A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety
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Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A parent's guide to Internet Safety. (n.d.). Retrieved
June 29, 2006 at http://www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguidee.htm.
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Internet exploration opens a world of possibilities for children,
expanding their horizons and exposing them to different cultures
and ways of life. However, they can be exposed to dangers as
they hit the road exploring the information highway. There are
individuals who attempt to sexually exploit children through
the use of online services and the Internet. Some of these individuals
gradually seduce their targets through the use of attention,
affection, kindness, and even gifts. These individuals are often
willing to devote considerable amounts of time, money, and energy
in this process. They listen to and empathize with the problems
of children. They will be aware of the latest music, hobbies,
and interests of children. These individuals attempt to gradually
lower children's inhibitions by slowly introducing sexual context
and content into their conversations.
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There are other individuals, however,
who immediately engage in sexually explicit conversation
with children. Some offenders primarily collect and
trade child-pornographic images, while others seek
face-to-face meetings with children via online contacts.
It is important for parents to understand that children
can be indirectly victimized through conversation,
i.e., participation in "chat rooms," as well
as the transfer of sexually explicit information and
material.
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Computer-sex offenders may also be evaluating children they
come in contact with online for future face-to-face contact
and direct victimization. Parents and children should remember
that a computer-sex offender can be any age or sex and the
person does not have to fit the caricature of a dirty, unkempt,
older man wearing a raincoat to be someone who could harm a
child.
Children, especially adolescents, are sometimes interested
in and curious about sexuality and sexually explicit material.
They may be moving away from the total control of parents and
seeking to establish new relationships outside their family.
Because they may be curious, children/adolescents sometimes
use their online access to actively seek out such materials
and individuals. Sex offenders targeting children will use
and exploit these natural tendencies and needs. Some adolescent
children may also be attracted to and lured by online offenders
closer to their age who may be dangerous. Children and young
people may be seduced and manipulated by clever offenders,
and do not always fully understand or recognize the potential
danger of these contacts
This guide was prepared from actual investigations involving
child victims, as well as investigations where law enforcement
officers posed as children. Further information on protecting
your child online may be found in the National Center for Missing
and Exploited Children's Child Safety on the Information Highway
and Teen Safety on the Information Highway pamphlets.
What are Signs That Your Child Might Be at Risk
Online?
Your Child Spends Large Amounts of Time Online,
Especially at Night.
Most children that fall victim to computer-sex
offenders spend large amounts of time online, particularly
in chat rooms. They may go online after dinner and on the weekends.
They may be latchkey kids whose parents have told them to stay
at home after school. They go online to chat with friends,
make new friends, pass time, and sometimes look for sexually
explicit information. While much of the knowledge and experience
gained may be valuable, parents should consider monitoring
the amount of time spent online. Children online are at the
greatest risk during the evening hours. While offenders are
online around the clock, most work during the day and spend
their evenings online trying to locate and lure children or
seeking pornography.
You Find Pornography on Your Child's Computer.
Pornography is often used in the sexual victimization of children.
Sex offenders often supply their potential victims with pornography
as a means of opening sexual discussions and for seduction.
Child pornography may be used to show the child victim that
sex between children and adults is "normal." Parents
should be conscious of the fact that a child may hide the pornographic
files from them on diskettes. This may be especially true if
the computer is used by other family members.
Your Child Receives Phone Calls from Men You Don't
Know or Is Making Calls, Sometimes Long Distance, to Numbers
You Don't Recognize.
While talking to a child victim online is a thrill for a computer-sex
offender, it can be very cumbersome. Most want to talk to the
children on the telephone. They often engage in "phone
sex" with the children and often seek to set up an actual
meeting for real sex.
While a child may be hesitant to give out his/her home phone
number, the computer-sex offenders will give out theirs. With
Caller ID, they can readily find out the child's phone number.
Some computer-sex offenders have even obtained toll-free 800
numbers, so that their potential victims can call them without
their parents finding out. Others will tell the child to call
collect. Both of these methods result in the computer-sex offender
being able to find out the child's phone number.
Your Child Receives Mail, Gifts, or Packages from
Someone You Don't Know.
