Cyberangels branch out to aid victims of terrorist attacks...

When Parry Aftab agreed to take the reins of the volunteer organization Cyberangels in 1998, she said she would do so for only two weeks.

Then someone notified her of a child pornography Web site they felt should be reported. When she checked into it, she found a photo of a 3-year-old girl being raped. She cried at her computer and vowed she would continue to work with the group, which monitors the Internet and protects people from its misuse. Aftab, a New York attorney specializing in Internet and security and privacy law, is the author of "The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace" and executive director of Cyberangels (www.cyberangels.com). Here, she talks about her organization's work, which has recently expanded to help victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Q: You've been busy with some new programs involving the recent terrorist attacks. What are those programs?

A: One is a Family Match program, which has helped families of victims by tracking sites with information about victims and checking them for accuracy.

Or we can help by getting Internet information to victims' families who may not have access to the Internet.

Cyberangels also helps provide a layer of security for those families. Some of them were being harassed by people who e-mailed them saying they had found the person dead, or that they found an arm, or that they found them alive. But then the places they said they found them didn't exist or didn't check out.

Now those families can list our e-mail address, and we can screen what they receive, check out any reports that [victims] were found and then forward legitimate messages to the family. It also helps prevent people from misusing some of the victim information for identity theft.

Now that program is transitioning into another program. A lot of people want to adopt a victim's family for Christmas. Maybe they want to give the family gifts instead of giving each other gifts. So we are matching up families, but providing a layer of security between those wanting to help and those in need.

Q: Aside from the new programs, what types of efforts do you have?

A: We help to find missing children, and have returned about seven this year.

We help protect people from cyberstalking and cyberharassing. We also review Web sites and list them for age-appropriate groups. Through our Wired Kids program, we go out and teach Internet safety and work with Scouts. We have help channels that are open 24 hours a day that can assist people who maybe have been hacked or are having software problems. We have a counseling group for people who run into difficulties online, and we do a lot of educational programs --- running classes online. We teach about ethical surfing, law enforcement.

Our main three missions are education, help and security. But most know us for protecting people online, helping to prevent cybercrime such as fraud on senior citizens.

Q: What is a cyberhoax, as opposed to a cyberscam?

A: A cyberhoax is like an urban legend. It moves very fast. One recent one was a report of anthrax in regard to the recent terrorism. People were already going to doctors thinking they had the symptoms. But it wasn't true. We check those out and let people know if they are not true.

A cyberscam is a get-rich-quick scheme that often involves senior citizens or identity theft.

Q: How does your organization work?

A: We're totally volunteer. We have 10,000 volunteers in 76 countries. No one is paid, not even me.

Our oldest volunteer is 86; he lives in Mississippi. Our youngest is 18, which is the youngest we allow.

We have a whole lot of volunteers who are Southerners. We have stay-at-home moms who will put in 17 hours a day sometimes. All work on their own computers, wherever they are. We are not all in one big office.

Cyberangels was actually begun in 1995 by the Guardian Angels, the volunteers who patrol the subways and inner city streets to offer protection. I had been donating legal time, and Curtis [Sliwa, founder and president of the Guardian Angels] asked me to take it over for a while to take it to the next level. I came on in 1998.

Most of us are women, and it's like, when we had kids in school, we would hold bake sales to raise money for new uniforms. Or we would have uniforms donated, or we would take old uniforms and fix them for new uniforms. Basically you do what needs to be done, somehow.

Well, here it's like we are a whole bunch of bake-sale moms who decided we were going to make a difference in the world. I'm so proud of these people. I see their e-mails going out to people, and the love and care that goes back and forth, and I just sit and cry sometimes. We really are just recognizing that you can do anything if you try.

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution September 30, 2001 Sunday, Home Edition
Copyright 2001 The Atlanta Constitution; The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
Kids and Family: "Cyberangels branch out to aid victims of terrorist attacks; q&a," BY:SUSAN GAST