Child Safety Laws Get Tough On Internet Predators
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When you’re a new mother or father, you learn quite quickly that your child has
been born into a world filled with hidden dangers. You have to make sure that the
stuffed animal you place in your baby’s crib doesn’t represent a choking hazard…
that your child doesn’t fall out of his high chair…that your two-year-old doesn’t
stray into the street while chasing a bubble.
Once your child graduates from the toddler years, you have to be concerned about
whether he’s wearing a helmet when cycling through your neighborhood…or
whether she’s spending enough time doing her homework. You have to be focused
on what your child is eating…how your child is sleeping…and how your child is
dealing with stress.
And, in this age of digital technology, you have to be absolutely obsessed with what
your child is doing online.
Sure, you may know enough to keep your child from browsing through porn sites,
but did you know that your teenager could easily become a victim of a sexual
predator—just by occupying a place in cyberspace?
The problem is mySpace.com, a supposedly innocuous Internet website where
people can post their pictures, chat, and post their musings about the universe.
The trouble is, mySpace attracts individuals who want to sexually exploit teenagers.
Newspapers are carrying headlines showing the troubles with mySpace: a 15-year-
old runs away from home to be with a man she met on the Internet…a 24-year-old
man is arrested for having sex with a 14-year-old girl he knew from mySpace…a
32-year-old man is accused of soliciting sex from a 13-year-old through mySpace.
In short, your Internet connection could easily become a pathway for a predator.
In such a situation, what can a parent do? Some parent activists have decided to
arm themselves with information. They’re educating themselves about the dangers
of mySpace. They’re learning about what their teenage sons and daughters are
doing online. And they’re taking action to reduce the risks to their children.
At one point, these parents might have never thought that anything bad could
happen to their child from his or her exposure to the World Wide Web. In fact, they
might have encouraged their teens to spend time on the Internet in order to polish
their computer skills and broaden their horizons. But now they’ve come to realize
that no teen is immune to the lure of a clever predator in cyberspace.
Apparently, teens can become easy targets because they have a tendency to reveal
too much information on the ‘Net. They’re naïve enough to believe that the people
they meet through mySpace share their values as well as their interests. The teens
may be looking for affirmation from their cyber-friends…especially if they have
difficulty making friends at school. Because they’re often entering cyberworld
through the safety of their parents’ homes, they may not realize that danger could
be just a click away.
Fortunately, though, caring adults, including school officials, are awakening to the
threat posed by mySpace. The rapid growth of the site has some school leaders
taking concrete steps to protect children, which is considered to be the site’s main
audience. In addition to the threat of sexual predators, the site may also attract
drug dealers, child porn dealers, and a host of other troubled souls. If you wouldn’t
want your child to interact with such people in your neighborhood, why would you
let him or her communicate with such people on the Internet?
As a parent, you need to ask yourself some tough questions, such as how much
time your children spend on line and whom they’re talking to. You also have to
determine if they appear to be heading down a path that could lead to danger.
When our children are little, it’s so much easier. We simply have to hold their hands
while crossing the street to make sure that they get safely to the other side. When
they’re teens, we need to guide them safely to adulthood. And that might involve
unplugging the computer once in a while.
Copyright © 2006 by Nathan Tabor
Nathan Tabor is a conservative political activist based in Kernersville, North Carolina. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in public policy. He is a contributing editor at http://www.theconservativevoice.com and his 60- second commentaries are heard on over 250 stations daily. He writes weekly for Townhall.com, HumanEventsOnline.com, Crosswalk.com and many others. You can contact him at Nathan@nathantabor.com.
This post was written by: Erin
Tags: child safety, computer monitoring software, cyber laws, Internet Predators, pc pandora