As part of the seduction process, it is common for offenders
to send letters, photographs, and all manner of gifts to their
potential victims. Computer-sex offenders have even sent plane
tickets in order for the child to travel across the country
to meet them.
Your Child Turns the Computer Monitor Off or Quickly
Changes the Screen on the Monitor When You Come into the
Room.
A child looking at pornographic images or having sexually
explicit conversations does not want you to see it on the screen.
Your Child Becomes Withdrawn from the Family.
Computer-sex offenders will work very hard at driving a wedge
between a child and their family or at exploiting their relationship.
They will accentuate any minor problems at home that the child
might have. Children may also become withdrawn after sexual
victimization.
Your Child Is Using an online Account Belonging to
Someone Else.
Even if you don't subscribe to an online service or Internet
service, your child may meet an offender while online at a
friend's house or the library. Most computers come preloaded
with online and/or Internet software. Computer-sex offenders
will sometimes provide potential victims with a computer account
for communications with them.
What Should You Do If You Suspect Your Child Is
Communicating With a Sexual Predator Online?
- Consider talking openly with your child about your suspicions.
Tell them about the dangers of computer-sex offenders.
- Review what is on your child's computer. If you don't know
how, ask a friend, coworker, relative, or other knowledgeable
person. Pornography or any kind of sexual communication can
be a warning sign.
- Use the Caller ID service to determine who is calling your
child. Most telephone companies that offer Caller ID also
offer a service that allows you to block your number from
appearing on someone else's Caller ID. Telephone companies
also offer an additional service feature that rejects incoming
calls that you block. This rejection feature prevents computer-sex
offenders or anyone else from calling your home anonymously.
- Devices can be purchased that show telephone numbers that
have been dialed from your home phone. Additionally, the
last number called from your home phone can be retrieved
provided that the telephone is equipped with a redial feature.
You will also need a telephone pager to complete this retrieval.
- This is done using a numeric-display pager and another
phone that is on the same line as the first phone with the
redial feature. Using the two phones and the pager, a call
is placed from the second phone to the pager. When the paging
terminal beeps for you to enter a telephone number, you press
the redial button on the first (or suspect) phone. The last
number called from that phone will then be displayed on the
pager.
- Monitor your child's access to all types of live electronic
communications (i.e., chat rooms, instant messages, Internet
Relay Chat), and monitor your child's e-mail. Computer-sex
offenders almost always meet potential victims via chat rooms.
After meeting a child online, they will continue to communicate
electronically often via e-mail.
Should any of the following situations arise
in your household, via the Internet or online service, you
should immediately contact your local or state law enforcement
agency, the FBI, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children:
- Your child or anyone in the household has received child
pornography.
- Your child has been sexually solicited by someone who knows
that your child is under 18 years of age.
- Your child has received sexually explicit images from someone
that knows your child is under the age of 18.
If one of these scenarios occurs, keep the computer
turned off in order to preserve any evidence for future law
enforcement use. Unless directed to do so by the law enforcement
agency, you should not attempt to copy any of the images and/or
text found on the computer.
What Can You Do to Minimize the Chances of an Online
Exploiter Victimizing Your Child?
- Communicate, and talk to your child about sexual victimization
and potential online danger.
- Spend time with your children online. Have them teach you
about their favorite online destinations.
- Keep the computer in a common room in the house, not in
your child's bedroom. It is much more difficult for a computer-sex
offender to communicate with a child when the computer screen
is visible to a parent or another member of the household.
- Utilize parental controls provided by your Internet service
provider and/or blocking software.
While electronic chat can be a great place for
children to make new friends and discuss various topics of
interest, it is also prowled by computer-sex offenders. Use
of chat rooms, in particular, should be heavily monitored.
While parents should utilize these mechanisms, they should
not totally rely on them. Knowing where your children are in "cyberspace" and
maintaining open communication about their Internet exploration,
their natural curiosities, and their interests are critical.
About MINES & Associates
For over 25 years MINES & Associates has
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provides a variety of services to corporate employers including
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programs, behavioral risk management, disease management, PPO
services, and a number of other technology based services.
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Organizational Psychology and Health Psychology, and currently
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