Oak Park parents learn the hard realities of Internet safety

The Internet has placed the world at our fingertips and has ushered in a communications revolution, but it also has fallen prey to individuals who use its power to exploit and terrify others.

"Children are actively sought out as sexual partners on the Internet and are constantly exploited by sexual predators," said Officer Steve DeWarns, a detective with the Piedmont Police Department in Northern California, who was invited last week by an Oak Park parent-faculty group to talk about Internet child exploitation and cyber-bullying.

DeWarns, who has been conducting investigations for Piedmont for 10 years, organized a year-long project to become educated about the Internet and to conduct online sting investigations. He set up an America Online account that listed him as a 12-year-old girl. Within minutes of signing on, he began to receive solicitations for sex from older men.

DeWarns now dedicates much of his time to traveling the country and teaching parents and adolescents about the dangers that exist in cyberspace and how to safely traverse the Internet.

Sexploitation

Toward the end of the 1970s the FBI had reported that child exploitation was waning but the Internet has led to a drastic resurgence in child-related crimes.

Between 1996 and 2000, when the popularity of the Internet grew, the FBI reported a 1,200 percent rise in the number of cases dealing with child pornography and exploitation. The Internet serves as a tool that allows pedophiles to develop trusting relationships with children and not reveal their true identity.

"The Internet allows predators to fulfill their urges from the safety of their own homes. On the Internet, they are also able to find a community of people who support their desire to have sex with minors, which in turn reinforces their urges," said DeWarns.

According to a survey conducted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one in five children who uses the Internet has been solicited for sex.

"Minors are constantly being sent harmful materials over the web, whether it is explicit pictures or explicit texts," DeWarns said.

According to DeWarns, the common profile for an exploited child is someone with low selfesteem, good computer skills, unsupervised access to the Internet, and comes from a broken home that has middle to high income. The profile for an Internet predator is a married male 35 or older with adult children, a college or postgraduate degree, with middle to high income.

Internet predators usually begin their hunts by searching for indicators, such as a date of birth in an Internet screen name o r p r o f i l e , which inform the predator of the child's age and interests. Once a target i s found, a predator will attempt to build trust with a child by sending them instant messages. Instant messages are preferred by predators because they are not recorded or scanned by Internet providers.

"Once a predator has established a relationship with a child, they will begin to test the waters by slowly asking about sex, usually asking about kissing and then moving on to more explicit acts," DeWarns said.

If the child does not appear to be offended or worried by the conversation, the predator will then ask to meet the child in person.

Children who have been exploited online are highly unlikely to report the occurrence. They've either been intimidated by the predator or they are afraid of the repercussions they may face from their parents.

According to the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children, less than 10 percent of exploitations and three percent of exposures were reported by children who had been sought out by Internet predators. The average predator will perform 117 acts of molestation before being reported, said DeWarns.

On the lookout

Since children are unlikely to report online incidents, it is important for parents to watch for warning signs. If a child comes home from school in a good mood and suddenly appears worried or irritated after using the Internet, it is a strong indicator that a dangerous conversation or situation may have risen during their computer time.

Recently, children have been using the Internet to bully other youth online. Cyberbullying, as it's known, is particularly devastating because children are being attacked in the safety of their own home without knowing who their attackers are.

"Bullies have moved from the playground to the Internet," said DeWarns. "They can send hateful messages to your child while hiding behind a fictitious identity."

Any harmful or threatening message sent via electronic communications is considered a crime. Internet profile sites, such as MySpace.com, will take down hurtful comments if they are notified, but people have complained about slow responses in the past.

"They'll definitely take it down quickly if you threaten a lawsuit," said DeWarns.

Parents are urged to exercise their authority to create a safe environment for their children on the Internet. DeWarns believes the number one safety precaution a parent can take is to not allow their adolescent to use the Internet unsupervised.

"Don't allow the Internet to become the babysitter," said DeWarns. "Put the computer in a well-traveled area, and if they hide a screen, that's a sign that something's up."

And if a parent notices an inappropriate instant message, they should immediately print a copy of the message to keep as evidence.

Parents should also prohibit their children from developing online profiles or using indicators such as date of birth or age in their screen names.

"MySpace and online profiles allow children to become someone they aren't," said DeWarns. "They might not have friends at school, while on MySpace they might have a lot of friends, but you can never be sure of whom those people are."

One of the most important things a parent can do is to know their child's Internet password. If a child goes missing, e-mails can provide sensitive information that can lead to a timely recovery.

"Kids have acceptable use policies for the Internet at school. They should also have one at home," said DeWarns.