On Aug. 9th there’s going to be a wonderful Internet safety day held at New York’s City Hall. Admission is free. The day was created for all NYC parents, students, educators, and interested parties to share knowledge and learn more about the Internet world. At a recent press conference to launch the event, here are the comments I made:

As a NYC parent and as a technologist, I’m thrilled to see the city council taking such an active part in making Internet education a part of the agenda. For nearly 30 years I’ve been speaking to groups, saying that education is the single most important tool we can give our kids. Not only does their personal safety depend on it, but our entire economy depends on graduating Internet savvy digital citizens if we’re going to compete effectively in the next century.We’ve made lots of progress. Software and hardware companies have created a number of pretty good tools to help us protect our children. And just about every six-year-old can parrot the words, “Don’t give out your name to strangers on the Internet.”

But we’ve also learned that while stopping predatory behavior is critical, the kids have moved on to other dangerous territory as they master modern Internet phenomena like social networking, online shopping, IM, texting, and digital photography.

The wisdom of the crowds says that these kids are digital natives and they know the digital world inside out. I’m not so sure. Just because they can text, IM, join Facebook, take and post photos and videos, does not mean they understand. Though some call it digital DNA, I think that most kids know the digital world about as well as they know their own DNA—it works, but they couldn’t tell you why. Kids are risk takers and fearless explorers. They are not born technology experts. The same educational mindset we apply to sex, drinking, and drugs is the best defense against Internet tragedy: delay, moderate, and educate.

Thanks to the city council for picking up the gauntlet. If you make it the NYCyberSafety Summit, be sure to say hello.