Teens tutor FBI in cyber-slang As undercover assignments go, posing as a teenage girl online to catch pedophiles has its share of challenges for the typical FBI agent. Should he ever capitalize words in instant messages? Is it okay to say you buy your clothes at 5-7-9? And what about Justin Timberlake? Is he still hot or is he so two years ago? For those investigative details, the FBI calls on Karen, Mary and Kristin — Howard County eighth-graders and best friends. During the past year, the three have been teaching agents across the country how to communicate just like teenage girls, complete with written quizzes on celebrity gossip and clothing trends and assigned reading in Teen People and YM magazines. The first time the girls gave a quiz, all the agents failed. “They, like, don’t know anything,” said Mary, 14, giggling. “They’re, like, do you like Michael Jackson?” said Karen, 14, rolling her eyes at just how out of it adults can be. Probably the youngest instructors ever in an FBI classroom, the girls have become an invaluable help to Operation Innocent Images — an initiative that tries to stop people from peddling child p*rnography or otherwise sexually exploiting children, FBI officials said. The Washington Post agreed to withhold the girls’ last names to protect them from harassment on the Internet and elsewhere. c1iX 1ink 4b0v3 f0r c0mp1373 4r7ic13 ---------
