FYI, I reached out to NCMEC about the missing pieces on the NetSmartz website last month. This was their reply.
You will have to contact the Boy Scouts directly and see what they would like you to do. We have notified the boy scout headquarters of the change to our site and that some of the items are no longer available. They have not updated their site yet.
Benjamin W. Allen
Outreach Manager, SAP
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
I know this Cyber Chip issue has caused much consternation, however, donât forget that National has introduced the Protect Yourself Preview adventures at every level of Cub Scouts and it is allowed to be used IN PLACE of the Cyber Chip requirements at that level.
We did this with our Tiger Den and it appears well thought out and was age-appropriate.
@ZacharyMcCarty
Protect yourself doesnât really have a cyber component, so they miss that, and if they use it in place of the cyber chip, they lose it as an option for their elective, so some devs may not want to do that.
I think the net smartz program is ok at best. The tone is fine, and age appropriate, but itâs already dated. Not that the BSA handling it in house would likely keep it more up to date, but the netsmartz stuff isnât stellar.
Why not just point to the top level and give instructions to navigate? Because the navigation is subject to change, which is exactly what has happened. The broken links currently redirect to the top level, and then itâs basically impossible to find the resources. Some of the resources donât actually exist anymore, like the interactive activities are now videos. The entire resources for educators section is down, and the pledge isnât on the site anywhere. How is the BSA supposed to give directions to navigate to those resources?
This is why the BSA really canât ask for specific activities if they are going to rely on a third party. At best they can say, âdo 4 activities or watch 4 videos from the section appropriate in age for your child, and sign the pledge at scouting.orgâ. Then just take it on the scouts honor. Mandating specifics is unreasonable, because there BSA had no control of the specifics, and the CFMEC isnât willing to work with them on keeping them up. If they want to use that website, they have to just defer.
The pledge is on the Cyber Chip card itself.
@MatthewWalters1 Understood. I just wanted to offer an alternative for those having much trouble with Cyber Chip and remind that this year there is an alternative pathway to help. My hope is that Protect Yourself preview may add some of the missing Cyber Chip components.
The Cyber Chip requirements and links in Scoutbook should be fixed now to match what is posted at:
https://www.scouting.org/training/youth-protection/cyber-chip/
This topic was automatically closed 7 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
© 2019 Boy Scouts of America - All Rights Reserved
