The Danger of Chat Rooms

Think before you click!

There is an increasing number of children in danger of being targeted by paedophiles through internet chat rooms. The police, non-government intelligence agencies and internet watchdogs are receiving more and more reports about adults attempting to groom children in this way. It is a major growing concern for parents with young children. Sexual predators, cyber bullies, online scams and obscene websites all lurk on the internet chat rooms.

Fortunately, a new virtual ID card has been launched in the UK, US, Canada and Australia to improve children's safety on the internet. The NetIDMe card can be swapped by children online when using chatrooms, instant messaging and social networks. Parents and children can apply for the card using credit card details and a form countersigned by a professional who knows the child concerned.
It is hoped that the card will make it harder for adults to pose as children when online.

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When Children are communicating with strangers, whom they believe to be the same age as themselves, very often find that the other person may suddenly change their behaviour by expressing lewd and inappropriate language.

A worse situation may arise when children are asked to make arrangements to meet the other contact outside somewhere.

Some teenagers have been so naive to the dangers that they had already posted photographs of themselves to strangers. Another fear parents are expressing is when a child might divulge personal information under the illusion that they are communicating with a friend. Children know to run away from a suspicious stranger who approaches them in the street or park, but they believe they are invincible on the internet. Children have no fear online.

As children become more knowledgeable and skilled with computers parents are increasingly concerned that they are not keeping up with the technology and inadequate at policing the situation. Many children will happily give away a great deal of personal information about themselves or others. Parents should be aware of this threat and prevent it by warning their children about the dangers. The fear of unknown hazards is an increasing worry.

Parents should advise their children and explain the dangers by following these recommendations:

Never allow a child to send a picture of themselves unless they know the person.
Webcams should never be allowed to be used by children on their own.
Tell you children never to give out personal information about themselves, where they live, the school they go to, etc, unless they know the person.
Never, under any circumstances, arrange to meet anyone met through contact on the computer. No-one can guarantee who they will meet in this way.
Inform your children to let you know what they are doing and the contacts they make on the internet.
Children should be using computers in the open where parents can observe and monitor.
www.MySpace.com is a well known chat room facility. Parents need to monitor its use or any other similar online web site children might be using. Many of these sites do offer tips and advice on this subject. In particular, as a result of several important cases involving child exploitation over the internet, MySpace has hired a former Microsoft executive to police the popular community website.

Parent's software to safeguard children on the net.

The main answer to chat room safety is to provide software that monitors the activity.
One of the web sites that offers help is www.softwareforparents.com.

One method is to use software that prevents children using the web at certain times. You will also want certain personal information safeguarded. You would not want your child's name and address and other personal information posted onto the internet.“IamBigBrother 9.1” at $29.95 and “Net Nanny 5.1” at $38.95 are two choices. IamBigBrother will record all incoming and outgoing Instant Messages, AOL, and more. Net Nanny is another filter programme. It includes a new filtered search function and now also blocks pop-up and pop-under ads. Also another new product, The Internet BabySitter (www.softwarexpress.com) is available at £19.99.

Although some software can be a useful tool some children may be able to disable it, so parents need to police the situation as well. Remember that cookies can be seen on the "Temporary internet files" to identify where a child has been visiting a site. Insist that your child does not interfere with these files and deletes them so that their activity can be monitored.

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)

A new project, called the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), has been recently introduced to fight against child sex abuse in general and internet child porn. This has been instigated with the help of the police, computer industry experts and specialists from children's charities. For further information visit the CEOP website at www.ceop.gov.uk.
The CEOP has also recently launched Think You Know CYBER CAFÉ, a website enabling 8-11 year-olds to learn about internet safety through a cybercafe.