Protect Your Child Online

As a rule, when we think about what our children might come across on the Internet, we worry about 45-year-old perverts pretending to be 13-year old girls. 

Fortunately, for this kind of problem, there are things we can do to cope, such as learning to find court records.  Unfortunately, there are a lot more insidious things out there to endanger your child as well.

How can you protect your child online?

While young kids often tend to present tempting targets to the scary people of the world, they are in many ways easier to protect. 

Filters and parental locks can be set with less interference in legitimate schoolwork.  With teens and tweens that’s harder, and they’re more prone to trying to get around things. 

Plus, they probably are better at this than we are.

The online dangers your child must face.

However, their peers can be as worrisome as the adults and the spam.  Teens and tweens tend to have huge needs for approval and for those so inclined, this need to be accepted can turn frightening.

For example, there are an ever-increasing number of pro-anorexia websites out there, where kids – mainly girls, but some boys too – discuss ways to not eat.  This includes how to hide it and competitions to see who loses the most.

Knowing how to find court records can help.

This is only one example, but it’s enough to make parents want to throw out the computer.  That won’t make the problem go away.  To save your child from the risks that exist, you need to stay engaged and if necessary, find court records, just in case.

Click here if you are interested in knowing how to find court records.

When the suicide of Megan Meier revealed that Lori Drew had been harassing her and posing as a 16-year-old love interest, it was brought straight to Missouri court. 

However, there are no laws in place to prevent issues like cyberbullying or cyber-harassment.  The Supreme Court tried to address it under the Computer Fraud Act, but the laws were too vague.

How social networks try to protect your child.

Eventually, MySpace was able to prosecute Drew on misdemeanor charges for violating their Terms and Conditions.  This is hardly the kind of precedent that was originally intended when some view this as a crime of child abuse. 

Basically, courts upheld a decision of websites to make their own social networking laws.

Is your child safe from cyberbullying?

Have you ever suspected your child of cyberbullying or being cyberbullied?  There are ways to prevent it.

1. Talk to your child about cyberbullying.  What is appropriate language and behavior?
2. Place restrictions on who communicates with your child by IM or e-mail.
3. Control who adds your child to their buddylist.  These lists act as a tracking device.  They can tell when the child is online, inactive, or even where they are at.
4. Try looking your child’s name up on “Google” to see if they are being targeted by cyberbullies.
5. Report cyberbullying to the ISP (Internet Access Provider).  Many times the threat of having the household account shut down is enough to stop the harassment.
6. Report the bullying to the police, especially if the child is threatened.  This could help start an investigation campaign.
7. Try a reverse IP address lookup to find the origins of the cyberbully.
8. File a lawsuit.  Be prepared for a lengthy battle.

Missouri and federal laws.

In the case of United States v. Lori Drew, Missouri court wouldn’t even touch it, but if you are willing to fight this one through, you may end up protecting millions of children from future Internet harassment. 

To investigate a suspected cyberbully, click here.

In today’s world, information is available at a click of a button, and why should it be any different when you need to know how to search for court records? 

Tracking down public records by traditional methods such as local police departments or vital statistic offices of individual states is a lengthy process.

Don’t have time to do a background check yourself?

If you are looking for information on a current or prospective employee or business associate, potential soul mate, or someone in your neighborhood, you don’t have time to go around looking for the information. 

You need one place that gives a complete background check including criminal records, court records, vital statistics, and much more.

You can have it done for you online.

The best place to go is to a website that can do the whole process in a few simple steps.  All you need is a first and last name, but more information such as age, social security number, and address won’t hurt. 

It will make things a lot quicker.  These types of websites compile billions of records and constantly update their database.

By now, most parents are familiar with the mandatory check of sexual offenses.  Anytime you move into a new neighborhood or let your child stay with someone else, it is a good idea to do one of these checks. 

Don’t fall under the delusion that no sexual offense means there is no criminal history.  Checking court records can tell you a multitude of things that free reports don’t bother with such as domestic abuse or drug charges.

Simple steps to protect your child and yourself online.

