon” in the ’80s. But some of it parents NEED to be aware of. If your child uses the % sign in a text, for example, he or she isn’t talking about math homework, but about being drunk. “LH6″ is soliciting sex, and “LH6O” is soliciting online sex.

While I’m not an advocate of spying on your children (unless they warrant spying, of course), I am about checking in and being informed. There’s a great new iPhone app called LRNtheLingo that explains and defines the Internet language you need to know. The application is simple to use: You can either view the list of texts, lingo and emoticons, or do your own search.

If you’re not sure what S^ means, try out the application. For $0.99, I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Last Friday afternoon, 11-year-old Jessica Leonhardt of Florida (who goes by “Jessi Slaughter” and “Kerligirl13″ on YouTube) was taken into police protective custody after her online celebrity became her downfall.

It all began when she posted a video wherein she said she was fed up with “haters” who continued to attack her online. She referred to them as “bitches” and said they were jealous of how pretty and popular she is. She even made reference to “popping a Glock” and “making a brain slushie” out of anyone who continued to harass her online.
At the time she made the video, Jessica said the online bullying didn’t faze her. But after that vlog went viral on StickyDrama (thanks to a group of trolls who had specifically targeted the self-proclaimed Internet celebrity), things got much worse. There were crank calls, prank pizza orders, hacked accounts and even death threats, according to Jessica’s mother, Dianne (who gave an exclusive interview to momlogic). Eventually, Jessica’s family became distraught, and Jessica and her father went online to fight back (with Jessica crying and her daddy screaming). This video became known as “You Dun Goof’d” and “The Consequences Will Never Be the Same,” and was mocked all over the Net.

In her momlogic interview, Dianne admitted to initially being unaware of the videos, and even said that she still has not seen them. She wants to believe her daughter and feels that her daughter is the victim of a horrible online campaign to destroy her. But never does Dianne talk about her role as a parent, or Jessica’s role in provoking the situation.

While I am definitely NOT condoning the trolls’ behavior, I feel that no 11-year-old (or any tween or teen) should be going online and making videos full of profanity and death wishes. (At one point, Jessica says she hopes that all haters will get AIDS and die.) When are we going to start talking about the real problem here? Why in the world does Jessi Slaughter (the online celebrity) even exist? She may be a very nice girl in the real world, but online she is a horrid young person who is full of herself (not an image I would want my own daughter to portray for the masses).

It’s hard, I know, to parent in a realm we were not parented in. We aren’t sure what questions we should be asking, or what rules we should be setting. I can’t control what other people do, but I can pay attention to what is going on in my own home. Jessica’s mom references the fact that all of Jessica’s friends have webcams, too, so she didn’t think it was a big deal … but what are they doing on the webcams is the real question. No, you can’t be with them 24/7, but has there ever been a question about what Jessica does online when her parents are not at home or are in the other room? Anyone checked the Web history lately?

We don’t let our children walk out the front door without asking them where they’re going, who they’re going with, what time they will be home and even what they’re wearing. I call it “My Father’s Famous Four Questions.” (I never went anywhere until he had the answer to those questions.) We need to be translating those same parenting skills to the cyberworld.

In the case of Jessica Leonhardt, the final question might be the most important: What is Jessi wearing? How is she presenting herself to the world online? Jessi attracted a kind of negative online attention that drew real-world consequences.

Life lesson here: Don’t let an 11-YEAR-OLD have free rein over the home computer and a webcam. Make sure the family computer is in a public place, and monitor what your kids are doing online. In this Internet age, it’s up to parents to protect kids from themselves.

Jessi Slaughter’s misery has brought much attention to the semi-popular tabloid site StickyDrama.

Once a personal blog chronicling news and scandals on social-networking sites such as Stickam, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, StickyDrama was initially best known for its reporting on various crimes — especially sex crimes. But in a post-Jessi Slaughter climate, the site has become known as a public forum for “trolls, lol-cows, criminals and camwhores.”

In a world of “scene kids,” StickyDrama has found its following. With more than 200,000 unique page views each month, the site reports on Internet celebrities and social-network gossip. Anyone can add a post anonymously or as a registered user, but the site’s owner only publishes what he believes to be true. He doesn’t allow nudity or anything that might offend the site’s advertisers. However, reposting text and video posts with your own commentary is definitely encouraged.

