After selling Girl Scout cookies the old-fashioned way since she was five, Rebecka Hicks, 16, is taking her firstleap into the world of online sales.

Pretty soon, Rebecka will put up her photo, perhaps a video of her making a sales pitch, on apersonal Web site. She'll send out eCards to reacha wider range of customers than she ever has before. Andwhile the overall design for her sales sitewill come from the Girl Scouts, what goes online is basically up to her. The organizationwon'treview the content, saying that suchprojects should stay between parents and their kids.

The move by the Girl Scouts this week to allow its troopers to sell cookies online has been met with mixed emotions by parents, officials within the organization and privacy advocates who raisedconcernsabout exposing so many girls, as young as 13, to the potential for cyber-bullying, online predators and other dangers of the Web. Some say the idea is long overdue: How can you teach entrepreneurship to a generationof young women without developing their online skills? But others are worried aboutencouragingso many children -- there are 2.3 million Girls Scouts in the country-- to court friends, coworkers of parents, acquaintances, and other consumers through Web sites that havelittleorganizational supervision.

It's a big step for the Girl Scouts -- and for the Hicks family.Rebecka said she's already excited to sell her waresto relatives who live far away and to allow customers topay with credit cards instead of cash. "I definitely think this will go forward in a positive way," she said.

The risks aren't lost on Hicks' mom. "I have concerns, but I feel as though they've put good measurements in place," said Krista Hicks, who lives in Mechanicsville, Va. Plus, she added, it doesn't do any good to fight the inevitable. "They do live in that world and this gives them more education and chances for thought about what the dangers that are out there."

Some are more hesitant about the push online. The Girl Scouts Council of the Nation's Capital -- the country's largest chapter with 90,000 members in the D.C. area -- said it isn'tparticipating in the "Digital Cookie" program yet, in part due tosafety concerns.

Lidia Soto-Harmon, chief executive of the D.C. Girl Scouts' council, agreedthe girls need to embrace technology, but said safety is still her first concern. The group's troopers will be allowed to set upcredit card payments, but notpersonal Web sites.

"We are known for being a traditional council," Soto-Harmonsaid. "We're making sure, to your point about security issues, that we're protecting the data on the girls, and what the girls are collecting."

The Scouts say that they have put in a number of measures to protect the girls from online predators, and have been working on this program for at least fiveyears. A Girl Scouts spokesman said that only a girl's first name will be part of her custom site -- similar to a seller's page on eBay. Her last name, location and other identifying information won't be listedby default. The organization also made sure that all customer and scout data is encrypted. Girls won't be required to set up Web sites, but those who do will have to take apledge for online safety, plus lessons on issues such as cyberbullying and dealing with strangers online.

But some online safety and security expertssaid not every family willunderstand the risks. Plus,its not easy for parents to monitor everything their kids are doing online.

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Selling Girl Scout cookies online can have a dark side