Parent involvement key to keeping kids safe online
Cyberspace is a web of mystery for many parents these days, but
for kids who have grown up in the technology age it’s like a second
home to them. Even though kids might feel as safe online as they do
in their own living room, there are plenty of dangers lurking
around the corner of many Websites and chat rooms.
”
Most of the problems don’t have to do with children going
missing,
”
said Carol Baker, the director of the bureau of crime prevention
and youth services for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s
Office.
Parent involvement key to keeping kids safe online
Cyberspace is a web of mystery for many parents these days, but for kids who have grown up in the technology age it’s like a second home to them. Even though kids might feel as safe online as they do in their own living room, there are plenty of dangers lurking around the corner of many Websites and chat rooms.
“Most of the problems don’t have to do with children going missing,” said Carol Baker, the director of the bureau of crime prevention and youth services for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
“The larger problem is the sexual solicitation. The internet acts as a vehicle for that,” she said. “They get involved with the wrong people, people who are much older, whose backgrounds might be of a criminal background.”
The U.S. Department of Justice conducted a survey of children ages 10 to 17 in 2001 to find out how prevalent sexual solicitation of minors is online.
The researchers found that as many as 20 percent of underage Internet users received an unwanted sexual solicitation and at least 3 percent received an aggressive solicitation from someone asking to meet them in person or talk to them on the phone. These statistics are still widely used by agencies working with parents or children about Internet safety, but since 2001 the world of the Web has evolved and the number of kids receiving sexual solicitations could be even higher now.
There are a new breed of Web sites that have found their way into cyberspace that make children even more vulnerable to online predators. Sites such as Myspace.com, Xanga.com and Facebook.com have made their way into youth culture.
Celeste is a local high school student who spends much of her free time online. She has a myspace.com profile. It is decorated with hearts and lists her favorite bands, including Green Day, Bob Marley and Justin Timberlake. According to her profile, she is a 16-year-old cheerleader and she loves her eyes. She has a dozen pictures of herself with her friends and there are more than 200 comments left by her online friends in the year she has had a profile on the site.
“I keep in touch with friends who don’t live close or that I don’t talk to often,” said the teenager, who said she knows all the “friends” on her website in real life. She said none of the people on her site are people she only knows online. According to her profile, she has 190 friends.
In real life, Celeste is only 14, but she feels safe online. She spends a few hours a day surfing the ‘net, more time than she spends watching television, she said.
“I like to keep in touch with people from different cities,” Celeste said. “I like to listen to music online and use AOL instant messenger.”
Baker has worked with parents and teens on the issue of Internet safety since 2003, when the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office launched their “Protecting Our Kids” program. Kids such as Celeste feel comfortable using the Internet because they are able to learn it so easily and their friends are using it, she said.
“They think of it as a safe environment,” she said.
Gilroy Police Detective Mitch Madruga knows kids aren’t always safe online. The Gilroy Police Department started running sting operations in September 2004 to catch online predators. Since January, GPD has arrested three people for soliciting minors online and arranging to meet them in person, Madruga said.
Bernie Nojadera also knows the danger in profiles of teens such as Celeste. He is the director of the Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose. He met with parents at St. Mary Parish in Gilroy Nov. 29 as part of a series on creating a safe environment for children.
“Kids are using the computer as an instrument to socialize,” he said.
With profiles online, he said, kids often unknowingly give out information that a predator can use to hurt them.
“They name their favorite books, personal information, problems or difficulties they are having at home,” Nojadera said. “They are online because they want attention and predators hone in on what they say and use it to their advantage.”
Even if a child is cautious enough to avoid giving out their personal information, friends sometimes leave information in the comments they post to the sites, Baker said.
Myspace.com does have a policy against underage users. People must be 14 years old to sign up for an account and users under 18 who misrepresent their age can have their account deleted. But with more than 41 million users worldwide, it is difficult for the administrators to check the age of every person who signs up for an account.
Local seventh-grader Teresa easily got around the policy when she said she was 14 instead of 13. The computer in her house is kept in the living room, she said. She uses the Internet to visit her myspace.com page, check her e-mail and to talk to friends about her interests. Though she said her parents know what she has on her myspace page, her parents do not have her login information.
“It’s important for parents to know screenames and passwords,” Nojadera said. “Whoever is on their buddy list, make sure you know who they are.”
Baker agreed parents need to learn to take back control of the family computer.
“What happens is the family buys a computer, they take it home and dad says, ‘OK Johnny, set it up for us,'” she said. “They should always be the administrator. There is a huge knowledge gap and because of it parents are not asserting their regular parental authority.”
She suggested parents should allow kids to use only one e-mail address and that they should always have the information for online accounts children have. Nojadera advised parents to know their children’s usernames for instant messenger programs and other online accounts, but added that they should have their children use gender-neutral usernames and change them often.
When users of Myspace.com receive e-mail, messages or comments from an unknown source, the Web site’s “Frequently Asked Questions” suggests that the users simply ignore the comments. Nojadera, however, said that children should never reply to messages and should alert their parents as soon as they receive a message.
Parents should contact their local police department if their child is receiving unwanted messages of a sexual nature, Madruga said.
Many law enforcement agencies are working to address the issues, but local agencies don’t always have the resources necessary to keep up with the evolving technology.
“We have no formalized program. You don’t see a lot of those crimes in this community,” said Cmdr. Joe Sampson of the Morgan Hill Police Department. “I think it’s probably an issue that hasn’t come to light.”
The Gilroy Police department tries to remain proactive by offering workshops for parents, but with only two officers working on sex crimes in the city, it is difficult to stop every crime from happening.
“Parents are the first line,” he said. “I can’t sit in everybody’s house. Parents are the ones who have to know where their kids are going.”
For now, parents need to remain to take responsibility for their children while they are online, just as they are in the real world.
“Parents need to open up the lines of communication and say, ‘I have a right to monitor your Internet use,'” Baker said. “It is a privilege, not an entitlement and there are ethical and safety considerations involved with this.”
