Do you know who your child is talking to online? If he/she is romping ar ound chat rooms, instant messaging, emails, discussion/ bulletin boards and social networking sites, it is time for you to take notice.
While using the technology of the 21st century seems very appropriate for children, you need to be aware that Child Predators are lurking in these sites. In February 2009 My Space kicked out 90,000 sexual predators and Facebook booted out 5,500. Now the predators are heading to Twitter.
ALL children are at risk. Whether they are insecure, rebellious, lonely, confused about their sexual identity or just normal kids playing games on the internet, they are prey for these predators. They meet in chat rooms, then continue communicating through emails or instant messaging, and the final step is to meet in person.
Not knowing the identity of people you meet on the internet, allows predators to pretend they are young adults. They build relationships with inexperienced young people by listening to their problems and sympathizing with them. They know their favorite music and hobbies. And gradually, and sometimes not so gradually, they introduce sexual content into their conversation or show them photos of child pornography to convince the child that it is normal for adults to have sex with children. Then the predator arranges a meeting in the community where the child is raped, photographed and videographed.
If the child plays games over the internet, the predator will offer game points in exchange for naked photographs of the child.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has reviewed some 25 million child pornography videos and images circulating online in the past six years alone. Sexual predators around the world now network with each other and share photographs and videos of children they met online. These pictures are shown all over the internet. Furthermore, tech-savvy criminal organizations sell child pornography through web sites that can be put up and taken down in hours. They make large profits through online card processing centers. Online Pornography is yet another form of Cybercrime.
To minimize your child's risk of being a victim of a sexual predator, computers need to be in a common area of the house, not in the bedroom. Children should share the family's email address and their access to chat rooms, instant messaging, and emails should be monitored. They should be taught never to leave the chat room's public area as private area chat rooms are where they can become victim's of the predator. They should never respond to emails or instant messages from strangers or go out with a stranger they meet over the internet. And last but not least they should be instructed that it is wrong for adults to have sex with minors.
If your child is targeted by a predator who asks for a meeting, sends sexually explicit photos or asks to be sent naked pictures, save any documentation including email addresses, web sites, and chat logs to share with the police.
Then call the LOCAL POLICE and ask for the CYBERCRIME UNIT. Call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cyber Tip Line at 1-800-843-5678 or log onto www.cybertipline.com. They are staffed 24/7 to receive reports of child exploitation online.
Either before or after the crisis, get involved with a non-profit organization that teaches children in school how to be safe online. They are at http://www.i-safe.com.
Explore a Managed Internet Security Service that has the latest security technologies to keep predators away from your computer, and an Whole Identity Protection Service that includes your children. This service monitors all the databases and if the identity is stolen works with law enforcement to catch the thief or predator, and restore the identity to pretheft status.
May you never go through this kind of experience.
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