Prestented By

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Welcome
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Prestented By
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Protecting
online
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American Kids are WIRED

• More than 30 million children use the Internet

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American Kids are WIRED

• 1 in 4 had an unwanted exposure to a sexually
  explicit photo

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American Kids are WIRED

• Approximately 1 in 7 received a sexual
  solicitation online

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American Kids are WIRED

• 1 in 17 was threatened or harassed

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American Kids are WIRED

• 1 in 33 received an aggressive sexual
  solicitation

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Where Did This Sexual Solicitation Occur?
Computer Location
70 at home
22 at someone else's home
4 at school
3 at library
Internet
65 in chatrooms
24 in Instant Messages
David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell, and Janis
Wolak. Online Victimization A Report on the
Nation's Youth. Alexandria, Virginia National
Center for Missing Exploited Children, 2000,
page 8.
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Parent - Child Information Gap

• 92 of Parents Reported Setting Rules for
  Internet Use
• 88 of Parents Felt they Knew Some or A Lot
  About Where their Children Go on the Internet

• 34 of 5th-12th Graders said Parents Had Not
  Established Any Rules
• 40 Had Not Discussed Internet Safety
• 30 Described Parents Internet Skills as Weak
  or Very Weak
• Source
  i-Safe America Assessment Survey, 2002-04

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Who are these People?

• Typically White Males
• 25-55 Years of Age
• Middle to Upper Class
• Professional Job
• Some Involved in Childrens Activities
• Internet an Easy, Discreet Way for them to
  Interact with Children
• Source Federal
  Bureau of Investigation

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Victim Characteristics

• Sometimes Discovering or Wondering About Their
  Own Sexuality
• Boys Rarely Report Victimization
• Girls Often In Love With Offender
• Looking For Attention / Affection Outside the
  Home
• Unsupervised Access to Computer
• Source Federal Bureau of Investigation

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Important Fact

• Nearly all children molested by Internet sexual
  predators willingly arrange a meeting.

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How Predators Meet Children

• Chat Rooms, Social Networking Sites (MySpace,
  Facebook, Xanga)
• Video game sites, X-Box Live
• IM, Private Chats, Blogs
• E-Mail
• Webcams
• Phone / VOIP
• Source K.C. F.B.I.

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Social Networking
For a child sex offenders purposes, it is the
most effective tool ever invented
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Social Networking
www.myspace.com www.facebook.com www.friendster.co
m www.livejournal.com www.cozydating.com www.inter
racialsingles.net www.friendfusion.com www.intelle
ctconnect.com www.prisonpenpals.com www.zogo.com
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Social Networking
Social Networks are a very popular place on the
Internet where people network, send messages to
one another, post pictures of themselves and
others, and make cyber-friends.
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Social Networking

• Blogs and social networking sites have
  recently exploded in popularity. The number of
  visitors at on site went from 4.9 million in 2005
  to currently over 67 million.
• Each user creates a Profile
• Name, age, interests, pics, videos
• Blog for writing daily thoughts

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Social Networking

• Can decorate site and choose music
• Can search for others with same interests
• Make friends post to each others pages

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Predator Tactics

• Troll Websites, Discussion Boards, MySpace
  Wherever kids visit
• Compile Information About Targets
• - Conversation Starters Interests, Hobbies,
  Age, School, Insecurities
• - How to find the child Last Name, Hangouts,
  Routine, License Plates
• Make Contact Chat or IM

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Predator Tactics

• Gain Trust by Offering Support
• Ask for Pictures Send Pictures
• Use of Webcams
• Groom with Sexually Explicit Talk, Pornography
• Arrange a Meeting, or More Rarely, Stalk Child

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sometimes. they are nice to me here
well your a sweet young girl
thnks
have you ever met men from instant messenger?
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Cell Phones

• Access to the Internet often
• without parental supervision

• Share and post digital photographs

• Send and receive text messages

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Signs A Child May BeAt Risk

• Secretive About Online Activity
• Uses Online Accounts of Others
• Erases Internet History or
• Manipulates Settings
• Circumvents Parental Software
• Phone Calls / IMs From Unknown People
• Packages or Gifts from Unknown People
• Pornography on Computer

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What to Do if You Suspect Trouble

