• Cybertraps for Expecting Moms and Dads
  • Cybertraps for the Young
  • Cybertraps for Educators
  • Obscene Profits
  • The Decency Wars
  • American Privacy
  • The Court and The Cross
  • The Naked Employee
The Cybertraps Series

The Cybertraps Series

Whether you are a young adult, teacher, parent, or just curious about the impact of your digital footprint, read Cybertraps to stay in the know of how technology can do significant harm to you, now and in the far future. While the world focuses on privacy data and how this affects us as a society, nationally-recognized cybersecurity and legal expert Frederick S. Lane delves deeply into how technology impacts us all at the most personal and intimate levels.

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The Cybertraps Podcast

The Cybertraps Podcast

This twice-weekly podcast features a live current-events discussion and interview with experts from the fields of cybersafety, cybersecurity, education, technology, and more!

Hosted by Jethro Jones and Frederick Lane.

Live shows Mondays at noon eastern.

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The Cybertraps Newsletter

The Cybertraps Newsletter

If you are interested in the cybertraps discussed on this web site and on "The Cybertraps Podcast" (https://link.cybertraps.com/ApplePodcast), you'll definitely want to subscribe to The Cybertraps Newsletter.

Subscribers get weekly email updates on emerging cybertraps. Paid subscribers get access to the newsletter archives, online copies of Frederick Lane's Cybertraps series, and other exclusive benefits. Subscribe now!

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Cyberpsychologists Link Number of Facebook Friends to Teen Stress Levels

Given the growing importance of technology in our world, it shouldn’t come as a surprise when the cyber- prefix invades another academic discipline. And yet, as I researched this blog post this morning, I was a little startled to realize just how long psychologists have been working the field of cyberpsychology. For the uninitiated, cyberpsychology…

“What Was She Thinking?” Australia Teacher Gives Student USB with Explicit Selfies

Over the last couple of years, I’ve dived deeply into the topic of teacher misconduct. The cases I’ve studied and summarized have ranged widely, from the merely sad to the reprehensible to the truly horrifying. One thing is abundantly clear: we need to improve teacher candidate education and professional development to better instruct educators about…

Reclaiming the Conversation: It’s Not “Revenge Porn,” It’s “Electronic Sexual Assault”

The annual conference of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) is being held in Washington, DC this week, and as usual, it is has been an energizing and thought-provoking experience. FOSI Founder and CEO Steven Balkam and his staff do a terrific job of putting together a compelling slate of presentations on some of the…

UT Teacher Arrested for Possession of Child Pornography, Reveals Disturbing Fantasies

Over the past six months, the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force conducted an investigation into the online activities of Jeffrey Thomas Patterson, a seventh-grade science teacher at the West Hills Middle School in West Jordan, Utah (a suburb of Salt Lake City). On Wednesday, November 4, law enforcement officials executed a search warrant…

Cybertraps for Educators: Legal & Professional Risks of the Digital Age [Lecture]

2015-11-11 Cybertraps for Educators [webinar] from Frederick Lane An online presentation for the Independent Schools Association of the Central States on November 11, 2015. If you are interested in discussing a presentation or professional development program for your organization on this topic, please contact me for information regarding my rates and availability.

9th Grade Students Bust FL Teacher for Watching Porn in Classroom

On Wednesday, October 28, a freshman at Mulberry High School in Mulberry, FL approached her teacher’s desk to ask a question about classwork that had been assigned. As she neared Vadi Velez-Gonzalez’s desk, she could see his iPhone lying face-up on his desk, and was shocked to see it displaying images of adult gay pornography.…

RIP, Betamax: No Happy Ending for First Consumer Videocassette Format

Japanese electronics manufacturing firm Sony made official a marketplace decision rendered nearly thirty years ago: By March 2016 (if not sooner), Sony will stop manufacturing all Betamax video cassettes. The news marks the end of a 40-year run for a video-recording format once hailed as a market leader in picture quality (so much so, in…

PA Teacher Convicted of Offering to Trade Students Good Grades for Nude Photos

State College, PA has had its share of unpleasant headlines recently (see, e.g. “Sandusky, Jerry“). Now come reports that Wesley Amy, a State College Area High School computer science teacher, has been convicted by a jury of offering students good grades in exchange for nude photos. The 28-year-old educator began teaching computer science at the…

Teaching Digital Citizenship to Digital Natives [Lecture]

2015-11-03 Teaching Digital Citizenship to Digital Natives from Frederick Lane A Featured Presentation delivered at the Schools of the Future Conference in Honolulu, HI on November 3 and 4, 2015. If you are interested in discussing a presentation or professional development program for your organization on this topic, please contact me for information regarding my…

IL Teacher Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault on Two Students; Colleagues Charged for Cover-Up

A long-time Chicago middle school teacher, who sparked an international manhunt after fleeing sexual assault charges, was sentenced on Thursday, November 5, to 50 years in prison. “You earned every day of it,” Judge Daniel Shanes told 42-year-old Michael Vucic, an 18-year veteran at Gavin South Middle School in Ingleside, IL. An arrest warrant was…