Reports regarding online safety

Two reports have been in the news in the last few days that are worthy of discussion.

The first was done by the Internet Safety Technical Task Force and is to be released 1/14/2009, and was reported on by the New York Times who had come into possession of a draft of the report. Their report will indicate that they found that kids face little danger online from predators. They view offline and online bullying as the bigger threat to our kids. The news article also indicated that there was some dissension within the group as to the position that online predators are not a problem. According to the New York Times the report states that teens are unlikely to be propositioned online. It goes on to say that those that are propositioned are willing participants and that they are typically troubled youth with problems at home or other social or personal problems.

If you follow the news from around the country, there are stories in the news on a daily basis about online predators that are being arrested for attempting to, or successfully abusing a child. The Online Victimization report done in 2005 indicated that 1 in 7 teens had been sexually solicited online.

I am involved in a training program that teaches law enforcement how to do undercover chat investigations. Our training takes the officers into chat rooms to work with the tools and teach them how to properly conduct these types of investigations. These officers are being approached by online predators, usually within minutes of going online.

I do agree that those being victimized online do seem to come from families with problems. I don't think we should read the report and say "well, we don't need to worry about that anymore". Our kids do need to be cautious when they are online and parents to need to have talks with their kids about their online activities. We do need to keep an eye on their social networking, just as we keep track of who their friends are and what they are doing.

The second study I wanted to mention was reported in USA Today on the 5th of January and is about a report published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The report indicates that kids have a great deal of Internet savvy but are very immature and impulsive on the Internet and that these traits can get them into trouble. I agree, and in talking with parents I tell them that kids that are posting risky material online are more likely to be approached by someone online for sexual purposes. Suggestive screen names, photo's, or boasting of activities all send a message that they may be a risk taker and thus more attractive to online predators. That's the point. Parents do need to take a proactive role in their child's online world. They need to check their social network sites, their profiles, and who their online friends really are. Simply checking what they do online can have a very positive impact on their online experience. The authors of the second report indicated that they sent an email to teens that had risky sexual material on their social network page. 14% of those sites were found to be free of the sexual material when checked later. This is when an unknown person sent them an email saying they should clean up their page and pointed out some of the risks of posting that type or material. Can you imagine the effect it would have if the kids were approached by their parents about the problem.

The fact is, parents do need to monitor what kids are doing online and talk with them about the ramifications of posting certain material. They need to face the reality that what they post today may be saved somewhere and keep popping up in school and job interviews for the rest of their lives.

For more information on Internet safety, go to www.internetsafetyconsulting.net