Online teens still 2 SMRT 4U: Postal Inspection Service extends Internet safety campaign

2 SMRT 4U, an Internet safety campaign for teens, con­tinues to exceed expectations and will be extended through Fiscal Year 2007.

Launched last November, the partnership between the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children now has reached more than 80 countries. Teens have ordered nearly 300,000 of the 2 SMRT 4U stainless-steel rings, and surveys tally excellent campaign feedback. Best of all, 68 percent of teen girls reported changing their online behavior as a result of the campaign.

Teens visiting the www.2smrt4u.com Web site get online safety tips from Hayden Panettiere, star of NBC’s Heroes, and can report inappropriate conduct on the Inter­net. The Postal Inspection Service has investigated obscenity offenses since the 1800s, but has focused par­ticular attention on child exploitation since the passage of the Sexual Exploitation of Children Act of 1977. Today, nearly all such cases involve the Internet, as well as the U.S. Mail.