• Trust Your Parenting Instincts
• Talk With Your Child
• Review Internet History Files

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What to Do if You Suspect Trouble

• If You Suspect or Know the Following
• Your Child has Received Child Pornography
• Your Child has Received Sexually Explicit Images
  From an Adult
• Your Child has been Solicited for Sex Online

• DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING
• LEAVE the computer ON
  (you can turn the monitor off, if necessary)
• DO NOT make contact with the person

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What to Do if You Suspect Trouble

• NOTIFY your local law enforcement
• agency, FBI or the CyberTipline

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Educate Yourself

• Read up
• www.wiredsafety.org
• www.netsmartz.org
• Google Internet Safety
• Do parental tutorials Online
• Talk with your child
• Dont be Internet Illiterate!

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Monitor Your Childs Usage

• As a parent, you have the right and
  responsibility to monitor your childs internet
  usage and accounts
• - Look over shoulders!
• - Log in as your child
• - Learn Online acronyms!

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Monitor Your Childs Usage

• Frequently check the computers location bar
  Internet history
• - How to Tutorials for parents on the web
• If you suspect bad behavior, use Software

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Helpful Software

• Child-safe Search Engines, Browsers
• Parental Controls often free w/ ISPs (MSN, AOL)
• Filtering and Blocking Software
• Blocks inappropriate sites
• Filters adult content
• Monitoring Software
• Records sites visited, keystrokes or both
• KidDefender, Spector Pro 5.0, etc.

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What Should Parents Do?

• Establish rules for the Internet use
• - What sites can a child visit
• - Who they can talk to
• - How long they can be online
• Keep the computer in a common room

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What Should Parents Do?

• COMMUNICATE Consider talking openly with your
  child about the dangers of computer-sex offenders
• Discuss the importance of telling you if
  something makes them fell scared, uncomfortable,
  or confused while online

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What Should Parents Do?

• Be Informed
• - Prepare yourself beforehand
• - Ask you kids to show you places they go
• - Know other access your child has
  including text messaging

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What Should Parents Do?

• Utilize parent controls by service provider or
  blocking software
• - Learn when to use them
• Be aware of they may be using a wireless laptop
• Be aware of using a friends computers

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What Should Parents Do?

• Know who your children talk to online
• Check E-mail addresses for appropriateness
• Always read a web sites privacy policy and dont
  sign up for free things
• Explain to your kids why they shouldnt give out
  personal information

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What Should Parents Do?

• Dont forward to everyone in your address book
• Make sure kids only exchange E-mail with people
  they know and let them use chat areas you
  supervise
• Check cell phones

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What Should Parents Do?

• Always maintain access to your childs on-line
  account
• Find out the computer safeguards utilized by
  schools, libraries and friends homes
• Do not allow the use of web cams

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What Should Parents Do?

• Keep Internet accounts in your name
• Check buddy lists
• Learn chat room lingo
• POS parent over shoulder
• Know how to set parental controls
• Know how to check history files

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What Should Parents Do?

• Never allow children to upload (post) pictures of
  themselves to people they do not know
• Communicate to children NEVER meet someone they
  have met on-line

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Suggested Rules for Social Networks

• Require permission to open an account
• - No secret accounts!
• Require child to set profile to private
• - Harder for strangers to access
• Monitor your childs page for content
• - The web is not an appropriate or safe place
  for a diary like a billboard!
• - No identifying information
• Monitor your childs friends sites

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Know how to
Set parental controls
Check history files
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Choose a screen name that doesnt identify You
as a young boy or girl
Do not share your password with anyone (except a
parent/guardian) not even your best friend
Remember, people online may or MAY NOT be who
they say they are
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Don't give out personal information such as
name, age, address, telephone number, parent/guard
ian's name, and school name/address
Do not respond to mean, offensive, threatening,
or unwanted E-mail or Instant Messages
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Use only approved chat rooms only Never arrange
a face-to-face meeting with someone you first
meet Online Do not adjust computer retention
settings or erase internet history Get approval
to set up email, IM, MySpace, Facebook accounts
set all profiles to private
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Do not respond to E-mails from strangers
Do not upload you personal photograph
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Education Tools Available
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www.missingkids.com
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www.netsmartz.org
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Thank You