National Center For Missing & Exploited Children And Sprint Make Learning About Online Safety Fun For Kids With Free New Game And Videos

New Content Featured on www.NSTeens.org Teaches Online Safety to Kids Ages 8 to 12

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) and Sprint (NYSE:S) announced today that their free Internet-safety site, www.NSTeens.org, has been expanded to help tweens (8-12 year olds) start the school year right. The new content available today includes:

• "Stop That Post…Again!" is a game where players race to stop friends and family from posting embarrassing information online. It is being made available for the Web, Android, and iOS devices.
• "Friend or Fake?" is the sixth animated video starring the NSTeens comic-book-style characters. It addresses the risks tweens face when meeting offline with people they first meet on the Internet. 
• "Teens Talk Back: Meeting Offline" is a video that features candid interviews with real tweens and teens discussing their thoughts about meeting people they know from the Internet in the real world. 

The new content, along with previous Internet-safety games and videos, is available for free at www.NSTeens.org. Additional topics covered on the site include cyberbullying, texting and online gaming. NSTeens videos include activity cards to help teachers build the videos into their lesson plans and open a dialogue with their students. All NSTeens content is available in English and Spanish.

"Our goal is to help kids understand the potential dangers and empower them to make smarter decisions about their online and offline behavior," said John Ryan, CEO of NCMEC. "With 1 in 25 youths having received an online sexual solicitation where the solicitor tried to make offline contact, information about privacy and meeting offline are a critical part of Internet safety education. We are grateful to Sprint for supporting that message."

Research indicates that children between the ages of 15 and 17 are most likely to take risks online involving privacy and contact with unknown people. NSTeens teaches a younger audience of tweens from 8 to 12 years old the skills they need to be safer on the Internet.

"Corporations have a vital role to play when it comes to ensuring our children have bright, safe futures," said Debby Ballard, director of Community Affairs for Sprint. "At Sprint, we believe it is our duty to make sure that our products and services are being used in the safest manner possible, particularly when in the hands of those who may be the most vulnerable. Together with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, we have reached millions of children across the country through NSTeens allowing them to learn and have fun at the same time."

NCMEC and Sprint launched www.NSTeens.org in 2007. The site is funded as part of Sprint's Internet safety initiative, 4NetSafety (www.4NetSafety.com), through Sprint's charitable phone-recycling program, Sprint Project Connect.  4NetSafety is an important part of Sprint Good Works, an initiative that encompasses Sprint's community and philanthropic outreach across the country.

NSTeens is part of NCMEC's successful NetSmartz Workshop (www.NetSmartz.org), one of the nation's most popular Internet safety resources.  NetSmartz Workshop offers free, research based materials designed specifically for children and serves as a resource for parents, educators, law enforcement, and others. 

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1984.  Designated by Congress to serve as the nation's clearinghouse, the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children's hotline which has handled more than 3,620,160 calls.  It has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 178,010 children.  The organization's CyberTipline has handled more than 1,564,510 reports of child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed and analyzed more than 72,751,290 child pornography images and videos.  The organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.  To learn more about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit its web site at http://www.missingkids.com/.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 56 million customers at the end of the second quarter of 2012 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The American Customer Satisfaction Index rated Sprint No. 1 among all national carriers in customer satisfaction and most improved, across all 47 industries, during the last four years. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in its 2011 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation's greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

SOURCE National Center for Missing & Exploited Children