From...

by Keith Perine

(IDG) -- The Justice Department is trying to save children before they turn into hackers.

With its $300,000 funding of the Cybercitizen Partnership, an awareness campaign coordinated by the Information Technology Association of America, the Justice Department assumes the unusual role of helping to educate budding Web users about how to be responsible, law-abiding surfers.

The Cybercitizen Partnership, announced in March, is a joint Justice-ITAA effort aimed at protecting the country's Internet infrastructure from outlaw hackers and other criminals. Faced with a security breach, law enforcement officials don't know at first if they're confronting a foreign terrorist, a college student or a couple of sixth-graders who are having some fun with Dad's computer. But an ITAA official said that, upon investigation, a surprising number of cases involve child hackers.

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The association says that information technology makes up about 6 percent of the global gross domestic product – some $1.8 trillion of electronic infrastructure that needs to be protected against disgruntled former employees, corporate spies and juvenile delinquents who like to pull pranks.

Figuring that it's too late to reform terrorists and spies, the ITAA decided to concentrate on the kids. The campaign, which debuts in January, will initially target children 12 and under, aiming to teach them proper online behavior and to instill a healthy disdain for hacking. The association wants to "help weed out some of the less meaningful system violations by curious children so that law enforcement can focus on the true criminals," says ITAA President Harris Miller.

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The cash infusion from the Justice Department is in keeping with a long tradition of government-sponsored public education campaigns, from the Interior Department's Smokey the Bear messages against forest fires to the Drug Enforcement Administration's "Just Say No" war on drugs.

Miller says the campaign could be expanded to educate kids about other aspects of proper Internet etiquette, such as warning them against sending spam – for kids, the modern-day equivalent of prank telephone calls – or visiting Web sites with adult content. The main focus of the campaign, however, will be to "send the message that hacking isn't cute, clever or funny." In addition to the funding from Justice, the ITAA also plans to pass the hat among its own membership, a who's-who list of the high-tech industry that includes Microsoft (MSFT) , America Online (AOL) and IBM (IBM) . The association will also seek funds from foundations and possibly from private individuals.

The association has sent out a request to several public relations companies for ideas on how to run the campaign, which might include television and Internet advertising, brochures and even visits to schools. One possibility under consideration: the creation of a mascot, like the famous McGruff crime dog, to pass the message along in a friendly manner.