While the site is simple in its design, the content is meant to inform, shock and provoke action (sometimes positive, sometimes not). What I find most interesting is what the site is reporting on: Internet celebrities … people like Jessi Slaughter, who made a name for herself by posting webcam videos made in her bedroom that went viral. These are self-made celebrities! What teen doesn’t want to be famous? Just give them a webcam and a voice, and they could be. But beware: They may end up drawing the wrong kind of attention.

Are your kids on StickyDrama?

Click Here to watch Lori’s interview with Pat Harvey of CBS News, discussing how grown up cyber bullies are targeting more and more women across the country.

As Sexting, Cyber-bullying, and issues of predators become more prevalent, the law is attempting to keep up with the technology.  Currently, there are several cases being heard at all levels of the courts related to how to appropriately regulate everything from copyright to behavior on the net.

Last week the Supreme Court heard arguments in a California Sexting Case.  However, the real issue is not about Sexting, but how to interpret the 4th amendment when it comes to technology, in this case technology issued by the employer.

Sgt. Jeff Quon was issued a pager by the Ontario, CA. police department for the purpose of being able to communicate more efficiently with fellow officers and the department.  After Quon repeatedly exceeded his monthly messaging allowance, Quon’s boss retrieved a printout of the messaging history.  The history showed the majority of the pager’s use was not for internal communication but rather personal texting.  Many of the messages were highly sexual and sent to both his wife and mistress.

Quon was sanctioned and an official reprimand was put into his personnel file.  Quon and the people he was messaging sued, claiming that the department had no right to view the messages, as it was an invasion of his privacy.  Quon subsequently lost his case as the jury sided with the department claiming that the viewing of the messages stemmed from concerns over the cost.  A federal appellate court later disagreed.

So now it is in the hands of the Supreme Court.  Currently the court is leaning towards the side of the employer, however a final decision is expected by the end of June.

This decision will ultimately set a tone.  As of now how much privacy should we expect when it comes to the technology we use?  In a separate case a law suit has been filed against the Lower Merion School District, by a student who argues his privacy was invaded when his school issued laptop’s webcam was remotely activated by the technology coordinator and captured images of him in his home.  The school is claiming there was no expectation of privacy as the laptop was never supposed to be taken home and the student had failed to pay a required insurance fee.  The school district is claiming that the webcam was activated in order to locate what they believed to be a lost or stolen laptop.

One main difference between the two cases (beside the fact that we are talking about texts versus images) is that the Ontario Police Department had a policy in place that made officers aware that the technology issued to them by the department was subject to search (however it specified computers and not the pagers).  The Lower Merion School District did not make students or parents aware of the spyware installed in the laptops that could be remotely activated and capture images without the users knowledge.

Where do you weigh in?  How much privacy should be expected with technology that is owned by someone else?  Could this be applied to families (parents have the right to spy if they purchase the laptop or cell phone)?

Well you may not have but over 200,000 women across the world did and it was all because of one young woman, Jen McCreight. Jen is my kind of girl!  She is a self-proclaimed liberal, geeky, nerdy, scientific, atheist feminist! . While we may not share all of the same ideals and opinions, I have to admire her gumption and use of the Internet to rally the masses in participating in “Bookquake!”

When Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi accused provocatively dressed women of causing earthquakes, 22-year old Perdue Senior Jen McCreight decided to use her blog, Blag Hag and a Facebook Fan page to encourage women across the world to wear the most cleavage-showing shirts they own on Monday, April 26th, 2010 to test Sedighi theory. More than 200,000 worldwide were said to have participated in “Boobquake.”  The results, although not scientifically significant, actually showed a decrease in seismic activity that day.

Aside from being an entertaining story it reminds me of why I love the Internet and how although not everyone will agree with Jen’s antics you have to step back and appreciate how the Internet gave this young budding scientist a voice that reached across the world.

There are many days I write about the dark underbelly of the Internet; the predators, the bullies, the trolls.  But NOT today.  Today I was reminded of the positives; the access to information, enhanced communication, the ability for a young person’s voice to be heard. The net is a free-for-all at this point.  Hate speech finds its home right next to a young philanthropist’s attempt at making the world a better place.  It’s a big world, made even bigger by our ability to connect with people throughout this medium .  What matters most, is how we use it!

Click to listen: Lori on The Ryan Seacrest Show