Keeping kids safe online
Keeping kids safe online By: CASEY RYAN VOCK Staff Writer May 27, 2006 PLATTSBURGH — As 1 in 5 children in the United States are sexually solicited each year on the Internet, North Country parents need to ensure their children's online safety — in their home and other places. "It's all about having a good relationship with your kids," said Investigator Jerome E. Miner of the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Miner conducted a recent workshop at Plattsburgh State, where he demonstrated for a group of about 30 concerned parents the ease with which sexual predators can find prey through chat rooms and newly popular online communities, such as myspace.com and facebook.com. MORE KNOWLEDGE A challenge is that many parents today are not as knowledgeable about computers and the Internet as their own children, Miner said. "The crooks know the Internet better than we do," said Miner, who has been trained by and works with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children to teach the public about the dangers of the Internet for children. "And with the equipment they use, they tend to cover their tracks pretty well. "You've got to be aware of what's out there yourself," he told the parents. TRACKING INFORMATION Miner played a video, produced by Netsmartz.org, that showed how anyone can use the information provided about an individual in an online chat room or community to trace more of their personal information. The video showed how a predator can obtain phone numbers, addresses and even driving directions to a potential victim's home by using simple details provided on a user profile, like the person's name, school and parents' names. And that information can be found within 20 minutes using Internet resources like reverse phone directories and search engines. But Miner showed that some young people are making it much easier for sexual predators by posting personal information on their myspace.com user profiles. TRUST Miner showed parents how to set up a bogus Yahoo e-mail account — the first step an online predator would have to take when soliciting young children to talk with and, eventually, to pursue a sexual relationship with. From there, Miner went to myspace.com, where he established an account with false geographical and personal information. The Web site stipulates that to start an account members be at least 18 years old, but young people need only fudge their date of birth as no checks are in place to prevent it from happening. Web sites such as myspace.com also allow people to join for free as long as they have a valid e-mail address, meaning those pursuing child victims can get into myspace.com and pose as someone they are not. Miner explained how predators will groom a victim before abusing them, as they first must instill trust or fear in the child to ensure that he or she will not report what is happening. Miner played another video that told the story of how one young girl's "13-year-old friend from Ohio" turned out to be a middle-aged convicted murderer who was attempting to meet the girl in order to perform sexual acts with her. "For the child-sex-offender's purposes, (the Internet) is the most effective tool ever invented," Miner said. "It allows predators to disguise themselves, and they don't have to work in the first person. They can pose as anybody." Because children have a need for attention, and, often, a desire to defy parents, Miner said they are the ideal victims for sexual predators. SET RULES He urged parents to take control of their children's activities on the Internet and establish new house rules. Pointing out that myspace.com has more than 78 million users worldwide and counting, Miner said, "If 1 percent of that is potential sexual predators, you've got a lot of predators out there." To Learn more Net Smartz Workshop http://www.netsmartz.org/ http://www.pressrepublican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060527/NEWS/605270314/1001&ts=ts3