If you are a single parent that is considering dating, never put any information on the site about your children.  Don’t post pictures.  Don’t let anyone know where you live until you have done some investigation.  An honest person will respect this.  Red flags should go off if someone is offended by this. 

Learn today how to search for court records.

Several reasons exist to know how to find out sex criminal history, and every single reason is good enough to conduct an online investigation of criminal history. 

When it comes to protecting your children, even just a fleeting thought should be squelched with a thorough criminal background screening.

Where do predators lurk?

Online dating and chat rooms are some of the most common places for the dregs of society to lurk. 

Granted, you may meet some people with good intentions on one of these sites, but more times than not, you may be subject to an unknowing tryst with a married man. 

Even worse, your date could be using you to get to your children.

The dangers of chat rooms and online dating.

Online dating and chat rooms have made dating and meeting people a lot less dreadful than going to a smoky bar or sitting at a single’s function. 

However, this type of contact with potential mates has also brought us a number of dreadful cases of stalking, rape, and even murder.  Just look online, and you will find hundreds of cases where adults approach young children or online dates went awry.

What you need to do to protect your child.

You need to know how to find out sex criminal history, domestic abuse history, court records, and any other types of criminal records to protect your children. 

If you are the one meeting people online never divulge an e-mail address, phone number, or address.  Always meet the person in a public place and tell a friend or family member where and what you are doing.

Due to the anonymity of the Internet, you never really know whom you are dealing with.  A thorough background check of someone that you are starting a relationship with should be just as mandatory as getting a bill of clean health. 

The type of protection a criminal background screening offers is immeasurable.  Any honest person will appreciate your caution. 

Find out answers here.

It seems that one of the drawbacks of modern technology is the rise of child pornography rates. In January this year, an undercover police operation was performed to jail the people who are responsible in spreading child pornography materials all over the Internet. Numerous people surfaced as suspects. Another undertaken operation done on February 11 revealed the identity of a 56-year-old man of Sympatica Crescent as an individual who processed the malicious materials which feature child exploitation. Two units of computer and a lot other media storages were seized from the identified man.

There is no doubt to it. Child pornography as a crime is never totally bustered. There are millions of people who seek to make money in the easiest way possible by taking aside the harmful effect that their acts may pose on the children. With the growth of social networking websites, the scale of child exploitation also heightens. Indeed, these social networking portals are likewise the hangouts of these cybercriminals.

So that they will successfully mislead the operations on child pornography investigations, these individuals secure their IP addresses and location, lie about their names and ages, and make use of proxy or Wi-Fi connections. These predators then eye on the youngsters who make use of their computers, Intenret, and mobile services in surfing the World Wide Web. They mistakenly give out their personal information to the people who make friends with them online without suspecting that these details will be used for child pornography. As you see, the breakthroughs in modern technology allow the editing and revision of things. With the personal details at hand, these cybercriminals can easily maneuver the circumstances without the knowledge of their preys. They can create malicious pictures and videos and then bear the identity of their unsuspecting victims. After which, these materials are then posted over the Internet to give satisfaction to the paying individuals who crave for these carnal pleasures.

Child pornography investigations show that the victims are often the youngsters whose parents are either not around or are simply too lax to let them do their own thing. Professionals suggest the use of monitoring and filtering software on the children’s computers so that they can be protected against any form of harm. When everyone is ready to battle off the dangers posed by any form of cyber crime, the children and their young minds can remain inside a safe shell.

Child pornography is defined as a sexual material that portrays children and is marketed over the Internet. Legally, it is termed as a form of sexual abuse and is held to be illegal by all means.

There is no doubt that the rate of child porn is indeed increasing at a large scale day by day. With the onset of mobile phones as a prime necessity both for the young and old alike, there is the increased chance of pornography breakthrough. Mobile operators themselves provide the quick access to the loads of Internet sites and so to speak to the pornogpraphic websites which, as time goes by, has become a piece of meat that can easily be taken out of the fridge at any moment. The European mobile companies, especially those located in France and Norway, are confronted with the dilemma of hindering the risks brought about by website-related pornography on the innocent minds of the children. In line with this effort is the recent formation of a group known as the Mobile Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse Content.

