|
Internet Safety
Tips For Kids
 Never
give out identifying information such
as name, home address, school name, or
telephone number in a a chat room or
on bulletin boards. Never send a
person a picture of you without first
checking with your parent or
guardian. Never respond to messages or
bulletin board items that are
suggestive, obscene, belligerent,
threatening or make you feel
uncomfortable. Be careful when someone
offers you something for nothing, such
as gifts and someone visit your house.
Tell your parent or guardian right
away if you come across any
information that makes you feel
uncomfortable. Never arrange a face to
face meeting without telling your
parent or guardian. If your parent or
guardian agree to the meeting, make
sure that you meet in a public place
and have a parent or guardian with
you. Remember that people online may
not be who they seem. Because you
can't see or even hear the person it
would be easy for someone to
misrepresent him- or herself. Thus,
someone indicating that "she" is a
"12-year-old-girl" could in reality be
an older man. Be sure that you are
dealing with someone that you and your
parents know and trust before giving
out any personal information about
yourself via E-mail. Get to know your
"online friends" just as you get to
know all of your other friends.
Tips For Parents
While
on-line computer exploration opens a
world of possibilities for children,
expanding their horizons and exposing
them to different cultures and ways of
life, they can be exposed to dangers
as they hit the road exploring the
information highway. There are
individuals who attempt to sexually
exploit children through the use of
on-line services and the Internet.
Some of these individuals gradually
seduce their targets through the use
of attention, affection, kindness, and
even gifts. These individuals are
often willing to devote considerable
amounts of time, money, and energy in
this process. They listen to and
empathize with the problems of
children. They will be aware of the
latest music, hobbies, and interests
of children. These individuals attempt
to gradually lower children's
inhibitions by slowly introducing
sexual context and content into their
conversations. There are other
individuals, however, who immediately
engage in sexually explicit
conversation with children. Some
offenders primarily collect and trade
child-pornographic images, while
others seek face-to-face meetings with
children via on-line contacts. It is
important for parents to understand
that children can be indirectly
victimized through conversation, i.e.
"chat," as well as the transfer of
sexually explicit information and
material. Computer-sex offenders may
also be evaluating children they come
in contact with on-line for future
face-to-face contact and direct
victimization. Parents and children
should remember that a computer-sex
offender can be any age or sex the
person does not have to fit the
caricature of a dirty, unkempt, older
man wearing a raincoat to be someone
who could harm a child. This guide was
prepared from actual investigations
involving child victims, as well as
investigations where law enforcement
officers posed as children.
What Are
Signs That Your Child Might Be At Risk
On-line?
Your
child spends large amounts of time
on-line, especially at night.
Most children that fall victim to
computer-sex offenders spend large
amounts of time on-line, particularly
in chat rooms. They may go on-line
after dinner and on the weekends. They
may be latchkey kids whose parents
have told them to stay at home after
school. They go on-line to chat with
friends, make new friends, pass time,
and sometimes look for sexually
explicit information.
Children on-line are at the greatest
risk during the evening hours. While
offenders are on-line around the
clock, most work during the day and
spend their evenings on-line trying to
locate and lure children or seeking
pornography.
Beware of
your child receiving phone calls from
men you don't know or is making calls,
sometimes long distance, to numbers
you don't recognize. While talking to
a child victim on-line is a thrill for
a computer-sex offender, it can be
very cumbersome. Most want to talk to
the children on the telephone. They
often engage in "phone sex" with the
children and often seek to set up an
actual meeting for real sex. While a
child may be hesitant to give out
his/her home phone number, the
computer-sex offenders will give out
theirs. With Caller ID, they can
readily find out the child's phone
number. Some computer-sex offenders
have even obtained toll-free 800
numbers, so that their potential
victims
can call them without their parents
finding out. Others will tell the
child to call collect. Both of these
methods result in the computer-sex
offender being able to find out the
child's phone number.
Your
child receives mail, gifts, or
packages from someone you don't know.
As part of the seduction process, it
is common for offenders to send
letters, photographs, and all manner
of gifts to their potential victims.
Computer-sex offenders have even sent
plane tickets in order for the child
to travel across the country to meet
them.
