Internet Safety

Warning: this post is not for the faint of heart. Do not read while drinking any fluids. Do not read if there are children in the room. Do not read it you are prone to apoplectic seizures. This is the email I wrote to the social worker this evening:

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Dear Diane,

We told him he was going to respite. He did not react like it was a big deal. It might not be for him, or it might come out later.

And now for the OTHER big news. Andrew and Brian told us, or rather made Frankie tell us, about something he did in WoW a while ago. A group of people in the game whom he knows are very nice and would never do anything bad approached him and asked him to accept a patch (a program that adds something to WoW). He did, because they were giving game money to people who accepted. He understood that this is against WoW rules and something for which WoW could cancel his membership. It's harmless though, and he needed the money, so he didn't see any reason for not doing it.

Andrew explained and Hubby explained that they could have downloaded ANYTHING and that it was possible that was why the computer had to go into the shop, that they could have downloaded a key-stroke spy program to get credit card numbers and that all our anti-spy protection would not stop it because he had authorized it. He said he understood but these were nice people who wouldn't do anything bad and we have programs that prevent things like that.

I told him that I had been fooled by people on-line before, that there were people who seemed nice and were not. He said he understood, but not these people.

He said that he knew what he did was wrong and he would remove the patch, and of course he could because these are nice people who told him where the patch is and of course they did not also download anything else that he did not know about.

Okay...now are you ready for the really bad part of this? Take a deep breath.

The nature of the patch is this. In WoW underwear is a permanent part of your character. You can't get naked. With the patch you can. Yep. A group calling themselves the "strip sisters" gave him virtual money to download a program that will allow him to virtually strip and walk around naked. On the up side (maybe) only other people who have the patch can see him in all his glorious nudity.

I told him that it was never a good idea in the real world or the virtual world to accept money for taking off your clothes. He said, "But I really needed money!"

May I take a moment to say "OH MY G-D!!!!"

Okay...I'm calm now. So....do you want to tell him he can't play anymore, or do you want me to ask the kids to tell me how to report him and the strip sisters to the WoW company? Hubby has decided to take out some of the old computers out of his classroom. We are going to bring one home and set it up for him -- no Internet connection. We will buy him one computer game that can be played off-line only.