Certainly, with the mobile phones and service providers that allow the easy access to the Internet, even the children can open the notorious pornographic websites. Every time that the subscriber connects to the Internet, the mobile service provider then collects its profit. However, the claim of these mobile operators is that they have little control of the activities of the subscribers. How the users would like to use their mobile phones is entirely up to them.

Studies reveal that from the years 2005 up to 2006, the rate of online child abuse has escalated by up to 74 percent. In line with this, the Norwegian telecommunications firms have thought of a solution and that is by means of an anti-child pornography group that aims to obstruct the mission of the child porn merchants to easily distribute their products online. The members of the anti-child porn body hopes to get the support of four of the biggest mobile operators in Africa in promoting the said campaign.

Not only are the European telecommunications companies affected by this controversy since this issue concerns everyone in the whole world. Stopping child porn is in one way or another a responsibility of all individuals be they parents, sisters, brothers, aunts, and uncles. Anti-child porn is a mission that calls on every person to partake in.

The battle of caring parents against the issue of child pornography is gaining ground in Australia, thanks to Minister Stephen Conroy. He recently unveiled plans to increase censorship of the World Wide Web by increasing the number of websites on an official Internet blacklist. At present, the official Internet blacklist lists about one thousand websites that are to be censored; Conroy seeks to increase this number to the millions.

The censored access will include not only child pornography, but other objectionable material online as well, such as adult videos and materials depicting violence. The filtering of the Internet will be mandatory, and will be done through an Internet service provider. Although the effort is well-meaning, Conroy has his critics: those who work in the Internet industries cite how difficult it would be to block all the materials that Conroy is proposing.
 
Child pornography itself is already difficult to control. There are over ten thousand websites that offer child pornography online, says Bernadette McMenamin, chief executive of Child Wise, an anti-child abuse group. McMenamin further states that there are over twenty thousand child pornography images that are posted to the Internet each week, making the perpetrators difficult to pin down and arrest, not to mention block.

Despite the daunting numbers, Conroy’s office is still seeking to enlarge the blacklist of sites. According to a spokesperson for the politician, the process of monitoring the Internet will obviously not be foolproof. Moreover, the filtering at the level of the service provider may not work for many sites; for instance, Google caches different sites at certain times each month, so if a child pornography site remains in cache, it can still be viewed by anyone who knows how to use the popular search engine’s features. What Conroy is seeking to do is to make the blanket of censorship much wider, covering the entire population, which some critics deride.

Free speech advocates, for instance, are asking that people instead use PC-based Internet filters. The battle against child pornography has been raging for quite a while in Australia. Its Communications and Media Authority has long worked to stop prohibited web content from entering the country, but its work is limited mostly to complaints, and it has a difficult time filtering material that is hosted outside of the country. According to statistics, the United States is the biggest source of materials that are considered offensive in Australia, making up over half of the total of illegal, offensive materials online that have been blocked by the country.

It is one bitter fact that, nowadays, the internet is not the safest thing that a teenager or a child should be associated with.  Although it can bring myriads of data to further our skills and knowledge, the fact remains that it is also the haven of sexual perpetrators, pedophiles, and cyber stalkers.  Although parents and even school officials are constantly being vigilant, their efforts are not enough to totally eradicate online dangers.  There are some concerned people who help in this cause.  One true and proven defender of children’s rights is Roberta Angelilli. 

Roberta Angelilli was born in Rome in February 2, 1965.  She is a well-known Italian official.  The European Parliament for Central (Aleanza Nazionale) holds her dearly as their member.  Angelilli also belongs to the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affairs.

A graduate of political science, she has truly concentrated on helping children over their battle for their rights.  Being a member of the parliament is a good leverage for her cause but this does not lessen the fact that online predators still proliferate. The worst must be child pornography. 

And the shocking news?   This problem does not cease to exist but, in fact, has grown to 1500% for the year 2008 when compared against 1997.  Looking at the problem, the chief concern for law enforcers would have to be the numerous websites in developing nations (Ibid).  

Angelilli report aims to put a stop to these unpleasant developments.  One of its arrangements is to block the use of credit cards to pay for materials on pedophilia. In order for this to become successful, companies that offer credit cards should be cooperative.  Another action that the Angelilli report advocates is to stop access to certain sites or when the scenario gets worse, a possible closure of the site (Ibid).