Your
child turns the computer monitor off
or quickly changes the screen on the
monitor when you come into the room.
A child
looking at pornographic images or
having sexually explicit conversations
does not want you to see it on the
screen.
Your
child becomes withdrawn from the
family.
What
Should You Do If You Suspect Your
Child Is Communicating With A Sexual
Predator On-line?
1.Consider talking openly with your
child about your suspicions. Tell them
about the dangers of computer-sex
offenders.
2.Review what is on your child's
computer. If you don't know how, ask a
friend, coworker, relative, or other
knowledgeable person. Pornography or
any kind of sexual communication can
be a warning sign.
3.Use the Caller ID service to
determine who is calling your child.
Most telephone companies that offer
Caller ID also offer a service that
allows you to block your number from
appearing on someone else's Caller ID.
Telephone companies also offer
an additional service feature that
rejects incoming calls that you block.
This rejection feature prevents
computer-sex offenders or anyone else
from calling your home anonymously.
4.Monitor your child's access to all
types of live electronic
communications (i.e., chat rooms,
instant messages, Internet Relay Chat,
etc.), and monitor your child's
e-mail. Computer-sex offenders almost
always meet potential victims via chat
rooms. After meeting a child on-line,
they will continue to communicate
electronically often via e-mail.
Should
any of the following situations arise
in your household, via the Internet or
on-line service, you should
immediately contact the Police
Department:
Your child or anyone in the household
has received child pornography;
Your child has been sexually solicited
by someone who knows that your child
is under 18 years of age;
Your child has received sexually
explicit images from someone that
knows your child is under the age of
18.
If one of these scenarios occurs, keep
the computer turned off in order to
preserve any evidence for future law
enforcement use. Unless directed to do
so by the law enforcement agency, you
should not attempt to copy any of the
images and/or text found on the
computer.
What Can
You Do To Minimize The Chances Of An
On-line Exploiter Victimizing Your
Child?
1.Communicate, and talk to your child
about sexual victimization and
potential on-line danger.
2.Spend time with your children
on-line. Have them teach you about
their favorite on-line destinations.
3.Keep the computer in a common room
in the house, not in your child's
bedroom. It is much more difficult for
a computer-sex offender to communicate
with a child when the computer screen
is visible to a parent or another
member of the household.
4.Utilize parental controls provided
by your service provider and/or
blocking software. While electronic
chat can be a great place for children
to make new friends and discuss
various topics of interest, it is also
prowled by computer-sex offenders. Use
of chat rooms, in particular, should
be heavily monitored. While parents
should utilize these mechanisms, they
should not totally rely on them.
5.Always maintain access to your
child's on-line account and randomly
check his/her e-mail. Be aware that
your child could be contacted through
the U.S. Mail. Be up front with your
child about your access and reasons
why.
6.Teach your child the responsible use
of the resources on-line. There is
much more to the on-line experience
than chat rooms.
7.Instruct your children:
to never arrange a face-to-face
meeting with someone they met on-
line;
to never upload (post) pictures of
themselves onto the Internet or
on-line service to people they do not
personally know;
to never give out identifying
information such as their name, home
address, school name, or telephone
number;
to never download pictures from an
unknown source, as there is a good
chance there could be sexually
explicit images;
to never respond to messages or
bulletin board postings that are
suggestive, obscene, belligerent, or
harassing;
that whatever they are told on-line
may or may not be true.
Frequently Asked Questions:
My child has received an e-mail
advertising for a pornographic
website, what should I do?
Generally, advertising for an adult,
pornographic website that is sent to
an e-mail address does not violate
federal law or the current laws of
most states. In some states it may be
a violation of law if the sender knows
the recipient is under the age of 18.
Such advertising can be reported to
your service provider and, if known,
the service provider of the
originator. It can also be reported to
your state and federal legislators, so
they can be made aware of the extent
of the problem.
Is any
service safer than the others?
Sex offenders have contacted children
via most of the major on-line services
and the Internet. The most important
factors in keeping your child safe
on-line are the utilization of
appropriate blocking software and/or
parental controls, along with open,
honest discussions with your child,
monitoring his/her on-line activity. |
