With all the hand wringing about keeping teens safe online, it's nice to see some practical and sensible advice from one of the industry's leading authorities.

Hemanshu Nigam, the chief security office for Fox Interactive Media -- which operates MySpace -- has posted a blog item, It's New Year's Eve, Don't Stop the Dialogue, giving good advice for New Year's Eve or any other time of the year.

"It's New Year's Eve and your teen is all decked out and ready for a big party," he begins "She's got her iPhone, BlackBerry, or some other cell phone with a camera in her pocketbook. And she's ready to roll."

But then he asks, "Did you chat with her about all the photos that she and her friends will take with those gadgets? Photos that might have her kissing another girl on a dare, doing a shot with her best (boy)friend, flashing for the camera as the new year rings in."

Nigam, a former federal prosecutor who used to jail people who committed sex crimes, understands that Internet safety isn't just about predators and pornography. It's also about how kids behave online and offline.

He reminds parents to "start a conversation" and talk about how "MySpace, like the rest of the online world, is a public space." Kids should remember not to "post anything they wouldn't want the world to know (e.g., phone number, address, IM screen name, or specific whereabouts)." He also reminds us that "people aren't always who they say they are" and to "be careful about adding strangers to their friends list."

He also suggests that parents "encourage teens to be themselves, but to exercise the same basic safety principles they do in the physical world" which is very good advice.

You can read more on his blog.