Along with these aims, Euro-MPs also promote putting tighter controls on program contents for televisions, proper censorship of games, regulate mobile phones, and more so internet contents.   Angelilli remains vigilant and constant on her message—and that is to give voice to all minors.

With the help of concerned individuals such as her, the world could not be the most perfect place to live in but it could be better.  There are so many ways of helping protect children online!  Be a catalyst yourself.        

Internet Watch Foundation is one agency devoted to protecting children from various online dangers. And fortunately for the youth, there are other organizations like IWF dedicated to fighting for their safety.

Internet Watch Foundation and Child Online Protection
For its first Awareness Day, the Internet Watch Foundation or IWF worked with different companies and agencies to enlighten the public about the current trends of online child sexual abuse and how they can help prevent it from worsening. Yahoo, MSN, and Tiscali are just some of the websites helping out the IWF in presenting their advertisements.

According to the organization, one and a half million adults in the UK had already seen images of online child sexual abuse. Although the country had been successful in ensuring that less than 1% of such websites originate from the UK, this does not mean that UK users will no longer be able to access them. IWF urges everyone to be vigilant to effectively close down all of them.

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center (CEOP) Helps Out
Another agency known for its advocacy for children safety is the CEOP. It has recently designed a new program to educate parents and teachers about the online risks children are subjected to and what they can do about it. The program would be able to benefit children from eight to eleven years old and covers a comprehensive range of activities. It includes activities for children as well like the Cybercafe feature of its website. There, children are tested on their ability to do the right thing in different SMS or online scenarios.

Participating schools would be able to access the various services offered by the CEOP website and will benefit from being able to better help their students in cases of cyber-bullying and other online dangers as well as teaching them the dos and don’ts in communicating through mobile phones and emailing.

Internet Crimes against Children Task Force Fights to Stay Alive
Difficulties in obtaining funds and technological improvements make it more difficult for the Internet Crimes against Children Task Force to continue working for the safety of children online. The organization spends its time and resources surfing the Internet, monitoring online conversations, and following possible leads to online sexual offenders but these activities are becoming increasingly difficult to perform when the face of technology changes so rapidly and they don’t have enough funds to keep up with the changes.

The statistics showing the abuse of children on the internet can be shocking.  If you’ve heard of only one or two cases, you haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg yet.  According to some reports, millions of children are being abused online all over the world and there are various ways to do it.  Here are some disturbing statistics related to the internet abuse of children that any concerned parent should know about:

Approaching children
According to estimates, there are about 24 million young kids and teens using the internet at present.  About 20% of them have been approached online for sex.  Over 700,000 children have also been pursued aggressively for sex, with child sex predators and abusers offering kids to meet up face to face.

Exposure
About 34% of children or teens have had unwanted or unsolicited exposure to materials containing pictures of nude individuals or graphic images of sexual activities.

Internet-related abuse of children is also not limited to rape by the predator.  It can also include luring children to child prostitution, child pornography or becoming turning them into victims of child sex tourism.  The analysts of CVIP (Child Victim Identification Program) have already identified more than 1,100 victims featured in child abuse images using the Child Recognition Identification System.

The danger
Of the millions of children being approached for sex online, only about 25% have told their parents or guardian.  The number of children who inform their parents of these episodes of solicitation will increase only if they felt upset or scared.

The problem is even confounded by the fact that about 75% of young children and teens provide their personal information either on their profiles or in chatrooms, making it easier for predators to locate them.  Furthermore, less than 20% of children and their parents know which authority to approach in order to report a crime on the internet.

Another scary statistic related to the internet abuse of children is that 1 in 5 females and 1 in 10 males will become victims of sexual crimes before they become adults.

A percentage of that, we can only surmise, may be done using the internet.

More than meets the eye?
According to some experts, the statistics showing the internet abuse of children may show less than the actual numbers.  This is because in many areas around the world, the term child abuse is not clearly defined.  There are also those who have never been reported or discovered and many children become neglected and abused without being noticed by government authorities.