Internet+Predators

Tips For Parents Regarding Internet Predators

It is a very scary fact, but **one** in **four** teenage girls have reported meeting a stranger online.

and aid the police in catching online predators
Predators use social networking websites such as Myspace.com, Facebook.com, Tagged.Com, and Espintthebottle.com, to target young people. The best way to protect them from these predators is to keep them from posting any personal information online, or posting it behind password protected walls. Every community should make a combined effort to stress the importance of privacy- predators are very smart; they can find out information just by looking at backgrounds of pictures. An online predator can be ANYONE.


 * The police department in Keene, NH recently started a program on finding and bringing internet predators to justice.
 * Here's a link to their project: [|I want to know more!]

According to the Keene Police Department website, here are some tips for parents to help their kids stay safe:

 * Know your children. Are they in a stage where they are trying to find themselves? Ask if they have created Blogs (online diaries) or if they have their own websites.
 * Establish strict guidelines with your child on internet use, such as a limited amount of time, not giving ANY family information, etc.
 * Don't rely on software that can limit offensive material. They are helpful tools, but there are ways to get around them, which your child can figure out easily.
 * Be sure to not come down on your children too strong, or else someone online might be the good guy
 * Keep yourself informed about the Internet. Take a course on the Internet and it's uses.

Some additional tips for parents are:

 * Go back in the history of your computer and see where your child has been.
 * Point out stories on the news or in the news paper about internet predators.
 * Sit down with your child from time to time and ask them to show you what they are doing on the internet.

For more information, here are some websites we used:

 * [|Internet Safety for Kids]
 * [|Keene Police Department's Internet Safety Page]
 * [|Safety]

Here are a few videos about internet predators
media type="youtube" key="BRdCrHGn2RE&hl=en" height="355" width="425" [|Internet Predators] media type="youtube" key="iGTmcspxUc8&hl=en" height="355" width="425" [|Predators Signals]

Brought to you by CS211A 2008 (Aimee, Sabrina and Allison)