The story of a 16-year-old Michigan honor student who ran away to the Middle East to be with a man she met via MySpace.com is the latest cautionary tale about the potential dangers confronting teens on the Internet. While her story has gotten a lot of attention, she’s certainly not the only teen making risky choices. Research conducted by Cox Communications in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) found that 14% of teens have had face-to-face meetings with people they met on the Internet, while a third said they were considering such an encounter. The positive and negative ways teens use the Internet will be the focus of a Teen Summit on Internet Safety next week in D.C. Teens participating in the summit, sponsored by Cox’s Take Charge program and NCMEC and hosted by children’s advocate John Walsh, hail from Cox communities nationwide. They’ll discuss the indispensable uses of the Internet in their education and social lives, but also the dangers. They’ll also meet with elected officials from their home districts to educate them on their young constituents’ online use. The teens’ parents will be involved, too, participating in training on how families can communicate effectively about safer use of mass media. Some of the teens will also blog the event here on DST. Stay tuned.