Internet Safety - Parent Information
Do you know what your child is doing on the Internet?
Exposure to Inappropriate MaterialNational Statistics
There are 563,000 sex offenders in the U.S.
On average, there is one child molester per square mile in the United States.
The average, child molester victimizes between 50 and 150 children before he is ever arrested.
The most common age at which sexual abuse begins is three. Age eight for girls.
National Numbers
4.2 million pornographic web sites
100,000 Web sites offering child porn
68 million daily search engine requests for porn
1.5 billion monthly porn downloads
$2.5 billion Internet porn industry annual revenue.
*Top Ten Reviews: “Internet Filter Review” Porn on the Internet
More than 30 percent of spam,commercial e-mail, contains pornographic material.
*Spam Recycling Center, COMTEX Newswire, 11/2/99.
According to NetValue, 27.5% of the younger population in the US (age 17 and younger) visited an adult website in Septemnber 2000.
*eStatnews, January 9, 2001.
70 percent of traffic on porn sites occurs between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
*The Industry Standard, The National Catholic Register, 4/19/2000.
Risks For Kids and Teens Online
Sexual Solicitations
NCMEC Survey – Youth on the Internet (Ages 10 – 17)
Where did this Sexual Solicitation take place?
Computer Locations
– 70% at home
– 22% at someone else’s home
– 4% at school
– 3% at library
Internet
– 65% in chatrooms
– 24% in Instant Message
Children-The “Ideal” Victim
Naturally curious
Easily led by adults
Need for attention and affection
Need to defy parents
Reporting the Crime
25% of the youth who encountered a sexual solicitation or approach told a parent.
Less than 10% of sexual solicitations were reported to authorities such as a law-enforcement agency, an Internet Service Provider, or a hotline.
Blogging
What is a Blog?,
"Blog" is short for "Web log," an online journal or diary with varying degrees of privacy. Fifty-two percent of all blogs belong to 13-to-19-year-olds, according to a recent study at Georgetown University, the number of blogs has been put at anywhere between 10 million and 32 million, and a new blog is created about every 5.8 seconds. Ask your child if s/he has a blog. If the answer is no, search for his or her full name in a Web search engine just to be sure (parents should have no qualms about ensuring that a child isn't putting any information online that identifies him or her personally - this is basic child protection). If the answer is yes, good for your child for being up front about it! Only two basic questions need to follow: 1.You're not publishing any personally identifiable information in your blog, right? 2.Are there privacy protections at your blogging service, and do you use them?
Establishing and maintaining a blog is a positive action in and of itself, becoming a safe blogger is taking a huge step toward building self esteem. Blogs are not all bad as long as they are monitored. As a parent you cannot depend on the hosting site to monitor and filter the blogs. Get involved and ask questions, it’s the best way to help ensure your child’s online safety.
Blogging Stats
Myspace.com membership since January 2004 is at 84 million.
270,000 new accounts created daily.
MySpace.com is ranked No. 4 on the entire U.S. internet in terms of page hits in October.
College students make up most of the 9.5 million members on Facebook.com
Xanga’s membership has expanded to 45 million.
Dangers of Blogging
If your real identity is tied to the blog anyone can find you.
Children and teens tend to put personal information on blogs, such as pictures, name, date of birth and location.
If personal information is not used, there can be slips which will lead to personal information.
Blogs can be password protected or they can be public. (Double edge sword)
Once something is posted it is there, there is no taking it back.
Many can be misunderstood by a certain comment.
This is where bullying, harassment and a misunderstanding can lead to violence.
We can not over look threats made online.
Blog Sites
Select an Age Appropriate Blog Site- make sure other people your age are using this site.
Read the Privacy Statement-read to see what will happen to information you post.
Look for Support-#’s and emails in case problems arise.
Cost-any cost involved with creating and maintaining your blog.
Member of a Blog
Hide your account details
Password Protect your Blog
Hide your Profile from public view
Hide your blog from search engines-most blogs describe how to do this.
Blog Sites
Facebook
Xanga
Myspace
Espinthebottle
Tagged
Blogspot
Cpixel
Hi5
Yahoo!360
Characteristics of an Online Predator
Internet Sex Crimes Against Minors
Offenders
– 99% were male
– 86% older than 25
– 97% acted alone
Arrests
– 39% Internet Crimes Against Identified Children
– 25% Internet Solicitations to Undercover Law Enforcement
– 36% Internet Child Pornography
Texas Statistics
Beginning December 2002-May 2006; State of Texas as arrested 66 child pornographers and have convicted 44.
Cyber Crimes Unit has also arrested 83 online predators for traveling to meet what they believed to be a minor and have convicted over 50.
Fugitive Unit has arrested 333 absconders since 2003. Child Sex Offender/Parole Violators: 282 and Operation Missing Predator: 51.
Internet Safety TIPS
1. Establish rules for Internet use
What sites can your child visit
Who can they talk to?
How long will they be online
Where can they use a computer?
Keep house rules posted near the computer!
2. Keep the computer in a common room and no webcams.(not a child’s bedroom)
Webcams: “Hacker Uses Webcam To Spy On Family” Click2Houston.com (2004).
15 yr old female surfing Internet
Typing message to girlfriend and her message turns sexually explicit
Hacker opened her disc drive
Controlling not only computer but webcam
The hacker even listened to conversations thru the microphone attached to the webcam
The worms and Trojan horse programs are the viruses used
Available to anyone on the Internet
Disguised as popular movies, songs or videos
Student fined for spying on women with webcam.(2005) Malaga, Spain
3. Beaware of Video Games and Computer Games.
Video Games
Xbox System
Chatting
Webcams
Xbox Live
Computer Games
Chatting
5. Discuss the importance of telling you or a trusted adult if something ever makes your child or teen feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused while online.
6. Communicate
Prepare yourself beforehand
Talk and be open with your kids and teens
Keep your cool. Be cool. Encourage them to confide in you.
7. Be informed
Learn everything you can about the Internet
Ask your kids to show you places they go
Learn chatroom lingo by going to www.cybertipline.com for a list of acronyms like POS=Parent Over Shoulder.
8. Consider safeguarding options
Check out blocking, filtering and rating applications
Learn about filtering and monitoring software and when to use them. www.internetfilterreview.com
Education is a key part of prevention.
Information provided by NetSmartz, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children(2002) and presented by Sgt. Paul Aleman-Cyber Crimes Unit.
Links
SafeKids.com - advice on keeping younger kids safe online
NetFamilyNews.com - Kid-tech news for parents
FamilyTechTalk.com - News you can listen to
StaySafe.org- The latest online safety and PC security resources
SafeTeens.com - A place to learn Internet safety
NetSmartz.org- Learning games for kids & multimedia info for teens
CyberTipLine.com - To report online crimes against kids
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