AUGUSTA (AP) – Maine children are being offered new protections from Internet predators through a program called NetSmartz, which was introduced Tuesday by state law enforcement and education officials – and an animated figure called “Clicky.”

NetSmartz is being offered to schools at no cost to taxpayers through a partnership between the state and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Attorney General Steven Rowe said.

NetSmartz has a Web site with games, music and other activities to teach kids how to become more savvy in spotting and reporting online predators.

In addition, teachers will be offered workshops in October to help them bring Internet safety education into their classrooms, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said. There’s also a training component for parents and technology coordinators, said Gendron.

NetSmartz, which is available to all elementary, middle and high schools in the state, features the animated figure Clicky rapping and offering advice on how to spot Web users who use foul language, try to get strangers to meet them, send pornographic pictures or ask personal questions.

“We teach our children not to speak to strangers, but until now, we have not had the right tools to teach our children personal safety on the Internet,” Rowe said.

Unwanted sexual solicitations children can receive online frighten and distress children. They “have a lasting impact,” Rowe added.

A 2004 study that found nearly one in five young Internet users received an unwanted sexual solicitation during the previous year, but fewer than 10 percent of those solicitations are reported to authorities, state police Lt. Col. John Dyer said.

Dyer also noted that Maine’s Computer Crimes Task Force received 1,117 reports of child exploitation in 2003 and 2004, a 173 percent increase from 2001-02.

Letters inviting schools to participate went out Tuesday, and nearly a dozen schools had already signed on with the program. A pilot program was run in five middle schools last year.

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