Letter from Mid-West Tennessee Executive Director, Debra Roberson - August 2015

It’s Back To School time, and some of our volunteers are getting ready for their children and grandchildren to return to class. Many children will take with them personal devices such as smart phones, laptops and tablets. These devices have become indispensable tools in education and communication, but they also contain some risk if not used properly and securely.

Since these devices commonly have personal information on them, it is important to follow good safety practices to protect these devices. Please review these tips and share them with your family to promote the secure use of personal devices.

Back To School Tips for Device Owners:
■Use password protection on all personal devices such as iPads, iPods, tablets, laptops, and smart phones.
 ■Never leave your personal device unattended, especially in public areas.
 ■Do not share passwords with friends that could give them access to your personal information and social network accounts (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook).
 ■Avoid saving or sending unflattering or personal pictures of yourself or someone else on your personal devices. Once on the internet, these will live on indefinitely.
 ■If using someone else’s computer or personal device make sure you log off of all of your social networking accounts when finished and always respect their privacy as well.
 ■Familiarize yourself with and enable applications for locating lost or stolen devices, like Apple Find My iPhone and Google Device Manager. If your personal device is stolen, report it to your local police department.

At the Mid-West TN Chapter, we began a new fiscal year on July 1st.  We have numerous events scheduled in our 14 counties and hope all of our volunteers will participate in them.   If anyone has an event they would like for us to be a part of please give me a call.  We will send reminders and notifications through email.

Our August Monthly Volunteer Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, August 11, 2015 @ 5:00 pm @ the Weakley County Sheriff’s Department, 7951 Highway 22, Dresden, TN.   See you there!!!

Debra Roberson
Executive Director