Westfield Student Warns Peers About Internet Dangers

WESTFIELD, NJ - It started with a casual observation Westfield High School senior Nathan Gotz about his peers that snowballed into a website designed to raise awareness for internet safety.

"Younger adults usually understand internet safety. I noticed that younger children who get internet devices at a young age don’t take risks into account when using the internet," Gotz told Patch. "Internet safety is almost never talked about in schools. I also noticed that older generations who haven’t grown up with this technology may also be a little behind on internet safety."

Gotz said that after noticing the lack of awareness in the Westfield community of the dangers of the internet, he devoted his senior project to solving it.

"Earlier in the year, I did a project on how online corporations such as Facebook and Google sell user data without users permission," he said. "For my senior project, I wanted to do a similar topic, and I wanted to do something that would benefit my community."

For the project, he created an informative website touching on different aspects of the internet dangers.

"I strongly suggest visiting my website, and becoming a safer internet user," Gotz said.

The site is broken down into segments:

• Articles, with links to stories about internet risks
• Videos, explanatory items on various web safety topics
• Tips and Trick, a guide to common ploys to avoid

Forum, a place to converse with other users and share information on internet safety

"So far, people who have visited my website have found it very educational, and have learned at least one new thing. I am hoping for an even better response once more people visit the website," Gotz said. "I hope to educate whoever visits my website. My goal is to make everybody a safer internet user, and help users prepare for any problems they may run into."

You can see the website yourself here.

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