Hello. The Secretary of State's office now houses a tool that can help parents protect children and teens when they are on their electronic devices. We are hoping libraries will consider sharing the article below with your patrons via library websites and newsletters. Attached is the logo and a photo if you'd like to include them. Much thanks! Parents have new tool to protect children and teens With cell phones and the Internet, today's kids have an easy connection to the outside world. It's like a huge playground without a fence and that makes protecting kids so much harder. The reality of the digital world is that children and teens are regularly inundated with electronic advertisements promoting alcohol, tobacco, pornography and gambling. The companies behind these ads are increasingly using text messaging as their marketing strategy of choice, though they often don't know the age of the recipients. Thankfully, parents now have some help to stop these ads. The Michigan Child Protection Registry offered through the Michigan Secretary of State's office is a free service that blocks adult ads from reaching emails, mobile phones and Instant Messenger IDs belonging to children and teens. Similar to the federal Do Not Call List, the Michigan Child Protection Registry is a free do-not-contact service for Michigan residents. Signing-up takes only seconds and the information entered is kept secure and private. Protect your child today. Cathleen Simlar Cathleen P. Simlar Communications Specialist, Executive Office Michigan Department of State Office: (517) 373-9080 Cell: (248) 761-7145 Email: Simlarc@michigan.gov<mailto:Simlarc@michigan.gov> Join My Professional network on LinkedIn<blocked::http://www.linkedin.com/pub/cathleen-simlar/18/798/235> [Description: Description: Description: SOS logo small] <http://www.michigan.gov/sos> STAY CONNECTED: [Description: Description: Description: Facebook logo]<http://www.facebook.com/MichiganSoS> [Description: Description: Description: Twitter logo] <https://twitter.com/michsos> [Description: Description: Description: YouTube logo] <http://www.youtube.com/michsosoffice> [Description: Description: Description: GovDelivery logo] <https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/MISOS/subscriber/new>
