Home   God    Bible   Us   Beliefs   Calendar   Links   Utah   Internet   Resources   FAQ's

More on Internet Safety

Do You Know Who is Online With You?

If you are on the internet, there is always a potential risk. If you do not have the proper blocking and filtering software, you do not know who is looking back. If you have pre-teens or teens in your home and they are using the internet, they are at the highest risk possible for internet predators. The FBI has reported that at any given minute of the day there are over 50,000 sexual predators online seeking to find children. This is a growing problem in the United States, one that is getting worse and will not be going away any time soon.

Child predators have turned to the internet as a primary tool for seeking out children to prey upon. We encourage parents especially to become familiar with the information and how to protect their families.

Unfortunately we have found that many parents are ignorant of how the internet works, where their children are going on the internet, and what web sites are popular. Here in Utah we have one of the highest arrest rates across the nation for these predators. We are encouraging parents to no longer be ignorant of the internet and where their children are going on the net. Pre-teens and teens today are living in a more virtual world, some children spending as much as 50% of their lives online or instant messaging each other on the net or on cell phones. For the safety of your children, you must become aware and familiar with what is happening in their virtual world.
     

THE RISKS AND THE DANGERS

1 in 5 children are sexually solicited or approached over the internet in a one year period. (actual numbers higher)

89% of sexual solicitations were made either in chat rooms or through instant messages.

According to a National Children's Home report the number of internet the number of internet child pornography images has increased 1,500% since 1988.

Of those arrested in the U.S. for possession of child pornography in 2000 and 2001:
- 83% had images of children between ages 6-12
- 39% had images of children between ages 3-5
- 19% had images of children under age 3
- 70% admitted having molested up to 30 children.

One Justice Department report indicated a pedophile arrested in the UK had 450,000 images of child pornography on his computer.

The primary target for online predators is children between the ages of 10 to 14.

Many parents believe that the only risk is on websites like MySpace.com, but the reality is that it is where ever the kids are. Predators keep a watch on the internet for hot new sites and carefully go there looking for kids. Even innocent game rooms are now a popular hunting site for predators.

SOME ANSWERS AND RESOURCES

Place your computer in a visible place in the home, somewhere everyone can see it any time.

Do not allow chatting online with people your children do not know. (Take the don't talk to stangers message into the virtual world.)

Have standards regarding your child's privacy. You would not allow them into any other unsafe environment without guidance and a watchful guarding eye would you?

Become familiar with the chatting and search tools used by your children. Learn how to surf the web where they are going to be able to check on them.

Do not allow any unmonitored chat lines, never give out personal information, never post pictures of yourself.

Do not rely on blocking or filtering software to do the job of stopping the junk or the threat, no software can completely stop the garbage completely.

Do purchase and use filtering and blocking software, we especially recommend the top three packages like ContentProtect, CyberSitter, NetNanny, etc. They will help block out much of the garbage.

Use Internet Gateways like www.hedgebuilders.com that can provide a portal to the internet and filter from a remote host.

Educate yourself


Here are some good resources for everyone

- NetSmartz.org
- National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (They are the creators of NetSmartz)
- ISafe.org
- Polly Klass Foundation

All of these organizations provide good training materials and resources to help protect you and your children online. They offer free materials and online education tools for anyone who wants to know how to be safe while online. Check them out and request their free materials.



Last Update 12/28/2007                                                                             Office   (801) 779-1001     FAX   (801) 525-1561